Driving Tips From Someone Who Learned A Lot By Making Mistakes

Driving tips from someone who learned a lot by making mistakes

Keep yourself grounded. In traffic, things happen in the blink of an eye, and if you’re not paying attention you may not react on time. If you’re like me and you get easily distracted with your own thoughts, come up with strategies to remain focused. Turning the radio on works for me, because I pay attention to the song just enough so I won’t get caught up in my own world.

Double check. Even if you have just done it, check the parking break again before you start the car. If you drive without releasing it not only you’re gonna ruin it, but you also risk setting your tires (and your car) on fire. I guess I don’t have to tell you how dangerous this is.

Don’t keep things inside your vehicle.It attracts potential robbers and may get your window broken and your stuff stolen. Put your stuff on the truck or underneath the seats, where it can’t be seen from the outside. Even if it’s not something valuable - you can’t really tell what it is from the outside.

Signal. Freaking signal. This is not a pet peeve, this is a real issue. The driver behind you doesn’t know you’re gonna slow down to take a turn or to stop, just like the driver beside doesn’t know you’re gonna change lanes. If you don’t signal, the chances of getting hit by someone are bigger. Not to mention you’re kind of an asshole.

Parking lots are the best place to train your maneuvers.

Parallel park every chance you get. Most of the parking spots available require parallel parking, and if you don’t do it often you’ll forget how to do it and it’s gonna suck. If you, like me, are afraid people will make fun of you or you’re gonna stop traffic, try the parking lots. Also, parallel parking on the left side is more common than it should be (at least here in Brazil). It’s a lot more complicated and a pain in the ass, but it’s worth learning.

Before changing lanes, check the one next to the lane you’re going to, too. That sounds a little confusing. What I mean is: if you’re on the first lane from left to right and you’re gonna change to the second lane, check the third one too before going. There is a chance that a car on the third lane might be changing to the second lane at the same time as you.

Not sure if you can back up more without hitting the wall? Turn your car’s lights on and use them as reference.

If you’re driving a manual car, make sure to know what’s the best gear for each speed. Of course, it depends on a lot of things, but there’s a general correspondence. For my car, for instance, I use 1st gear for 10km/h, 2nd for 20-40km/h, 3rd for 40-60km/h, 4th for 60-80km/h and 5th for everything above.

There are three kinds of drivers who make traffic slower: the one who is not on the lane they’re supposed to be (like the guy who needs to turn left and is on the right lane), the one who blocks the intersection, and the one who drives slowly for lack of confidence or not knowing the way. The last one is forgivable, but try not to be one of the first two.

Again: signal.

I can’t stress this enough: double check your parking brake. I’ve set my tire on fire and that was the worst experience of my life.

Winter Weather Driving Tips

From your local weirdo that went out to the store right after the first snowstorm.

First things first, these are tips, not really rules.  I highly suggest taking them to heart, but some of this might not work out for you or your vehicle.

Both Hands on the Wheel - Ignore the temptation to skip that song, or switch the radio.  Your hands should leave that wheel as little as possible.  Now, important things like switching what direction your heat is blowing, or activating 4w drive are different.  Also, try to stay relaxed- your mind and body react faster if you aren’t all tensed up.

Stay on the Main Roads - The plows will regularly return to those, as they are where the most traffic goes through.  Side roads and back roads will have less frequent passes done.  There are only so many plows in the city/county, and they can’t be everywhere at once.  Don’t count on them plowing all the roads until at least half a day after the snow has stopped.  Maybe more.

Give the Speed Limit the (Metaphorical) Middle Finger - If you don’t feel safe going 55 on a snowy road, then don’t.  Your safety is much more important than the impatience of other drivers.  And honestly?  A lot of them will agree with you.  Slam on that 4w drive if you have it.  It might eat up more gas, but you will have much more control on bad roads.

If You Fishtail, Do Like Lightning McQueen - Fishtailing is where your back end slides to the sides, and a lot of people panic when that happens.  Do not hit the brake!  That is a sure way to lose all control of your vehicle.  Let off the gas, and turn your wheel in the direction your tail end is sliding towards.  Your car will even out after a few moments.  This is because your front tires will stay straight on the road, making sure you don’t actually veer side to side as much as you might if you don’t do this.  A fishtail can easily turn into a spin-out if you panic.

