Personal Narrative: Learning To Drive A Car

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When I was younger, learning to ride a bike was a tough, but thrilling, skill to acquire. I vividly remember my dad removing my training wheels and letting me ride free. Although I was alright going in circles on the paved pad attached to our garage, going down hill on our gravel road was treacherous. I can recall my dad observing my actions as I first set off down our driveway and me not knowing how to slow down. I tried turning my wheels, which caused me to fly off the front of my bike landing face first in the grass. In that moment I realized this was not going to be easy and I was going to need some help. I compare that need for help with what I have learned over my eleven months of driving experience and find many similarities yet there are obvious differences as well. While learning to ride a bike and drive a car are both acquired skills, learning to drive a car obviously comes with more responsibility making it a much more crucial skill to master. Receiving either a bike or car is very thrilling. It is a new object that offers a newfound sense of freedom. However, both require the acquisition of certain skill sets. While you do not need much physical strength to be able to ride a bike, it does still requires skill and coordination. Truthfully, I found the same to be true of learning to drive a car! Both require one to focus intensely on the task at hand in order to avoid an accident and one must also have previous experience in how to operate each mode of transportation. When learning to ride a bike as a young child, one gathers the required skills through careful instruction from their parents along with hours of practice. Parents are a crucial part of learning how to ride a bike. A parent must supply the bike, be a teacher, helper, coach and provide emotional support. Since biking requires a fair amount of physical coordination on a level not likely previously encountered, the parents are generally always around to make sure the child is safe and learns what their boundaries are. With a car, one must learn much more complex skills such as the rules of the road and how to safely handle the vehicle before attempting to pass the permit test in order to get an intermediate driver's license. While driving a car does not require much physical stamina, the degree of coordination is even more crucial coupled with the need to have an understanding of how to operate the vehicle and being able to take the appropriate actions, sometimes in a fraction of a second. The skills that an individual may need while driving are mostly mental and acquired over time. Once the skills are mastered, certain aspects of driving become automatic and do not require as intense concentration as when first learning. Conversely, even when one has acquired the skills to ride a bike correctly, the act of riding requires the rider to be extremely aware of their movements and their surroundings, as their own power is completely in control of the bike. Learning to ride a bike is essentially a milestone in childhood and is something most children cannot wait to achieve. As a kid, one rides their bike as their only form of quick transportation to and from a neighbor's house or as a way to kill time. Learning to drive is very nerve wracking, but also extremely exciting. Driving means freedom …show more content…
Most likely, one has a set area where they are allowed to go, and a set distance. Kids cannot get away from anybody on a bike because it is a lot slower than being in a car. At the age where all one does is ride one's bike, one must ask for permission to go anywhere. Gear also must be worn for a safe ride. Wearing this gear is mostly enforced by one's parents. Even though it gives a lot of independence to a small kid, they still rely on an adult for most things they do. Driving a car brings considerably more independence. Parents may set boundaries, but it is completely up to the teen to choose how to drive. The teen is in control of speed, safety, and the lives of other drivers around them and a car accident would be much more serious than a bike

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