Learning to drive

[Chris Parks]

I'd like to see young drivers stay on their P's till the age of 23, then do a driving test again with an assessor. By that time they will have instilled any of their bad habits, that hopefully the assessor will pick and make them do their licence again.

Kryn

What would that have achieved in your case? it would have done zip for me but I was one of the last drivers in NSW to avoid going on P's by about three months.

[elanjacobs]

Some of the cars were doing 100, till you went to overtake them, then they'd lift the speed to 110, this happened on several occasions. Fortunately we were in a 6.7 Litre Ford F250 which very quickly overtook them, and they'd slow back down to what ever they were comfortable at.
Is it arrogance that causes people to do such stupid things???
Kryn

No idea why people do it, but I just floor it and go around (also fortunate to have a car with no problem overtaking). I figure it's safer to do 130 for a few seconds than be anywhere near them.

As for big rigs dealing with people like that (more so with "brake checking"), I firmly believe that they shouldn't have to take any extra evasive action; just clean them up and deal with the result after stopping safely. Yes, I know that's probably not going to be popular, but I have no time for people who intentionally make the road more dangerous than it already is.

I also seem to remember that it's illegal to drive more than 20 under the limit on a freeway (at least in Vic), but it's a long time since I sat my test and that might have changed.

[Chris Parks]

I used to drive trucks between Eden and Wollongong for a living and had an experience one night that I nearly called the police for. I caught a car going in the same direction doing well under the speed limit so standard procedure was to back off and knowing the road I would then pick up speed just as the car entered the next dual lane passing opportunity, this clown then proceeded to speed up to prevent me passing then slow down when he exited the passing section and proceeded to do this for about an hour. I was about to ring the police when he turned off, I know some drivers I was working with who would have punted him off the road and my inner rage was fairly high but driving trucks does teach patience.

[AlexS]

Is it arrogance that causes people to do such stupid things???

Dunno what causes it, but it happens far too often, as a couple of other posters have pointed out.
The other ones who pee me off are those who don't understand "Keep left unless overtaking". They would learn its meaning if they drove in the UK for a couple of days.

[rrich]

Just a silly thought.
Maybe before people are allow to have a car driving license, they should first have to gain a heavy vehicle licence then progress to a motorcycle licence then sit for a car licence.
Drivers might be a little more curious and traffic aware??

Having ridden a bike in the farm country of central Ohio I would say that half of the people that graduate from heavy vehicle to motorcycle would never get a car licence. The reason is that the post office doesn't deliver to cemeteries.

I'm on a deserted road with a cross road in Ohio. My road is protected by STOP signs at the cross road. I've probably had the bike for less than a month. It is winter and the fields are fallow. I have my headlight on the motorcycle on. Visibility is about 1.6 Km in any direction. I am approaching the intersection where the cross traffic has a STOP sign. A vehicle is also approaching the STOP sign on my right. They just pull out in front of me. I brake and avoid killing myself. The driver of the car looks at me with a glare that says, "What are you doing on my road." I'm alive and that was the best education I've ever had, "On a bike, you are invisible! Ride like it."

There were so many incidents just like that in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Los Angeles that I gave up riding. When going to renew my driver license in Los Angeles I was asked if I wanted to renew the Class M also. (Motorcycle endorsement) The clerk at the DMV said that was good because a measurable percent of people with their first class M endorsement don't even renew their driver license. I didn't ask why but I assumed it was because the post office doesn't deliver to cemeteries.

And it all goes against the age old rhetorical question, "Why do people who ride motorcycles have bugs in their teeth?"

[THE BARON]

[QUOTE=smidsy;2164300]
In 2011 in Queensland I got my bike license after one 1 hour lesson and the five hour Qride instructor assessment - it was my first time on a geared bike in 25 years and the first time I'd ever been legally on a bike on the road.
All my tests I thought were pathetically easy, when I mentioned this to the Qride instructor he told me that they deliberately make the test easy because they'd rather have bad licensed drivers than bad unlicensed drivers.


