Automatic Driving Lesson

Automatic Transmission

If you would like to learn to drive in an automatic than you have come to the right place. We at Echo driving schools can teach automatic lessons in the South London area like Tooting, Balham, Mitcham, Streatham, Colliers Wood or even Wimbledon.

Automatic Transmissions have always helped drivers with physical disabilities due to the fact that there is less work to do with the hand and feet. However, with modern life being so heretic people are deciding to do automatic, particularly in congested urban areas such as South London.

Automatic vehicles have no clutch pedal, there is only two pedal one being the brake and the other the Gas. As there is less physical work to be done, there is more time to concentrate on what is happening on the road. The way automatic transmission work is that the gears move up as the road speed increases and they the speed decreases the gear also changes to a lower gear.

Like a manual transmission an automatic car also has a gear selector, below is an example of how most are laid out.

• P             (Park).  This locks the transmission and should only be used when the car is stationary.
• N             (Neutral) This is same as a manual transmissions.
• D             (Drive) This is selected for moving the vehicle forward.
• 2              (Second gear).
• 1              (First gear).

Automatic Gear Box

The first and second gears on an automatic transmission are there to prevent the transmission from changing to higher gear. This is can be helpful if going down a steep hill or in heavy traffic. In an automatic transmission there is the ‘kick-down’ which allows quick acceleration which can help the driver to say overtaking a vehicle.

When driving a automatic transmission remember that when the gear selector is in Drive there is always a Creep, which basically means that the car will creep forward so be careful to hold the brake or if in traffic or at pedestrian crossing use the hand brake to be safe.

Once you have understood the basic of how an automatic transmission works you need take care and learn how to accelerate as heavy acceleration could cause the car to surge forward (or backward if in reverse) out of control, also you could waste fuel . Remember that when doing any kind of slow manoeuvring avoid using any gas and keep your food near the brake pedal in case you need to brake. If you are doing a manoeuvre on a gradient and need to use the gas make sure that it is very light and be prepared to brake if needed.