Learning to drive takes time and practice. It is both scary and thrilling to go out on your own. If you had enough practice, you should feel (almost) ready to be out and about on your own. However, it does take time to gain confidence in your driving.

Here are some tips to help you gain confidence as you start driving.

• Practice, practice, practice. It takes time to become a good driver so the more you drive, the more comfortable you will become.
• Drive as much as you can with another driver. Take every opportunity that you have to drive with someone. Listen to them and learn from them. It is also important to drive with different people so you can appreciate how others think.
• Be careful who you pick to drive with. Though you might want to drive with anyone who will take you, it is important (especially when you are first starting out) to pick carefully. You are going to want to pick someone who won’t make you nervous. You are going to want someone who is calm and does not easily get rattled when you make mistakes.
• Start in a parking lot. Many young drivers learn to drive in a big parking lot. This will allow you to learn to maneuver your car without having to worry about hitting anything. You can focus on starting, stopping, and steering your car.
• Once you master the parking lot, start with back roads and gradually work up to busy streets and highways. Take your time. Drive in the parking lot as long as you need to. Once you feel confident enough, you should venture onto back roads and other streets so you can learn to drive with more speed, other drivers, and use road signs. As you gain confidence, you will be able to go out further and further until you are ready for busy streets and highways.
• Practice in all types of terrain. You should try to drive all over and experience all types of roads, including the highway, back roads, and even dirt roads.
• Drive in all weather. You also need to be prepared to drive in all sorts of weather, including light rain, heavy rain, and snow (depending on where you live). You need to be prepared to drive in all types of weather so you don’t get stuck somewhere in inclement weather. Many people are unprepared with winter weather and you don’t want to be one of them!
• Drive different vehicles. If possible, you should try to drive several types of vehicles so that you know how different types of vehicles handle. This will also come in handy when you decide to buy a vehicle.
• If you are feeling anxious, try listening to some quiet, soothing music. Music is very good for calming people down quickly. You might also find that playing quiet music in the background every time you drive will help you keep your nerves down as you learn to drive.

It can take a lot of time and practice to get confident behind the wheel. Depending on how much you drive, it can take a few weeks (or months). However, you really need to take advantage of the time that you have with older and wiser drivers. If possible, you should go driving with a few people. It is also important that you know how to handle different roads and weather before you go out on your own and find yourself stuck and unsure of how to handle yourself.