Ubi Manual Driving
1. Introduction
Book your lesson at least 3 times per week. Don't be like me, I only book one/two lesson per week which is not enough and always got M/P = More practice = Waste money.
Near the end of module 2, I start to book lesson 3 to 4 times per week.
The car you will be using is Toyota Vios 1.5 in Ubi.
For regular lesson, before you start to move off, your instructor will do a kerb side stopping at one of the area in the circuit so that you can switch over with him/her.
First thing to do when you enter the driver seat is from the passenger left seat, go out of the car, walk in clockwise direction to the driver seat, check for oncoming cars before you open the door and get inside, same when you come out of the driver seat if your instructor wants to switch over with you.
Once you enter the seat, adjust your seats by pulling a lever under your seat. Move the seat until you are comfortable where your leg can fully clutch in the clutch.
For test, you will need to start the engine yourself before you can start adjusting the side mirrors because mirror use electric power to move.
When your engine is stall, engage neutral then clutch in and brakes on follow by turning the ignition key (don't turn the ignition key for too long).
-Attire
Wear shoes with almost or no cushion will help you in feeling your clutch and gas pedel so you will know how much to step on. I make a mistake last time by wearing jogging shoes.
-Mirror adjusting
You need to adjust your side mirror until you can see the back car and the side doors so:
Adjust left mirror until your left door handle is at bottom right of the left mirror.
Adjust right mirror until your right door handle is at bottom left of the right mirror.
Adjust rear mirror at the center when you look back.
Driving lesson at night and raining is quite dangerous as the rain water will block your side mirror so be careful.
-Steering
There are a few ways of turning the steering wheel.
Push and Pull -> By using one hand at a time to control the steering on the top side. For turning the car steering direction slowly.
Hand under Hand -> By using one hand at a time to control the steering on the bottom side, more useful for return the steering wheel to center.
Hand over Hand -> For turning full lock to the left or right of the steering as quickly as possible. Basically your full lock.
Full lock is 2.5 rounds of the steering, but I will always mention 2 rounds for the following things I wrote.
-Gear changing hand posture
All the changing gear method need to fully clutch in.
Engage first gear, use your thumb below method and push to first gear.
First to second gear, use your thumb below method and push to second gear.
second to third gear, use your thumb up method and push to third gear.
third to forth gear, use your thumb up method and push to third gear.
To engage reverse , use your thumb up method and push to reverse gear.
To engage reverse to gear 1 , use your thumb down method and push to first gear.
Going from gear 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 or reverse also use the same engaging posture method.
-Gear shifting and moving off
Also for Shifting up for gear 1, you can refer to the below half clutch and acceleration method.
So now you will start to move off from kerb side stopping. Clutch in and brakes on. Shift to gear 1. Signal right if there is car in front of you and if instructor ask you to overtake. Check mirror, blind spot, hand brakes down.
Accelerate a little and half clutch to let the car move.(You can read below for other types of moving off techniques in Half clutch and acceleration)
Release a little more clutch to let the car move faster. (Your car will stall if you release your clutch too fast to half clutch position in gear 1 or there is no speed at all)
This is how you move off.
Continue slowly release clutch until 3/4 to increase speed while maintaining the accelerator.
When your car start to move and reach 15km/hr - 20km/hr (The engine sound will be louder)
Quickly clutch in and shift to gear 2 then release clutch to half for a while (maybe 1-2seconds), then go to 3/4 clutch (about 1 second) then full release.
You can then rest your left foot on the ground when your gear 2 and above after shifting gear up, same for gear 2 to 3 and gear 3 to 4.
For now, glance at your speed to change gear. (The amount of speed to gear shift up/down is in your training booklet so I will not mention here.)
What is more important is you can use your ear to listen to the sound (mention below) and eyes judging distance of the speed of your car after you are more familiar with the training so that you have no need to see the speed meter.
When you reach gear 4, it is easy to hit 50km/hr which will be IF(Immediate Failure). So just tap lightly on the accelerator to maintain your speed at 40-45km/hr by hearing the ligh accelerator sound.
For gear shifting down, example when going from gear 3 to 2, make sure you are at gear 2 top speed before shift gear down, if not you will feel a jerk on the car.
