Week 9: EVT and Driving

This week was my first opportunity to test out the school ambulance. I took an F class course in the summer and used an ambulance for my training and road test but it has been quite a few months since then.

Yesterday I felt quite comfortable driving the ambulance on highways and city roads, the larger vehicle didn't bother me, it only took a bit of time to get used to the different set up of gears, windshield washer fluid, 4-way flashes, etc. as compared to my own vehicle.

Reversing the Serpentine

The biggest learning opportunities of the day came from the pylon course. I have never done any pylon driving, even in my small car, so this was a completely new experience. The forward serpentine was quite easy with a bit of guidance from our driving instructor but it was the backward serpentine that took more practice. The concept was simple but getting used to following only the mirrors took some time. I was nervous at first with not being able to see my blind spots by turning my head to look behind me, so I had to trust that I had my mirrors properly adjusted to be able to see the blindspots. Once I got comfortable with that, I had to learn where in the mirror the pylon would need to be for cranking the wheel all the way and straightening out the wheel at the appropriate time. The biggest thing I need to work on is using my mirrors and this is something I can practice with my own car. My goal is to practice backing out of my driveway and into parking spots by only using my mirrors. By utilizing the mirrors on my car more often, I will become more comfortable with trusting what I see in the mirror and this should make it substantially easier when I am driving the ambulance and can only use mirrors for reversing.

The other thing I need to work on with my reversing is confidence. I had a lot of negative self-talk and self-doubt when I was doing the reversing and my driving instructor told me that I need to have confidence and trust in my ability. Next time I go driving, I am only going to say positive things and not let myself be negative.