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Re: driver's ed. is a joke
In article ko0@wanda.pond.com, russotto@wanda.pond.com () writes:
>In article <3u9mgf$11u@ixnews5.ix.netcom.com>,
>J. Hale <lily1@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>}How can we even think of raising the speed limits to a reasonable level
>}with the current lack of skill displayed by most drivers on the road
>}today?
>
>Let Darwin handle the driver training.
I suspect that will happen to some extent, but often its not just the
driver that is involved in the accident. What if its you, your spouse,
or your children? I lost two of my best friends to drunk drivers. They
died; the drink drivers did not. Motor vehicle Darwinism does not work
well enough to make it a policy, my friend.
> Besides, the speed limits aren't slowing people down NOW.
It has been shown time and time again, that there's no significant
correlation between speed and accident rates. However speed differential
DOES have a significant correlation, hence the 80% recomendation (set the
speed limit to be what 80% of the drivers on a particular section of road
drive.)
>} It seems to me that the whole driver's training system needs to
>}be revamped and all who are currently licensed need to be recertified
>}under more strict regulations before any other changes to driving laws.
>} It's just too damned easy to get a license in this country. Opinions?
>} Comments?
I've always believed that Driver's Education was a joke. It needs to be
a REAL course - similar to Bob Bondurant's teen driving course - with a skid
pad, outrigger-equipped skid cars, and anything else needed to teach the
student about driving EMERGENCIES and how to manage them.
Sure, driver's education and defensive driving TELL you how to recover from
a skid, but they can't tell you how one feels, and they can't get you to
correct instinctively, and folks, that's the ONLY way you're going to
recover - you don't have TIME to think!
>Sorry, this is the United States of America. The driver's license is
>a right which ranks up there with dial tone and cable TV. You'll get
>my driver's license when you pry it from the hot, smoking, wreck of my car.
Why is it that most people think this way? Sure driving your car is a
right. BUT driving your car on public roads is not! Those roads arn't
yours and you don't own them, the PUBLIC does. If you want to drive on
them, then you've got to obey the laws the public requires you to obey to
use them.
>Seriously, I don't think changing the driver training system will get
>you much: most of driving is learned through actual experience on the
>roads, with other drivers, and can't be learned any other way, at
>least at present.
Then include experience in the driver training program! When I was
learning to drive, I did a lot of crazy things in my high-school parking
lot including burn-outs, cutting doughnuts, breaking hard and generally
throwing the car around a lot. Little did I know I was also exploring the
dynamics of a car's handling. I was teaching myself how a car felt as it
began to oversteer, and understeer. I was learning how a spin felt and I
learned how to recover from one. I was learning how the car felt as the
brakes locked up (and I learned first-hand that you really CAN'T steer
with the wheels locked. I learned a lot driving like an asshole in that
big, empty parking lot.
Another thing I'm in support of is re-certification. Do you realize
that if you never move out of state, never let your license lapse, and
never have it revoked, that you can keep your license and drive for as
long as you live?! All you have to do is pass an eye exam! Folks,
there's a LOT more involved in safe driving other than being able to
see a chart of letters! 80% of the students enrolled in Comedy Defensive
Driving thought the correct way to deal with a spin was to slam on the
brakes! Now no one was taught that in their driver's ed class! This is
somthing their "common sense" cooked up.
-- Robert King
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| Robert A. King | |
| Systems Software Engineer | |
| Kodak Health Imaging Systems | "I drank WHAT?!?" -- Socrates |
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| king@khan.khis.com | |
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| The opinions expressed here arn't even mine, much less my employer's! |
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