Any v good drivers out there?

Rosa_Damascena

I'm looking for a bit of TLC and advice. I've been driving for 34 years and have let myself down badly by doing significant damage to my new vehicle without even being aware that it was a risk.

My vehicle is quite long - I am used to driving large saloons / estates but yesterday I was entering a car park (new to me but must have been built c1950) with a narrow entrance and took great care to avoid clipping the front bumper / headlights at the barrier. What I didn't realise until I heard the most hideous screech was that the the nearside front and rear doors came into contact with a metal shutter casing (no buffer of a kerb), causing significant damage to the bodywork. 24hrs on and I am still upset that I could be so utterly careless and more importantly clueless! I am very careful to use my wing and rear mirrors when driving an parking so why not yesterday??!

I'm kicking myself as I was being so cautious about steering carefully I just couldn't anticipate that the side of the vehicle could be at risk. I'm now worried that I'll do the same thing again  . In fact smashing up a car through ineptitude has been a recurring bad dream for decades and now it appears to be a prophecy fulfilled.

Aside from not driving - potentially an option, but I do in fact love driving my new car ironically take a pride in my parking skills!! - how can I avoid a repeat incident? I looked online and came up with this advice:

Sure I'm wise after the event but I think I need to gain a bit more desktop awareness before I get back in it and drive. Thoughts?

Rosa_Damascena

             

kimwp

You could take an advanced driving course/qualification. From memory, there's roadar and another one, IAM institute of advanced motorists I think. They take you out in your car and coach you.

Ganga

These things happen ,thats what you pay insurance for ,one of my neighbours who has driven for years did the same as you putting his car in the garage attached to his house ,blamed the car as it was brand new and slightly bigger than his previous one ,sold it months later for a smaller car ,he has just bought another new car and did the same ,reversed out of his garage and scraped the wing against the metal part of his garage door frame ,sh-t happens but life goes on. 

Rosa_Damascena

kimwp said:

You could take an advanced driving course/qualification. From memory, there's roadar and another one, IAM institute of advanced motorists I think. They take you out in your car and coach you.

Whilst I don't object to the wider benefits of an advanced driving qualification I do wonder whether anything short of getting a HGV licence is going to help. Much as I may wish to for very basic safety reasons, I cannot live my life avoiding multi-storey car parks. 

njkmr

Don't beat yourself up.
It can happen to the best drivers.
A momentary lapse of concentration, a misjudgement, anything , can allow this to happen to anyone.
It's highly annoying but not worth stressing over.
It's a piece of metal and nobody was hurt. Just your pride.
Get car sorted and forget about it.

HillStreetBlues

It's refreshing for someone in your situation to blame themself, normally it's the car park's fault or someone else's.
It's the ego (I don't mean that in a bad way) that takes most of the bashing and takes longer to repair than some metal or plastic.

flashg67

I'm sure many, including me have done similar. Despite my car having reversing camera and multiple sensors, I still managed to back into a fence post....  As others have said, get it fixed and move on!

Hoenir

Vehicles have grown in size over the years. Consider changing to something smaller. Though smaller will still be large compared to 34 years ago. . 

Rosa_Damascena

Hoenir said:

Vehicles have grown in size over the years. Consider changing to something smaller. Though smaller will still be large compared to 34 years ago. . 

I've always driven long cars without difficulty previously though! And even though I've only had this one for less than a month was really enjoying driving it. Now I don't even want to move it out of the car park for fear of what will happen next  

Goudy

It's unfortunate but it's part the whole driving experience.
The best make mistakes, just try to look at it as it wasn't a bad mistake that caused injury.
You just suffered a pride injury!

You might want to think about changing your car though.
Smaller perhaps, but many modern cars now have cameras and sensors and these things really do help in tight spots.

It's not unheard of for even some of the cheapest model cars to now have a 360 degree camera system with front and rear parking sensors, at least as a cost option.

My car has a rear camera and front and rear sensors but I recently hired a small car on holiday without any of these and I must admit, I did miss them.
You can look and check all you want but once you are used to them, when it comes to driving without them it does play on your mind what is behind you. 

I don't think it makes me any less of a driver to want these devices, in fact I think it's the opposite.
If there's a blind spot and I'm attempting to drive in it, wanting to know for sure what's in it rather than guess makes me a  better driver.