Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
My AMA instructor was an old woman who loved cigarettes. She's actually make me pull over on the side of the street multiple times and she'd get out and smoke. But she taught me some amazing habits that I still use to this day and have saved my ass more then once.
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How long ago was this? Was her name Phyllis by any chance? Drove a white Saturn? I got my license over a decade ago and she had owned her driving school for a few years at that point and had been at AMA for over a decade prior to that. From what I hear, she retired a few years back. Shame really. She was a bit odd, but was also a great instructor. She did everything AMA did and more, focusing more on driving skills than routes.
- She made me master the art of backing into a stall in a parking lot from a perpendicular position to the spot (claimed it should be taught side by side with parallel parking, also done often so she could hop out of the car and have a smoke)
- Demanded that the window be open a crack even in -20C (so you can hear emergency vehicles if they approach)
- Screw up the mirror positions before letting me drive and demanding I adjust to the proper "spot" every single time (cannot see car at all in side mirrors to lessen blind spot issues and other vehicle positional confusion) We could have stopped for her smoke, she'd hop in to show me something, and still eff up the mirrors and make me adjust them back.
- On occasion distracted me on purpose then scolded me for losing focus (said it was a real life situation I shouldn't fall trap to)
- Took me to an empty parking lot, placed a cone maybe 500 ish metres away, told me to hard accelerate the car up to 50 kmph without going over, then hard stop within a car length (Claimed I needed to know the emergency stopping distance of my car to an object and control a car with more power than I'm used to. This exercise freaked me out as a new driver, but I seem to recall it the most as a mature driver) She didn't really care that I often stopped like 3-4 car lengths away from the cone.
- Never pointed out when I was going over the speed limit or messed up a sign. She would just write a little note or tally or something on her clip board in an obvious way (Claimed she'd bill my dad for tickets if we got one and if I couldn't figure out the violations I was making on my own, I wouldn't pass and I didn't deserve to drive as I would be quite dangerous on the road.)
She easily would have been the first person I suggested my wife learn from if she wasn't retired.
