Quote:
Originally Posted by taminga16
And there my friend may well lie the problem! and please understand this is not a criticism, do a personal review and assess what it is that you are doing, or not doing for that matter. It just may give you a better insight as to why there are "So many idiots on the road". Greg.
The biggest contribution to workplace accidents is complacency you would be amazed at the number of files that I have dealt with that open with the statement, I have always done it like that!
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I went and did a basic driver education course last year. It's the first time I've had professional instruction (not based on track driving) in about twenty years. I can only recommend that everyone do it about every ten years. Things have changed dramatically over the twenty years or so since I got my licence, consider the differences between the two cars, my first car, and the one I learnt to drive in was a Holden Gemini, the car I did the recent training in was an Alfa 156GTA.
Engine: 1600 inline 4 cylinder vs 3200 V6.
Power: Not much (probably about 70 BHP), vs 250 BHP.
Brakes: Front discs/rear drums vs Four pot Brembo fronts/disc rear with ABS.
Steering: rack and pinion, unassisted vs rack and pinion power assisted
Gears: 4 vs 6
Airbags: none vs 6
Traction control: none, with live rear axle vs TC and stability control
All this technology which helps you in emergency situations is pretty much useless if you don't know how to use it. For example we did a simulated emergency braking test from 60 kmh first, I failed to pull up in the allotted space on my first attempt, even though I could feel the ABS working. The instructor could tell by the way the car stopped that I was still "threshold braking" even though the ABS was working, which reduces the efficiency of the ABS. Next time he told me to press as hard as I could on the brakes, I did and the car stopped well short of the mark, probably 5 metres earlier than in the first test.
After every break we did another swerve and stop exercise and everytime I needed two goes at it to get the braking right. Since then I have had to exercise the reactions for real and I'm pleased to say that it worked, I now stamp very hard on the brake pedal in an emergency stop.
This is but one example of what us "old dogs" can learn.
As many of you know I have always advocated that more training is necessary before we let people have a licence, perhaps mandatory driver training before a licence renewal would do more to save lives than any speed camera? At least the revenue from the speed cameras, as they aren't going away, would be spent wisely if this was the case.
Cheers
Stuart