About this same time I went through Qride to upgrade my 250 licence to Open after 30 or so years of occasional law breaking. "Yeah", everyone said, "it's easy as, no one ever fails". Now maybe I took that as a challenge or more likely I am just rubbish because I went very close to leaving empty handed. Now I had no trouble riding out to the Big Pineapple car park where all the set testing would take place but it went downhill very rapidly, in fact it started as we pulled up. I put my right foot down as I came to a stop which it appears is very wrong and so in front of the other contestants I was given a serve and made to do it again, which I managed to do correctly. Then I shut down the engine with the kill switch before turning off the ignition which also was apparently a hanging offence. Next up was a test of low speed bike control, where, as punishment for the kill switch thing, I had to go first.

The instruction was "ride as slowly as you can up to the Witch's hat". So adopting my best Sammy Miller trials stance I crawled forward slipping the clutch and even stopping still for a bit thinking "this will impress him". And did it impress him? No it did not! Okay, I think that had something to do with him not wanting to replace the clutch which I was giving a seriously hard time but he made it quite clear I should just ride up to the marker at a somewhat faster pace. And then things went really bad. The emergency braking test! I made sure I went near last so I didn't get it wrong and look like a goose again. This plan did not work at all. First attempt I did what everyone else did, which I thought was not much, except when he dropped his arm I obviously hit the brakes a bit harder because where they stopped beside him, I was ten metres short of where he was standing. To my horror, he shook his head and told me to do it again but this time do it properly. Attempt two had me giving the bike everything on the run up and then stopping as cleanly as I could manage and even with the extra speed I pulled up ten metres short of where everyone else had. This earned another head shake and the words" I'll give you one more chance".

Attempt three I came out of the bottom corner like Casey Stoner and flat shifted right up to the arm drop where I hit both brakes as hard as I dared. The front suspension dived full length, the front tire was chirping and squirming around and the back brake was chattering on the point of lock up but I kept it upright and again stopped short of him. He motioned me to ride over, where he explained that this was a test and he is not allowed to instruct but the other riders may be able to help out. Looking up revealed them all laughing and holding up their right hands and what appeared to be waving with their fingers. I sat there totally stumped for a bit then the "light bulb moment". So off I went and proceeded to perform the worst attempt by anyone all day, when I went for the front brake I managed to jam the throttle on, it was not pretty, but he was satisfied and everyone else was almost on the ground laughing. The rest of the day he pretty much made sure he never looked at what I was doing, I think it made his life easier. And yes he did pass me.

Now what crime was I committing that caused all that? I,m glad you asked. I use two fingers on the front brake and have done for most of my riding life and although it may have changed, at that time it was a fail under Transport Dept rules. Some of my bikes ran two finger brake levers which to my surprise were probably illegal not that I would care. I will bet if I ever found one of the imbeciles who make rules like that, they would not be able to give a valid reason for it but would just smugly say that it doesn't matter because that's the rule and if you don't like it you should get it changed. When the snot gobblers are running the world don't expect good ideas to be adopted. The reason I use two finger braking is because of a lifetime of riding dirt bikes, it allows you to get back on the throttle before you even release the front brake. Yeah, I know, I'm too old for that sort of thing but twenty minutes on a motocross track beats the hell out of a brisk morning walk for aerobic exercise and adrenaline is still the best drug of all except crashing hurts for longer.

[Glider]

Dunno what causes it, but it happens far too often, as a couple of other posters have pointed out.
The other ones who pee me off are those who don't understand "Keep left unless overtaking". They would learn its meaning if they drove in the UK for a couple of days.

I now use a technique I learned on the autobahns in Germany which works 90% of the time. If you want someone to move over, sit behind at a safe distance and turn on your indicator. Sometimes it takes a while and may need a flash of the lights to get their attention. It's polite, non-aggressive and very effective.

mick

[Chesand]

The other ones who pee me off are those who don't understand "Keep left unless overtaking". They would learn its meaning if they drove in the UK for a couple of days.

Having driven in the UK a few times, I agree.