YACT: Any help for my driving / directions problem?

[Red]

Here is my problem: I suck at driving. I am a very safe driver that can handle cars well... I have an abundance of car information, I know how to maintain / tune-up cars, etc.... but I suck when it comes to directions. Is there any hope for me?

I have been raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio... but on the Kentucky side. My parents pretty muched drove me around until I was 16. My parents were fairly strict, and besides that.. I never had a want or need to drive in the city. Every once in a great while friends I would go to a club or something, but someone else was always driving. I get around my suburban area completely fine. 70% highway driving, the rest is pretty simple.

The scenario: The interstate (loop) that I drive to school every night has serious construction.....normally takes me 15 minutes to get to school, now it takes an hour. I used MapQuest and MS Streets and Trips and found back routes to school that go through the city, avoiding all highways. Last night on the way home from school I tried to take the back way and I got lost. I uncluster fvcked myself out of the middle of dirty part of town, luckily, and got home... but I'm just so frustrated that I can't drive in the city worth a damn. Is their hope? Or is this a part of my personality / mindset / driving that I can never fix. My fiancee gets pissed too because "im a guy" and I should know where I'm going.

 

[iamwiz82]

Get a compass. With a compass and a map it should be nearly impossible to get lost for very long

 

[Mr N8]

Nah, once you get used to the city, you will get a better sense of where things are. Just keep driving it, and you should get to know it fairly soon.

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: MogulMonster
Nah, once you get used to the city, you will get a better sense of where things are. Just keep driving it, and you should get to know it fairly soon.

 

[Saulbadguy]

Some people think that humans have the ability to sense a magnetic signature of their home...kinda like pigeons. Since big cities are always having the magnetic signatures of areas changing, it could be screwing you up. I guess some are better than others at this. This is just a theory though. I don't know of the study, but I read about students being put on a bus, blindfolded, some with magnetic bars in their blindfolds, others with brass bars. The bus drove around for an hour, making turns, etc..and the students with the brass bars were almost perfect when asked to point to where the university was, where the ones with the magnetic bars were almost totally inaccurate. They did this in a small city, little development. When they did it in a bigger city (boston) it didn't work.

 

[m2kewl]

when i first drove to DC, MD area i got myself lost so many times b/c you're not used to the geography. you just gotta know the area.

learn to decode and always carry a map - i have five maps for all the cities i usually go. it will save your ass from the feeling of getting car jacked/shot if you ever run into (or prevent you from running into) the ghetto ass neighborhoods.

or you can get a gps nav system.

 

[Red]

I think one big problem is overanalyzing or overcorrecting myself. And the fact that I really don't pay attention to landmarks when I drive or remember a route when I drive it. My fiancee can drive somewhere once and know exactly how to get there and get back, all the street names we passed, and all the places we passed. Me, on the other hand, I'll remember that we passed some chinese restaurant with a crazy lady leaning on the building with a orange shirt, black sweatpants, and yellow shoes. I'm not paying attention to the road or where we going, I just get distracted and zone out on stupid stuff....

And when Mapquest says take a left on Brighton street and there is absolutely no street signs anywhere... I get pissed. I can follow Mapquest when its in a suburban area... because its like "Turn left onto Madison Lane, then drive .7 miles" ... there will be a nice street sign on my left that says madison lane, then I know about .7 miles later to be looking for the next street. When I followed the city directions, I saw 2 signs out of like 7 turns/streets. Where the hell are the signs? There weren't on sign posts or hanging on the stop light or even stuck on a building.

 

[m2kewl]

Originally posted by: Redhotjrm
I think one big problem is overanalyzing or overcorrecting myself. And the fact that I really don't pay attention to landmarks when I drive or remember a route when I drive it. My fiancee can drive somewhere once and know exactly how to get there and get back, all the street names we passed, and all the places we passed. Me, on the other hand, I'll remember that we passed some chinese restaurant with a crazy lady leaning on the building with a orange shirt, black sweatpants, and yellow shoes. I'm not paying attention to the road or where we going, I just get distracted and zone out on stupid stuff....

And when Mapquest says take a left on Brighton street and there is absolutely no street signs anywhere... I get pissed. I can follow Mapquest when its in a suburban area... because its like "Turn left onto Madison Lane, then drive .7 miles" ... there will be a nice street sign on my left that says madison lane, then I know about .7 miles later to be looking for the next street. When I followed the city directions, I saw 2 signs out of like 7 turns/streets. Where the hell are the signs? There weren't on sign posts or hanging on the stop light or even stuck on a building.

LOL - life ain't fair. next time you drive, take the gf with you

learn to pay attention to minute details, drive around urban areas more often, learn the eight directional pointers, get gps system. that is all.

 

[EyeMWing]

Compass, map, if you're feeling really high tech, a lappy with GPS.

 

[Eli]

Just get to know the area better. Drive around, purposefully get lost.

It will come.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I agree with Eli on this one, but first do this:

Pull up a map of your area.
Note the major roads that go around and through areas.
If you get lost-lost, guess which direction it is to the nearest major road.

As an example:
Downtown Sacramento is framed by I-80, Buisness 80, and I-5. If you ever get lost, you can head in one direction until you hit one of these highways. At which point you're not very lost.

After a little bit of practice, you start to get an idea of where things are at.

Another minor tip:
To find a place, get an address. This is helpful because building numbers are ALWAYS linear and one side of the street is even, the other is odd. You can get a really good idea of how close you are just by the number.

 

[fatkorean]

get a gps map thingy for your car

problem solved

-fk

 

[SammyBoy]

i suck at driving in boston, and its a relatively simple place to drive in (besides the goddamn 1 way streets). The good thing is that every street leads to a major street, so even though I hardly ever know where the hell I am i always find my way. I'm actually decent at driving in boston, i was lost when i first started driving period and i had to go to the city though.

Anyhow, the more you drive in an area the better you'll understand it.

Hell, even WOMEN eventually learn how to get around, crazy aint it?