Thread: High performance cars and young drivers

So I have been following this thread now since it started, some interesting points raised and some points that quite frankly have done nothing to reduce the problem, now I am one of those guys that grew up with performance cars, in fact I think i was around 30 ish before I had a "non performance" car, ranging from GT500 Cortina, 400HP 6cyl Charger, small block Monaro, XY Falcon etc etc etc, the one major item IMO that is different today than in my day is simple.....RESPECT.... I see it with our apprentices, my daughter and her friends, with all the "rights" these kids are told they have these days they don't respect the privelidges we did....i.e. the privelidge to hold a liscence, the privelidge to be able to own a car. One other thing I see is that in my day as some of you may agree (or not) horsepower wasn't cheap, in the early eighties a good friend built me a 6cyl Chrysler hemi that had just under 400HP, now these days that's not a whole lot a grunt when you consider that engine was 278 CUI, Push rods etc etc I helped with the build and I know how much work goes into making "Honest" HP, with the ready availability these days of big turbos, Nitrous etc etc it is much easier to build decent power than in the "old days" again, we respected the power "cause we knew how hard it was to make it, we respected the car be because we had way to much money invested, the other thing that taught us respect was either the "Old Man" or the local Senior Seargent giving us a clip around the ears or a night in the lock up, (had them both).... just my thoughts, how do we instill the respect back into our youth? Can we instill the respect back into our youth. I might add that not all should be tarred with the same brush but there is a big lack of respect out there for a whole raft of "life issues" and IMHO this is a majour contributing factor in a lot of the incidents

Originally Posted by Kev the Fridgy

So I have been following this thread now since it started, some interesting points raised and some points that quite frankly have done nothing to reduce the problem, now I am one of those guys that grew up with performance cars, in fact I think i was around 30 ish before I had a "non performance" car, ranging from GT500 Cortina, 400HP 6cyl Charger, small block Monaro, XY Falcon etc etc etc, the one major item IMO that is different today than in my day is simple.....RESPECT.... I see it with our apprentices, my daughter and her friends, with all the "rights" these kids are told they have these days they don't respect the privelidges we did....i.e. the privelidge to hold a liscence, the privelidge to be able to own a car. One other thing I see is that in my day as some of you may agree (or not) horsepower wasn't cheap, in the early eighties a good friend built me a 6cyl Chrysler hemi that had just under 400HP, now these days that's not a whole lot a grunt when you consider that engine was 278 CUI, Push rods etc etc I helped with the build and I know how much work goes into making "Honest" HP, with the ready availability these days of big turbos, Nitrous etc etc it is much easier to build decent power than in the "old days" again, we respected the power "cause we knew how hard it was to make it, we respected the car be because we had way to much money invested, the other thing that taught us respect was either the "Old Man" or the local Senior Seargent giving us a clip around the ears or a night in the lock up, (had them both).... just my thoughts, how do we instill the respect back into our youth? Can we instill the respect back into our youth. I might add that not all should be tarred with the same brush but there is a big lack of respect out there for a whole raft of "life issues" and IMHO this is a majour contributing factor in a lot of the incidents

Another "in my day we could handle big HP..."

Those arguments fall flat...

In your day the road toll was much higher... Despite the lower population and less traffic on the roads...

Surely most can remember the muscle car incidents which lead to the death of the GTHO among others...



http://www.cycle-helmets.com/imgs/ro...-australia.gif

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Another "in my day we could handle big HP..."

Those arguments fall flat...

In your day the road toll was much higher... Despite the lower population and less traffic on the roads...

Surely most can remember the muscle car incidents which lead to the death of the GTHO among others...



http://www.cycle-helmets.com/imgs/ro...-australia.gif

Very interesting graph.
I see the introduction of random breath testing had a huge hit on the road toll And the stricter speed enforcement in Victoria had a small effect.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Very interesting graph.
I see the introduction of random breath testing had a huge hit on the road toll And the stricter speed enforcement in Victoria had a small effect.

The effects of these changes would perhaps be more noticeable and relevant if the axis was the rate (per kilometre, or per registered vehicle, or similar, rather than simply number of deaths) and if the graph extended back to the start of reliable data (about 1940, I think, depending on what you class as reliable). The fall would be much more prominent, and, I suspect the small rises even smaller, if indeed they remained as rises at all.

John

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Very interesting graph.
I see the introduction of random breath testing had a huge hit on the road toll And the stricter speed enforcement in Victoria had a small effect.

That's a National graph: all the State's with large population introduced RBT within a couple of years of each other - Hence a big change. So then obviously a single state getting tough on one road trauma factor would have a smaller effect

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Yes but the second part of rule 130 states:
The driver must not drive in the right lane unless—
(a) the driver is turning right, or making a U-turn from the centre of the
road, and is giving a right change of direction signal; or
(b) the driver is overtaking; or
(c) a left lane must turn left sign or left traffic lane arrows apply to any other
lane and the driver is not turning left; or
(d) the driver is required to drive in the right lane under rule 159; or
(e) the driver is avoiding an obstruction; or
(f) the traffic in each other lane is congested; or
(g) the traffic in every lane is congested.
Penalty: 2 penalty units.

I can't speak for the other states but in Qld, 1950's, when someone got a learner's permit, they received a little book titled "The Highway Code". In this book was the phrase "The first rule of the road is keep to the left."

Isuzurover, my point was not that "In my day", it was more about the social issue these days that there is a distinct lack of respect in society in general, if there was a higher level of respect in general then there would be fewer, accidents, assaults, vandalism, theft, rape etc etc etc etc, bottom line, if one has a high level of respect one doesnt take high risks that end in tragedy.......so how do we regain a higher level of repect?

Originally Posted by Kev the Fridgy

Isuzurover, my point was not that "In my day", it was more about the social issue these days that there is a distinct lack of respect in society in general, if there was a higher level of respect in general then there would be fewer, accidents, assaults, vandalism, theft, rape etc etc etc etc, bottom line, if one has a high level of respect one doesnt take high risks that end in tragedy.......so how do we regain a higher level of repect?

That is why many of us believe that education is one on of the major factors to improve the attitude of some young drivers and reduce fatalities.