Note:
If you feel you cannot engage a certain gear, release clutch a little then clutch in again then re-engage the gear.
Gear shifting down is the opposite.
-Stopping
Depending on your car speed and gear, you need to slow down quickly to at least one car length behind the other car or obstacles in order to have time to fully stop.
You can do this by controlling the amount of brakes you apply.
Start to clutch in at least one car length behind car or any stop line then slowly apply the brakes.
When you are in higher gear and stopping, you do not need to engage gear 1 as you will need to use the engine brakes. You will need to be at gear 2 when stopping.
When you are about to stop, fully clutch in first before fully and gently press the brakes down.
If you hit the brakes too hard, it is consider an emergency stop.
-Stop line
Stop line is just underneath your side mirror when you stop.
Always stop your car underneath the wheel tire of the car in front above your car bonnet.
This is half car length and always taught by instructors.
-Kerb side stopping
Must be 1 foot on the ground when the instructor open your door.
How to judge?
at night, you can use the imagine line between the accelerometer and speed meter as a guide. It will be the center of them straight up. Plus minus left and right and adjust to your eye setting.
In the day, you can use the wiper as a guide, there are small holes on the wiper. use the hole around the area of the accelerometer and rev meter as a guide. plus minus left right yourself.
So in future kerb, you can use it as a guide. (You can also use the left mirror as a gauge to see the ground and kerb distance).
After you have stopped your car, just turn on your hazard light.
-Wall
There are some area where there are walls blocking your view in the training ground when you drive, you can try to inch the car a bit forward and check for safety before moving off. You can lean your body forward to check both side as it is difficult to see.
2. Half clutch and acceleration
Some people have problem with this including myself.
Clutch over = high vibration and whole car shake violently.
Acceleration over = "Vroom" sound is very loud.
In module 1, instructor will always ask you to accelerate then half clutch to biting point. So it will be like:
Accelerate until you hear abit of engine rev ( small vroom vroom sound) then slowly release half clutch until the car will move, release until 3/4 clutch, the car will move slightly faster which is safe for you to quickly change gear 2.
Bad thing about this method is not useful on going up slope on outside road. It is only for flat road surfaces.
One method I use to gauge half clutch is to release until the half clutch is side by side with your right foot brake while you hold the brake fully down. (For your info, full clutch in will always be lower than your full brake on)
This is roughly the point of your half clutch. It will be slightly above your right foot while braking at this point.(Its like my two feet almost side by side together)
So I always don't remember my half clutch position.
In module 2, acceleration then half clutch to biting point will be use less often. (Unless the car in front is too slow and force you to use accelerate then half clutch)
I use another method taught by another instructor which is much more useful.
Half clutch until car vibrate a little then accelerate (use your ear to hear the vroom sound) is better and will be use more often, it prevents you from rolling back on outside road and move off faster.
3. Outside road
There is 2 gate out and 1 gate in. Gate 2 and 3 are out gate, Gate 2 is near the petrol kiosk, Gate 3 is near the main road.
When heading out gate 2, you will need to perform a full stop (stop sign). It will be a slope area. signal left, check around ,use clutch control to move down the slope.
If still not enough, tap abit accelerator , check left blind spot, left right cars etc and turn left. slowly pick up speed here as it will be a sharp bend.
-Traffic lights
Let say it is green light and the green light will last until you pass for this junction.
There will be 3 white arrow on the ground. When you see the first white arrow, immediately slow down or go down to gear 3. Do not accelerate anymore.
When you passed the last white arrow, you can then continue to accelerate.
Now let say now the green light is on for a while and it is going to turn yellow anytime for this junction.
When you see the first white arrow, immediately slow down or go down to gear 3. Do not accelerate anymore same as just now.
Before the last white arrow you happen to see the yellow light, immediately start to brake and stop the car.
If the red light is on and you are going to be the first car in the lane.
When you see the first white arrow, immediately slow down or go down to gear 3, you can hold a little brake to help reduce speed.
When you see the second white arrow, shift to gear 2, you can hold a little brake to help reduce speed
When near the stop line, clutch in and brake.
When turning into any junction, try to keep the extreme left side of the kerb so you will not do a wide turn.
