![]() "Come with me-we're going to put the Nepali brothers together." "You speak Nepali, right?" he asks a student. Without any formal introduction, he starts redistricting. Shortly after 11:30 am AJ Gogia bounds out of his doorless back office, clad on this fall Friday in a long-sleeved black t-shirt and blue jeans. The men-and, with one exception, they are all men-sit quietly in the classroom's first four rows, scanning notes and checking phones. Yellowing posters of the five boroughs are stapled to the right wall, near a cloth-encircled photograph of the Dalai Lama. ![]() The shabby basement decor and the dozen or so people in their thirties and forties squeezed into grade school-style desk-chairs suggest a mid-day AA meeting, or a state-mandated road rage course. It's a few minutes before class time at AJ Yellow Taxi Tutors, and the late arrivals are straggling in. His charisma has landed him in the year's most acclaimed documentary and brought offers for a reality TV show, which he rejected. Driving by myself has it's own challenges, and as always, practice makes perfect and now I'm getting better with more practice, even though I'm alone.In Jackson Heights, Queens, AJ Gogia runs his cab driving school like a strict headmaster. Just keep progressing and moving forward and you will be able to overcome your anxiety and drive well soon! If you're comfortable with your instructor, that's a good sign. It's not just about passing your test but also about being a safe driver, confident enough to keep your cool and recognise you're in control of your vehicle. So, in answer to your question, take as many lessons as you need. However, I had to get my license and couldn't afford to continue lessons! I think to be truly comfortable, 48 hours of lessons would have been ideal. With my husband, I practiced about 8 hours. I spent about $2000 on about 32 hours of lessons. I'd ask the instructor about what we would be practising in the next lesson, and I'd review my state's DMV handbook and watch YouTube videos before the lesson. Stuff like, "No radio, no talking, I'm going to narrate to you exactly what I'm going to do while driving, and you must give me directions in advance". I set rules with my husband beforehand to make sure I would feel safe driving with him as a passenger. When we drove through the neighborhood, through a short main road, then through another neighborhood, I'd also practice that with my husband. So, we drove around the neighborhood and then I practiced driving around the neighborhood with my husband. Whatever we practiced in the lesson, I tried to practice with my husband. I placed my trust in him that he would keep us safe and I knew he trusted me to keep us safe. Just hearing him acknowledge that made me feel safer and better, and he also then knew my limits. ![]() I would tell him, "I'm finding it hard to see, like everything is a watercolor" and he knew immediately that was a sign of stress. I was 100% honest about how I was feeling and I communicated everything to my instructor. We took it slow and took on more challenges when I was ready. They gave me the best teacher I ever had. I found another driving school and told them I had severe driving anxiety and asked for an instructor who had experience with that. He was getting tired of it and so was I, so I knew I had to drive. I went to a driving school also in my early 20s and had such a terrible experience with the instructor, I put off driving for another year and relied on my husband to take me everywhere. I had, and still have, driving anxiety but I'm getting over it, piece by piece.
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