Thread: High performance cars and young drivers

Another tragic case on this evening's news...2 teenage girls in a small car smacked a power pole at high speed apparently around 3.30am (Sunday) in outer Bris suburb. Took Emergency Services folk several hours to free their bodies.... 'nuff said

Thinking back maybe my Dad did me a huge favour.

I started driving well before I got my learners (At that time you had to be 17) in my Dads Diesel Landcruiser Troopy, No turbo and the thing was flat out at 90.
Usually on the way home from work in the wee hours with no traffic and on Bar tread tyres with 4 wheel jam tins for brakes and by the time I got my Learners I already had nearly 3 years experience up my sleeve driving what basically amounted to a light truck in feel, behavior and handling especially in the wet and as he was often asleep I figured he trusted me and pretty much left me to my own devices on the way home.

I had 8 lessons and a double before my test to teach the finer points and passed with a near perfect score which I attribute to the experience gained in what was an interesting vehicle to operate because you needed some mechanical sympathy to get it smooth and as it was lethal in wet weather on Bar treads you quickly learned to feel its limits.

What I call driving by freckle because your freckle would quickly tell you by varying degrees of pucker how you were doing on wet and stormy nights driving home :-)

These days cars are so insulated from the road I feel that instinct doesn't develop or doesn't develop much which is why im madly working on my 1983 RRC so my remaining kids can spend some time in a 4 speed manual with light truck feel and a gearbox sourced from god knows where but im sure its a tractor lol

And James who is 16 will learn in the thing as well as his Mondeo (Also a manual) to temper the feeling of insulation and if he shows promise I will teach him to change gears without using the clutch which is my "party trick" to see if people are paying attention. (I got in the poo for this last time I was re-trained).

Professionally I lament the sheer amount of experiences kids miss out on learning to drive, I feel they are taught to pass the tests more than taught to drive and I see more and more political intervention and misguided attempts to correct these mistakes through restrictions and rules although some are great like the 120 hours log books others are toothless.

Germany has a good system BTW, and if you get your license in Germany you have earned it and appreciate it because it is both expensive and intensive.

Cheers,
Tony

Originally Posted by Hoges

Another tragic case on this evening's news...2 teenage girls in a small car smacked a power pole at high speed apparently around 3.30am (Sunday) in outer Bris suburb. Took Emergency Services folk several hours to free their bodies.... 'nuff said

Yes Hoges that was horrendous and seeing what was left of their vehicle they were flying.I've seen many pole hits hits but that is one one of the very few times the pole has been broken that I have seen.Also the fact that the MVA had two deceased in it dictates when the Emergency Services can take them out.They are instructed by the police on that .That's why it took so long.
John

Yup! it takes some very high impact to split a power pole like that,at least it would have been instantanious,also the delay would have been for the coroner's to arrive to remove the bodies, as the Ambulance won't remove bodies,(or never used to) going by reports that I saw,the vehicle wasn't theirs,but that of a friend,so they may not have known its handling habits.