It's not the dark. It's because groups of youngsters get in cars together, egg each other on, and the driver does silly things. It's not the road or driving itself that becomes more inherently more dangerous (the opposite I'd say). You can stop this by not allowing people to drive at night, or by mandating the older supervisor, who should in theory stop such situations, yet still allow night driving. Or just through proper education of youngsters.
I tend to agree that limiting how they drive is likely going to be more effective.
I was thinking it could be a lack of PAS thing, because the slightest bump in the road causes a big reaction in my direction of travel in the van, but the PAS in the Hilux has made the steering so light and numb it irons out everything in the road.
But I am mostly against it because I've been in situations I couldn't recover from one handed and I've seen people lose it because they were cruising like a gangsta.
The fact the roads round here are extremely demanding with a lot of hidden hazards coould be why I've come across a fair few vehicles on the side/roof. Don't get me wrong, I love spirited driving and rack up many miles a week for work, but that doesn't mean you have to get complacent.
I think most people have been guilty of one handed driving at some point, but at the end of the day, you are not fully in control of the vehicle despite how confident you might feel. Just look at some of the footage of any professional driver, be that racing or emergency services, a hand is only ever removed from the wheel for the minimum of time.
Part of the problem is that cars have too many driver aids that can lure a driver into false sense of security. It was installed in me that when taking the wheel of a vehicle, I was taking control of a deadly weapon and it should be treated accordingly. It seems to me, that the current philosophy behind the current driving test, is often about just passing the test (much like the education system in general) and not so much about continued learning or being aware of the limitations of both the vehicle and driver.
Personally, I think the advanced driving test should be mandatory, and everyone should be made to retest on a regular basis. There are far too many complacent, greedy, incompetent and otherwise bad drivers on the roads today, and if this was any other area of life, there would be public outcry about the levels of death and injury caused. Somehow this seems to be tolerated.
Make getting a license harder I say - much harder - and make someone demonstrate they are competent for the whole time they wish to drive. That includes skid pan driving - just look at the poor decisions that are made whenever we have an inch of snow - the whole country comes to a standstill.
driving one handed....um over here we can have some sudden dips in the road surface, mostly near the edge of the road, and that can suck you in, kind of like running into a deep puddle with one wheel, I drive with both hands as a precaution always.
When driving round town, I have a bad habit of driving with one hand on the wheel and one on the gearstick whether I need to change gear or not (which I am forcing myself to try and break). Cruising any distance though, I always use two hands, I just don't feel safe otherwise.
some sections of our major highways have been repaved so many times that there is actually a hump from one layer to the next, hitting it at 100km/h gives you a nice jolt, i think the one time i even hit my head off the roof.
apparently if enough people complain, they shave the hump down, but they never do a good enough job of it. plus when they shave large sections of the road, it makes considerable noise on the tires.
I don't think one-handed driving is necessarily that bad, it's driving one-handed, with the arm, or rather elbow, connected to that hand rested on the window sill or arm rest or whatever. If you drive like that you have seriously limited movement of your hand and so limited steering, which might seem fine on a motorway in normal driving, but could pose a problem if you had to react quickly with a larger steering movement.
I'd be all for these crazy regulations but only if it means that people won't get ****ed over on insurance.
I've never had my own policy on my car simply because I cannot afford it, meaning I haven't collected any no claims bonus or whatever, despite driving for two years with no accidents.
It's new york, Why do you decide to live in a state with like, 10 million taxis.
So when does it snow in Australia? Isn't that abit too harsh?
I disagree here, If I'm almost 50FT from a car why should I signal? I shouldn't need a giant lightbulb to get someones attention that has absolutely no purpose other than merging and turning on unmarked roads, Most turns I do are unsignaled, But are always mirrored and double checked.
80% of blondes, 20% of total females, 5%~ Males, 60% old people and 2% starter drivers.. Can you say mass transit? Lets pick them off at the road signs test if they confuse a yield for a stop yield then we'll ban em permanently!
I don't think new drivers are responsible enough to carefully rev match and engine brake as well as carefully applied clutch (How mine works anywho) because once they start and hear the car hit the redline they will freak.
This made me smile, What about slower.. Family cars? Most of the road cars are toyota's and waiting to happen roadkill like mini coopers, We're not talking about Caterhams with fresh Michelins.
