Hello ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to do a video today about something that's quite personal to me. It's all about how to become a more confident driver. I never used to be this kind of person that I am that you see talking about cars driving cars. In fact, I used to be the kind of person that was nervous to get in a car and go somewhere unless I knew exactly what lay ahead of me. It took me five times to pass my test. I passed it on the fifth time. And I think that rejection and how much I struggled and silly mistakes I made from panicking led to a knock in my confidence. So even when I was allowed to go from my own and drive, I still hated it. So here are some tips for me as someone who was not so confident driver on how to get that confidence. Number one, just drive. I know it sounds really stupid and that's probably the last thing that you want to do. But just go for a drive even if it's somewhere safe and comfortable that you know really well. Just drive, get used to it. Point two, go for a drive on your own. Don't listen to other people. A problem for me was that there were so many people trying to tell me how to drive and how to be a more confident driver. And it wasn't working for it. It made me more stressed to have someone in the car with me. So one of the best things you can do is go for a drive on your own. Point three, force yourself to go to places that you wouldn't normally go to. I had to go to meetings in Cheltenham, which meant driving on my own all the way to this scary place that involved motorways. And the first time I did it was terrifying. And I assume that you know I assume got the hang of it after that one trip and had a great time in Cheltenham. Got to see Nell who lived nearby as well. And then I drive back. And I realised that the whole idea of motorways and driving a long distance isn't actually as scary as you think. Actually now driving on a motorway is nothing to me and I would happily go for a three hour drive just to have dinner with a friend and then drive back the same night. I'm so cool with that shit now. Point four, don't let anyone give you shit. If you're out on the road and someone's up you're asked because you're going so late because you don't feel confident enough to go any faster then they're a dick. Sure when you go on the road you'll probably see someone that's a knob, you know what? Slow down some more and really fucking piss them off. They have no right to do that to you and they are wankers. Point five, I think, take further training if you're not confident on the road. Maybe you need some extra lessons and I'm not saying that you need more driving lessons. You've passed a test well done but maybe a pass plus to get you more used to dual carriageways and motorways if that's your problem. Or if it's just general driving confidence, go out and do something fun, get someone to take you on track and throw a car around a track or do a skid pan lesson. Not only will you have a whale of a time and probably find some untapped skill at racing. You'll learn things about car control that you're not going to learn on the road. I went on track with Adam Morgan from the British Touring Car Championship and he took me out in a Renault Cleo sport and we drove around rocking him and in that brief lesson from him I learned so much about handling a car and changing gear into corners and braking distances and what happens when you brake, when you're turning and that kind of thing. It's definitely translated into real world life and I'm not talking about driving fast on country roads which is something that I like doing. I'm so aware now that I'm safer breaking into a corner rather than on a corner which you should all know anyway and should probably be part of tests. Point 6, learnt park. I put off using the skills I'd learn in driving lessons of reverse pay parking and parallel parking for so many years because I hate it. Things changed when my friend Ali passed her driving test and was reverse pay parking everywhere and I thought if she can do it as a new driver then I as a motoring journalist and video car presenter on YouTube must be able to do it. I had a chance to park very near somewhere that I needed to be but it was in a tiny space between two cars and I thought no I've got this I'm not this person anymore who's scared of parallel parking and I just went straight into this space. Point 7, don't think about the instructions. Now I don't know if this is just something that worked for me but when I was told to pull up alongside of space if you're reverse pay parking to turn the wheel full lock to drive forward and then to drive back in that kind of going right. Now I need to do this and then I need to turn that when I go I just couldn't get my head around it and parallel parking was even worse. When I started thinking about it in terms of drive your car backwards into a space or put your car sideways into a space it became a lot easier and the thing that made me realise that that's how my brain works was roller-darkly. It roller-darkly to pass level one with the Norfolk rods. You have to be able to walk backwards on your skates. It wasn't until one of the coaches said just walk backwards and I went oh what like this and I just walked backwards. I was thinking about it too hard and that made me realise that I'm doing the same with parking. Confidence is tough when it's been knocked by something really specific but the thing the best thing you can do is to move on and I wish there had been something like this out there for me when I was the least confident driver ever telling me that practice will make you more confident. Not listening to assholes who think they know everything will make you more confident. Ignoring dicks on the road will also make you more confident. I think past me would be very pleased with how far I've come. Road trips are a huge part of my life and when I was in America four years ago, five years ago. Jesus fucking Christ, that epic America road trip was five years ago. I had a chance to drive the car and I said that I didn't want to because it was terrifying and I wish I had now. So thankfully when I go to America in October I'm going to get my hands on a delicious piece of American car and I'm going to be driving that all around Texas. Thank you everyone. I hope this has helped someone. If it has helped you or if you've enjoyed watching it for any other reason, please subscribe to the channel. It's always appreciated and check out some more of my videos whether they're car reviews or rants or lots of fun, most sport stuff. Thank you everyone. Goodbye.