-Keeping car center
Keep your car center by imagine the white arrow is below your left arm area or hand brake area when you drive pass the white arrow on the ground or use the front car as a guide.
-Keep left
Please beware that there is bus lane outside the main road. Check online or booklet for bus lane time.
(Note there is normal and full time bus lane, we use normal at ubi driving area)
Check the car time first and ask your instructor if you can go into bus lane. My instructor recommend about 5 mins later after bus lane.
If you are in other lane instead of the left lane you are driving. Same as above.
Signal left, check mirrors and blind spot then start to move lane by lane to the left, do not instantly go to the most left lane.
Try to maintain the 11 o'clock of the steering when you are moving to the left, do not instantly cut in as it will force other driver to take evasive action.
-Lane changing
Similar to keeping left.
The thing here is that most outside cars will not let you in as you are learning. So it is better to let them pass before you change lane or depends on the opportunities if other driver let you.
To start off when you are on the road if you are ask to change lane to the right, signal first, check right side mirror, rear mirror and then blind spot. During the check, always remember to see the car distance in front of you and don't accelerate too fast forward.
If there is no car, gently turn steering abit about 1 o'clock position and enter the lane. Do not instantly go the extreme lane. You need to filter lane one by one at a time.
For what I have seen so far, if the oncoming car both front lights can be seen on the extreme right on your rear mirror, it means the car is about 3 car length spacing behind you on the right. Same for the left side.
It should be quite safe if the rear car is moving slow and maintain the same speed as you.
-Turning right at junction
Before that, always remember your signals and checks.
Move to the box for turning right if there is at the junction, if there are no boxes and depending on the junction, move forward until the last/second white line at the pedestrian to trigger the sensor below the road.
If it is safe, move and turn. If possible, shift to gear 2 during the turn. Try not to maintain at gear 1 until finish the turn or straighten then shift to gear 2. (You will need practice as one of your hand will be on the steering which is hard to control at first)
-U Turn
When you are ask to do a U Turn, start to keep to your right. (do your signal, checks)
Make sure you see the U-turn signage then start to signal and keep to the turning lane.
Slow down your speed to gear 2 or 1 depend on the traffic.
Move the car until your body shoulder inline with the turning kerb and turn. If there is chevron line instead, move until your body shoulder inline with the chevron line and turn.
Remember to check blind spot here.
If you are the first car to turn when the lights turn green, move until the above position and turn about 2 turns right or maximum you can go but not overshot and block the traffic of the oncoming car lane.
Once it is safe, move to the nearest lane or if the kerb is narrow, move to the second lane. Using first gear to turn is easier unless the green arrow is in your favour and there is no oncoming car, that is when you can use second gear to turn.
After straighten, gain speed and shift to second gear and start to do your keep left rule things.
For this, signal left, check mirrors and blind spot then start to move lane by lane to the left, do not instantly go to the most left lane.
-Return to school
When coming back to school gate 1, instructor will recommend gear 1 to enter the gate due to people crossing the road and prevent car stall when in gear 2 when you need to stop for pedestrian
They will ask you to aim center of the gate and move in
Then signal left, check left etc and keep left
(FYI when you pass by this area after the gate and see your left side there is always empty parking space, this is where your test car will be park with your tester taking you)
4. Slope
Use first gear (second is possible but you will need to remember to return to first gear when you stop on the slope, so be careful)
Accelerate until yellow line under mirror. I always plus minus here when stopping.
Quickly clutch in and brake.
Hand brake on and signal to the nearest kerb (Make sure not gear 2 here like I mention before)
Brake release slowly to make sure your car don't roll back.
Accelerate to 2000 to 2500 rev (glance this rev meter to gauge yourself) then slowly release clutch until car bonnet goes up.
Another the thing you can take note is the overall sound.
Because you accelerate first then release clutch, make sure that you hear or remember this sound. It is not vroooom but is gruuu and the sound will become smaller and smaller.
That is when you are ready to move off. Maintain your feet posture and hold it there for accelerator and clutch.
Signal out of kerb depends where you are. Check left or right side for any car.
Release hand brake and go up the slope straight (do not turn to any side until you are over the slope).