Watch for Black Ice - The roads will look wet in areas, but do not assume that’s what it actually is.  Black ice looks nearly identical to a wet road.  The above about fishtailing will help you deal with hitting it, but black ice is the wildcard of winter driving.

Turn Off Your Brights in a Whiteout - The hi-beams will only blind you with the copious amount of snow in the air, and you won’t be able to see beyond ten feet.  Keep your lo-beams on, they are directed down more, and will light up the road instead of the blowing/falling snow.

Just be Careful - It sounds really vague, and should already be a major part of driving, but it bears repeating anyway.  Try not to have any distractions, pay attention to what’s ahead of and behind you, and keep an eye out for things that will suddenly go into the road.

petal to the metal ✿ jjk

✿ pairing: jewelry-maker jungkook x florist reader

✿ genre: idiots to lovers, fluff, slight bits of crack and angst

✿ summary: every sunday, the farmers’ market took place in the center of town. vendors from near and far traveled to sell their crafts, their produce, their teas. as the local florist, you figured that running a booth each weekend would boost your business and bring in new clients. at least, those were your reasons in the beginning. but, now? now, you returned just for the handsome jewelry-maker whose booth was next to yours. 

✿ word count: 7k

✿ warnings: pg15, slight innuendo, mention of alcohol, noona!reader, mutual pining, memes, vmin as teen prom dates, chaotic 2seok + joon as jk’s bandmates, scheming yoongi as reader’s assistant, sweetheart jungkook tries his best but doesn’t succeed, one (1) make out scene uwu

✿ beta’d by: the gracious phia @meowxyoong​

✿ banner by: the talented queen of banner-making maggie @kimtaehyunq​

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taehyung saying "u make me wanna be a better man" in his deep ass hot as fck voice

Close to you

(Gangster! Yoongi x Goodgirl! Reader) (Rags to Riches Au) 

Summary: Nobody likes Yoongi, not your older brother or your friends. But with him, you feel more protected than possessed. And though he might be a gangster and more than a little dangerous himself- that makes all the difference. From drug dealer to producer, from rags to riches, you’re Yoongi’s person- his muse- his soulmate.

Tags: good girl x bad boy au, blood, drugs, Yoongi with tattoo’s, references to making good ol’ sweet love, Rags to riches! au, brief mentions of drunk sex, Yoongi is soft and squishy and just loves the reader a lot.

A/n: This is more a story than a fic- with a little bit of an open ending to it- legit when I was editing this it tripled in length. 

W/c: 9.8k

Song rec: Lover by Taylor Swift 

You and Yoongi play basketball together, late at night in the park near your college. You don’t know how you started meeting up, but now you do nearly every day. You gather with the others at the edge of the court when the street lights turn on. Maybe it’s just to let off some steam from your busy college schedules, less than ideal lives, or just plain because you like the game. 

It’s a mish-mash of different people from different backgrounds, misfits and goody-two-shoes alike, pros and newbies at different skill levels, but everyone is pretty good. 

The games are never serious and no one really ever keeps score. The teams change depending on who tells what joke who gives what jibe. Lines are drawn in the minutes before you start, sides taken based off inside jokes and playful feuds. 

One night when a regular named Wonho wears a crop top and calls it ‘fashion’- teams are drawn based on who thinks it’s ridiculous or not. (You and Yoongi are on the same team that night- because of course boys should be allowed to wear crop tops).

You’re always the last two to leave the court at night, sometimes just before the lights shut off at midnight, sometimes you have to hop the fence if the security guard has already come around to lock up. You joke that he might have a vendetta against your group- you always say until the very last moment the court closes and he grumbles about leaving early. 

And on the nights where strangers lean in- when the streets don’t feel so safe and shadowy figures that seem recognizable at a distance linger longer than they should. When there’s another stabbing or a rumor of a girl getting taken off the street, Yoongi is the first to ask if you want him to walk you home.

You try reserving your impression until you know him better. But the tattoos on his arms and on his chest, peaking out over the low collar of his tanktops lead you to make conclusions that you’re not proud of. 

Your first interactions with him are brief at best and you know just from how he looks that you should be careful around him. The others might play at being rugged and dangerous but Yoongi doesn’t have to pretend. 

