I used to own a Forden Tank recovery Vehicle, no problems in that dept :D
That is almost entirely what it's about. To pass, you have to learn systematic car control, according to the principles set out in the police driver's handbook, Roadcraft. Once you've done that, you have to apply it systematically and consistently to your driving. The ideal is to achieve safe, legal, smooth progress. In the end you should be able to cover ground as fast or faster, but much more safely (there's various stats on that). Also the idea of mechanical sympathy (ie not thrashing the nuts off your car) comes into it. The test you have to pass is 90 minutes long, and conducted by a serving or retired police class 1 driver. It covers motorways, country roads, small country roads, towns, a maneuver (one of the usual suspects). More info at www.iam.org Cost: £85 pays for your test, a year's IAM membership (which with insurance and AA membership discounts will pay for itself), and enough tuition (observed driving) to get you to the test (usually takes 6 1 - 1.5 hour drives). Under 26 get £20 off.
Or do a couple oif track days in your own car,certainly helps you to understand what happens to you car when the limits are exceeded,because normally its the drivers limits that are reached before the car well its is with me anyway
they were Rover 416s and Volvo 940s Why doesn't your mate get a mk2 Golf? They're tough. But mk4 Fiestas (95-99) start at circa £1200 now...
East Manchester + Golf + Young Driver is not a good combination in terms fo cheap insuramnce, although I am sure he could just about to insure a 1.1 version. He seems to like cheap tinny cars. He nearly bought a Cinquento last year but I put him off claiming that a 60k cinequento would not have much life left in it the engine. This was the 950cc FIRE engine out of the Panda as well I think a MK4 fiesta will be ideal, they are built well for a small car and have decent safety, even the old MK3 version is much safer than AX. I just wish he would get somthing thats not going to fall to peices if he has a shunt at 20mph. I am a bit scared, maybe I shall just him blunty if he buys a french or italian death trap(i.e 106, AX, Uno, Panda, Cinequento) I won't be going in the car with him ever Most people don't care less but I have a bit of phobia of cars anyway, even in my dads escort I don't always feel safe.
i think it should be madatory for a driver to have to ride a 50cc motorbike for a year before being allowed in a car. riding a 'ped teaches you anticipation like nothing else and imho anticipation id 80% of avoiding an accident. cheers julian
Better still, a bicycle. Add 'a greater appreciation of your own vulnerability' to the above. And while on the subject, why do drivers wait 'till it's wet before opening their doors in front of you ?
coda, they are doing it out of consideration for you. if it's wet there;s less friction and your road rash will be less as you go skidding down the road on your elbows. not sure about bikes rather than motorbikes. with the motorised variety you have a nearly identical amount of vulnerability coupled with greater speed (in general). cheers julian
That is a good suggestion. After a year any motorbikers who do not have or learn anticipation skill quickly will not survive long enough to populate the road as car drivers and become a danger to cyclists.
I reckon that Airbags must be one of the best inventions to prevent serious injury. I saw the aftermath of a head on collision between two Fiestas on a local road recently. I can't recall the exact year of both cars however they had very similar or possibly the very same body shape. The degree of damage was almost exactly the same for both vehicles, it was a full frontal smash and they both had the same degree of .... crumpling . The fate of both drivers was very different though. The guy who didn't have an Airbag fitted was being treatend by a Paramedic for his smashed up face and head , still sitting in the car as he also had neck damage , his face looked like a Pizza. The stupid bitch who caused the accident by overtaking on the crest of a blind 'dip' had an airbag fitted. She was wandering around upset and crying, feeling very sorry for herself for what she'd done, talking on her mobile phone to her old man. No blood, no damage, in fact she was dressed like a wedding reception guest and looked just fine and dandy. Talk about chalk and cheese. I've just bought my second Fiat Punto to replace the Brava that my wife wrote off last month by crashing into a wall. I think they are great little cars and seem to have a reasonable amount of safety features.
Those fiestas sound like a MK4, the pre airbag models also have a slightly weaker body structure and don't have seatbelt pretensioners or side impact bars. I wish I had the picture of my dads Punto to you show what happens when one hits a Peogeot 106, in this instance the Punto won hands down as I said in earlier post none of use were injured. My dad also used to love the close ratio gearbox of the punto which orinicaly means its too expensive for a lot of young drivers who may love a close ratio box because insurance is too high. One thing I don't like about Puntos is that airbags were not standard on the s and sx models which means finding a MKI punto with an airbag is harder than finding a fiesta with one as they were standard since 1994.
relative road position and relative speed (to the big things on four wheels) ie where drivers look and how fast they expect things to be going and yes I drive a car as well and it's even snowing down here by the sea!