When your car is starting to go forward down the slope a little, keep to your left. (depends on the instructor/tester instruction)
Full release clutch (Yes full release, you can use gear 1 engine brake here) and quickly brake until slow (not stop, careful the car will stall if brake too much until not moving)
There will always be a stop line below the slope, so clutch in and brake to stop your car and do your signal and check thing.
For outside slope going uphill at Jalan Tenage and Bedok Reservoir Road, make sure to reach the gear maximum speed before changing up.
For going downslope, make sure you brake early before reaching the stop line or traffic so you have time to stop.
5. S-Course
Basically you will need move slow using gear 1 and control your clutch. You do not need to brake too often if you are going slow.
Try to keep the car center (imagine a line in the center) bonnet between the 2 side edge. Another way is to "feel" the wheel turning direction.
When you exit the S course, signal and check for cars coming from the right.
6. Crank Course
Engage first gear and use your clutch control here. Use full lock for all the turns here. Take note some area have slope here so use clutch then accelerate is better.
Depending on which direction you are going in from to the S course, use the half window as a turning point if you turn in with your left side. For right side, bonnet before the turn.
Once you enter the course, keep to the opposite side so that you have more turning space. First turn will be at your left after entering the course, so keep to your right side.
Same thing, use the half window as a turning point and turn to your left.
After turning, quickly straighten using hand under hand if you want and keep to the opposite side. By now you should keep to your left and prepare to turn right.
Same thing, use the half window as a turning point and turn to your right.
After turning, quickly straighten and keep to the center and prepare to stop and signal depending on what direction you are heading.
If there is a wall blocking your left and right, you can inch out a little to check for cars.
7. Directional Change
Basically it is like a 3 point turn.
When you first enter, the cone should be in front of you. How to center the car to the center of the cone is try to imagine the cone is below your left arm area or hand brake area.
So next thing is to go as near to the cone as possible by counting the kerb stripes on the right side of you (Put your face near to the window and see the kerb stripes). You will need 3 kerb stripes (either white black white or black white black) inline with your shoulder and stop the car.
Engage reverse gear and check 360 ( check left, right, rear side by turning your head). Use clutch to control your speed.
Start to reverse and turn full lock right at 3.5 stripes inline with your shoulder. (It can be white black white or black white black)
check left and right mirror and make sure the car is going into the slot. Once both side is safe, start to return back the steering wheel 2 turns when the car is straighten. You can use your bonnet and the front view as a guide to straighten the car.
After straighten, stop the car temporary and check the back for obstacles and continue to reverse slowly.
Reverse until the car is side mirror is just behind the course number signage (a number signboard sticking to the ground) and stop.
Engage first gear, signal left, check left side.
Move forward and use the half window as a turning point and turn to your left.
8. Vertical Parking
There are 2 types of reverse parking (actually all the course you took there are at least 2, but vertical have 2 different types)
The one with the wide road, center the car in the center, For one with narrow road, use the car IU to center with the right lane marking as guide. The wide one will have 2 yellow wheel stopper, the logic are the same.
Move until car over the back of the black vertical pillar at the rear left window inline with the corner of the kerb at the parking slot.
Quickly full lock right and make adjustment.( there are 2 type of adjustment, one is you have turn late, the other you have turn in too early)
If your car don't need to make adjustment and feel the car can go in perfectly by checking the left and right mirror, continue to reverse until almost straight then quickly turn 2 round steering back to original position.
Quickly stop and do 360 scan.
Continue to reverse until the right mirror over the number stand. (don't move too much back)
Neutral and handbrake.
To move out, signal the side you are going to move. Do your check.
If turning left, move forward first(don't turn steering) until your car pillar(Not half window) over the kerb then you can start to turn left.
9. Parallel Parking
Kerb stopping and your side mirror inline with the course number signage (a number signboard sticking to the ground) on the left.
Signal left.
Engage reverse.
Check 360. ( check left, right, rear side by turning your head)
Clutch control and move to the rear until left mirror inline with left handle bar. (front seat)
Full lock left until right mirror can see one full black strip plus a tiny bit white stripe. (or the other way round for the colours, I can't remember but the logic is the same)
Straighten wheel quickly plus clutch control.
Clutch in and brake to stop to adjust right mirror down until you can see the right rear wheel.
Check 360. ( check left, right, rear side by turning your head)
Reverse until right rear wheel touch the yellow line.