You realize this when he stats to walk you home. No one messes with him, the other gangbangers on the street don’t catcall you when yoongi walks you home. Shop keepers seem to Nodd at him if they feel brave and close their doors the second they see him if they don’t. 

Yoongi seems pretty abnormal for a typical gangbanger, He doesn’t fit the trigger happy sadistic stereotype that the media paints others of his ilk in. 

When he first asks to walk you home, You blush and let him because Yoongi is cute, charming even, and he’s nice company, even if he does look a little threatening sometimes. 

You wouldn’t let him walk you home for any other reason then just…needing the safety he provides, not at first, not when your overprotective older brother doesn’t let you date at all. You have a dating ban until you graduate college and as long as you sleep under his Roof. 

He’d even tried to squash your interest in the pick-up basketball games when you first started going- but you needed an outlet, justified it by saying you weren’t apart of any sports teams and needed to exercise. it isn’t safe on the streets so late at night, he says (and he’s not wrong- it isn’t.) he tries to get you to stay home each night or tries to guilt you into only playing on the weekends during the daytime.

But try as you might, every time he says it isn’t safe or brings up a carefully worded story by the news on the infestation of gangs in the city, you can’t help but picture Yoongi’s face. And maybe it isn’t safe for everyone. but the way he looks at you- guarded but curious and with a hint of mirth over the edge of a ball during a pass, makes you think that it’s safe for you. 

You weren’t exactly sheltered here, in your nice apartment on the edge of where town turns from seedy to bougie. You straddle the edge of gentrification Unable to fit in perfectly with either side. You’ve already had to move your apartment twice since you moved in with him after rent hikes and new policies made your past apartments just too expensive. 

The first time your brother catches sight of Yoongi, on the stoop of your apartment building just as your brother gets home from work- perfectly mistimed, he goes apeshit when he realizes that Yoongi’s just dropped you off. Your older brother takes one look at him and says that you shouldn’t date gangsters- that Yoongi will just bring your trouble one day. 

“Jesus Christ- he was just walking me home it’s not like it’s a big deal” and you remind him that you’re not dating- that you’re just friends and Yoongi is just being nice- and that your brother should be glad you have friends that want you to get home safe. 

He tries to keep you from going out the next night and threatens you with few words not to keep seeing him. You’re late to the game because of it sucking off your pink sweatshirt and growling out that you need to work off some steam. “join my team” Yoongi says, making the others pause with a wave of his hands. 

 They reach for water bottles while you get your shoes on, Yoongi tucks the ball under his arm and stands while you finish lacing up your shoes. “you good?” he asks, “yeah just my brother being a dick and making me late.” 

You know he says it’s all for you so that you’ll do well and school and get a good job later in life and have it easy, unlike either or your parents. but sometimes it feels like he just wants to control you needlessly. Yoongi nods and you see something- the mention of older brothers darken his gaze, you wonder why.  “He pitch a fit after he saw me last night?”

 “Oh you know it,” you say with false positivity. “But don’t worry you can still like- walk me home if you want, I liked talking to you yesterday,” you say, Shooting him a smile that makes his cheeks turn a little pink, he clears his throat “if it makes you feel safer of course” He reassures, ever the gentleman, and goes to shoot some free throws while you finish getting settled. 

The blush doesn’t fall really, especially when you meet his eyes over a pass a few seconds into the pell-mell start of the game. And you start to think that Yoongi with  his tattoo’s and his roguish exterior might be the perfect amount of rebellion to get out from underneath your brother’s thumb

Of course, Yoongi ends up being a lot more than that. 

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the love project | jjk

summary: from running to mcdonald’s at 3am after a halloween party where the two of you dressed up as the teletubbies to timing how long it takes for him to drink a cup of monster mixed with mountain dew and iced coffee and then do fifty push-ups, you’re used to your best friend jungkook asking you to do all sorts of crazy things. but, of all the shit the two of you do, letting him follow you around for a week with a camera and take candid photos of you for a photography assignment might just be the craziest of them all.

{college!au, friends to lovers!au}

pairing: jeon jungkook x female reader genre: fluff, comedy word count: 12k warnings: college antics, hopeless pining, slow burn a/n: me: this fic will be 10k max! also me: actually nevermind on par for the course of this blog, i hope you enjoy this fic! it was so much fun to write and it definitely got me back into the ~writing mood~. more fics coming soon!

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