How is this? I can drive without hands completely, Not saying this is safe, But most roads are banked and ribbed in such way that water slides off the road, That should be enough banking to drive without hands until a major curb, I can do all of the above and still hold a perfect speed and not be weaving all over the place like a kitten on LSD.
First, Since this is a driving thread.. How are you not allowed to have a back window? Doesn't that mean your read view mirror is pretty much blind? I've been tailgated by two motorcycles in the same lane, I don't know if they were trying a new sex position, But once I saw the greenlight I floored it, Made them fall. The sound of my car is damn loud. I wouldn't have done that if it was rush hour, But sadly only one bit the dust.
I did get blue lighted for this (Mother****er at a donut shop) And I "Femaled" my way out of it. Accent + torn english + looking good = Instant ticket removal.
I don't see alot of fender benders in new york, I see tons of stop and go traffic, If you were stopping and starting all day, I can see how a small accident can happen.
i agree with this license system on the basis that you should be forced to deal with a kei car or simular ( you know... 1 liter tops or 660cc with a 7 psi turbo )
and as you progress on your license you get bigger and better things so long as you can afford it.
Also This would make alot of sense imho as many of my friends and family are losing their arses insuring the nice 320 bmw or bigger atm being under 21 and such, if they where made to drive a Corsa for a year or two im sure they could not only save on insurance tax fuel costs Etc, they would respect their motors and not have to off-load it onto me when they discover theirs no market for them and then it takes me a month or so if lucky to get the face value of it back.
My daily runner is a 1.8l asthmatic diesel van, it cracked out 60BHP new (probably 30 now) and I can easily average 45-50mph around the twisty roads of North Yorkshire. This is with budget tyres that are in need of replacement. Average speed means you're able to keep the flow and corner speed up. But to be fair, I can only average high speeds now because I braced up the front suspension. The flex in the chassis was so great without it I'd understeer off the road at 15mph.
Answer your question? If I had a rear view mirror it'd be blocked, but they aren't fitted for obvious reasons. You could spec this van to have back windows and they did come with rear view mirrors, although you did get a massive line through your field of vision.
Before I started driving or hanging around with people who have cars I'd have agreed with you, however most of the people nowadays drive at or below the speed limit (mostly because of their cars with coilover suspension) and sit fairly peacefully in a carpark (sometimes with loud music but cmon..) and mind their own business.
Obviously you have the odd cock but I've seen more older drivers driving far more aggresively than I have younger drivers.
Also +1 Jack's comment about not having to drive with Mrs. Kitchen.
not here, tbh its more the people who should have more sense are the ones being the idiot.... i mean, a 1.8t audi a4 for example, its an ok car, does a bit of speed and generally looks rather decent ( by drug dealer standards )
every c__t of a driver i know has one or a posh golf( a3 ) and thinks their a racing legend by doing 60+ in a 30 zone.
fputher more
i often also have to drive pitch black b roads home and tbh.... at 3 in the morning, the last thing i need is this retards ripping up behind me with either dodgy lights or cheap " HID " lights.... so either im blind or i cant see em. If that was not bad enough, dadge or other paddys here can tell you how tight some of the roads are yet they do their best to over take me.... i mean, Jesus.... its dark, wet and tight.... Why bother ?
meanwhile the ricer in his civic is doing 17 in a 30 trying his best not to curb his 17" 80$ wolfrace alloys he spray canned chrome <<==== a regular ocourance... ive no bother taking their money; trollface.jpg
Distance from cars is irrelevant. Pedestrians will be looking at your signals too, it's also good to signal even if your road position suggests where you're going to go, because there are a lot of drivers who don't know where they're going and change lanes suddenly, so most (good) drivers won't assume you're going where you look like you're going until you either signal or you actually go there, by which time they might've missed an opportunity to pull out or got had to slow down for traffic in their lane or whatever.
Signalling is useful to other people, that's why you should do it, no matter how far away they are or whether they are on the road or on foot.
I prefer to use hand signals. I carry a reflective wrist-band for night driving.. I think its really beneficial trying to do hand signals while shifting and steering.
Signalling is more of a habbit for me. I signal on long country B roads at 3am without being fully aware. Doesn't matter that there won't be other people for a few hours I still do it.