Quickly full lock right.
Once almost straighten, straighten the car by quickly turn back 2 rounds back or more to adjust the car position.
If rear wheel almost touch the rear kerb, stop immediately is ok.
Engage forward gear.
Quickly adjust car center by turning the steering and controlling your clutch.
Check right mirror inline with rear kerb.(To know you are in the center of the lot if the image is the near rear kerb)
Neutral and handbrake.
Moving out, engage reverse, release hand brake, check and do 360 scan.
Reverse slowly until almost near rear kerb, brake and stop.
Adjust mirror up until you can see right side handle at the bottom left of your right mirror.
Engage forward gear 1.
Signal right, check right, rear mirrors and right blind spot.
Full lock right and move off. Move right abit to avoid hitting left kerb.
10. Auto driving
You will need one lesson for auto-driving.
Overall it is alot easier to move. The difference is that you will need to do kerb mounting at directional change course specially for auto.
Even at slope course, you will just need to engage "D".
Take care you might forgot to stop at stop line as it is too easy to drive.
11. Test Route
Instructor will bring you to all the test route at least once.
Try to remember the route and take note of all the obstacles and tips from the instructor. It will help you in your test.
For example, where are the chevron lines and parking lanes of the cars outside. When doing right turn, which lane to use is easier.
Always remember to keep left after completed U-turn or right turns.
12. Practical Test
I took the test in the morning, warm up at 8.15am and test at 9.15am. Head into the admin centre (the centre is not open but you can still go in to the room where you
submit all your documents). Sit down in a small room and wait for warm up instructor to call you.
Warm-up instructor will tell you your test car number bring you to all the course, go outside school turn 1 round then come back. He will bring you up to second floor where you will drop your IC and PDL to the
tester pigeon hole. He will bring you to level 1 where there is a waiting room you will wait for your turn to be called for test. I am the first one in the waiting room. More people came in about 12-15 people.
When the tester arrive to call you, you will bring him to your car. Mine is 306, the clutch is very low than other manual car I drove by far.
The car will be park near gate 1 carpark.
The tester never follow behind me but he take another way to walk to our car, makes you stress, like feeling unfriendly. Once at the car, he will put the Tester traffic police plates at the front and back of the car. you can just get into the car and start your engine then adjust mirrors. (No one will start the car for you)
I am the number 8 person to be called I think at this point.
Once ready, he will ask you to move off. The parking is a slope, so use half clutch then accelerate method to prevent rolling back here.
The test flow I experience is:
Parallel -> Slope -> Directional Change ->S Course-> Crank Course -> Vertical -> Lane turning right (the one near chevron marking) -> E brake -> Test Route.
Did the above test, circuit no problem, went out the road for test route. At one point I got a combo mistake lol, I think I hear wrongly, he said turn left so I thought normal turn left from this pedestrian lane. But I start to keep second lane due KPE lane in front.
Then he furious say is turn left. The first lane just nice as there is alot of car going to KPE. He then use his laptop and mark. I got road hogging and failed to keep left instantly. Overall I got 16 points, the other 2 points he mention about I am slow to move out because of some lorry or something which I don't remember seeing it. Continue half way it rain so turn the wiper on, did a U-turn and gradually go back to school. Walk to tester office together and sit down in a small room when alot small tables. Sat down while the tester print out the paper. I happen to see one guy beside me being lecture a lot.
The tester will one to one lecture you on the mistake you make.
The tester said lucky I did well for my circuit and said the mistake you make abit angry voice. The tester then pass me the paper which say you passed and then went to watch the safety video at 9.55am.
(Before that you can get your queue to make the driving licence) after video called to get my refund then go make the driving license.
After the application, I brought the probation plate and drove auto car about six times after one month and still haven received my license.
I email to the TP. They informed me to go Ubi police station to collect as it is undelivered.
Extra
For outside road junction, try not to beat the red light at the junction as there are speed camera. You will forget this rule as you have always been driving in the same training place and also check your driving speed so not to exceed.
For S-Course, Crank Course, Directional change, Vertical and Parallel Parking, you can do correction.
Making correction for directional change will cause you to loose points btw.
I will update or add more pictures in future for this section.
