41 replies to this topic

[Samwise]

I didn't really want to get involved in the shit-fight this thread has become, but I saw a few things last night that really grinded my gears.

1) I think allowing L's and P's to do 110 on the freeways/highways/motorways is completely reasonable. Trying to merge at 80 or 90 into traffic doing 110 is just asking for trouble! From my own experience as a P-plater and from seeing some idiot trying to merge last night, but the traffic doing 110 didn't want to let them in..
Just because it says 110, doesn't mean they'll do it. I'm sure we've all experienced fully licensed drivers doing 80 in the right hand lane anyway..

2) I agree with Jimbo. If they want to drive a performance vehicle, make them do a driving course.
Last night I saw a group of red p-platers fly past me at 120 on the M7 and all in NA's.. having a turbo would make that worse! Since it's quite obvious we can all lose our license in any car really.
Also, they should allow the new (last 10 years) low performance turbo's in. But they have to be a proven economical car. Like the small diesel hatchbacks and so on that get Prius-like L/100km figures.

3) Rather then use scare tactics and bullying, train the fuckers! I was glad I did a defensive driving course when I first got my license. It has helped. The problem is we're creating a society of nervous drivers who are more likely to crash, as they won't know how to react in a situation.

[SamuelCharles]

The idea of a mandatory practical driving day/ course is perfect. If you can control a car and know you can potentially throw it around and understand what goes wrong you will respect it. All these young guys buy v6's and turbo 4's, think they are cool destroying tyres but have no idea what they are doing or what they would do when they lost control. Im trying not to sound cocky or anything like that but im now on my green p's and often get mad at other p platers and their driving. When I was on my L's my dad had a Holden Omega for a work car and within the first week he took me to a secluded road that was no longer in public use and taught me to do a donut, burnout and eventually get to a controlled slide. My younger sister is half way through her L's and dad is doing the same thing on secluded parts of the beach in our forester, sure its not as hard as in a rwd car on the road but she still understands what to do when the car slips. This time spent learning how the car feels when something slips and knowing what to do it vital in my opinion and if we could get this education to every young driver, there wouldnt be an issue with owning higher powered cars. And secondly, actually understanding how the car works is a major thing in driving too. Most teenagers (like my girlfriend for example) get told that a clutch it what makes the car go and thats it. My girlfirend drove for 8 months on her ls and ,only after having a lesson, realized that the clutch actually grabs and has a friction point... knowing the basic mechanics of a car would help drasticly in young peoples driving skills. Some of our most annoying drivers are formed from incorrect technique from their parents who are often bad drivers themselves. Being taught by somebody who is good at something embeds correct technique into those who are learning. Simple concept.