Driving test "Dumbed Down"!

[Hivemaker.]

Did 700 miles on the trusty Triumph tripple

Used to go to the race meetings years ago and see Percy Tait race the predecessor of that (race version) the Trident.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_Sam

 

[pargyle]

Pargie... good excuse to buy a Defender... hit one of those and you're toast!

Yeghes da

I have a sneaky hankering after a defender but at present - mostly around town - the MPG is diabolical compared to my (now deceased !!) Rover 75 Diesel estate....Not sure what to do .... I think diesel drivers are going to get crucified financially in the next few years .... I've had a Mitsubish L200 Petrol V6 in the past which was LPG converted and very cheap to run ... so LPG looks promising but what to put around it for a sensible price ... not sure.

I was very fortunate that there was another driver following me through the green lights and another on stationary at the red lights that the other driver went through so two good witnesses and the other driver's insurers gave in almost instantly. I've had my cage rattled in the past by insurance companies who settled on a knock for knock basis when it was clearly not my fault ... for once clear cut result.

 

[Millet]

Well... I think that all drivers should do the Police Driving Awareness course ... not just new ones - anyone who hasn't done one should ... eye opening and thought provoking.

I had my car written off last week by a driver who ran a red light at somewhere between 30 and 40mph and hit my car's front end ... it was a traffic light controlled roundabout and I was going through green lights, she came down a dual carriageway leading onto the roundabout and just didn't stop at the red light. She has accepted liability, there were plenty of witnesses who saw it all - ahe just 'didn't see the red light' ... just as well I was in a car and not on a motorbike or bicycle. The police are going to offer her a driving awareness course and an eyetest ...

As for me ... well with what the insurers will give me for my written off vehicle I'm going to buy a bottle of scotch and think about how I'm going to replace the reliable, well cared for but old car with something equivalent for what they think is the value of my car ... total PIA - although nobody was hurt and for that I'm grateful.

I had to do one of those 2yrs ago when a mobile camera van clocked me doing 55mph on a 50mph stretch of the A1 Motorway, it is definitely opened my eyes and it also jogged my memory on a lot of things i had forgotten when i first past my driving test, it lasted four hours and to be honest it flew by and i quite enjoyed it among other folk who where moaning and trying to tell the advanced driving teachers they where wrong. lol , i do not speed as a rule , it was just a day dreaming moment where you can not remember where you are for a split second when you come back to reality, after the coarse that lack of concentration made me realize i could of had a serious accident or even be dead.

 

[chrisb]

If you have a pushchair in the boot of the car you will never get it out if you reverse into the space, also if you have loads of shopping or sacks of compost etc that you need to put into the boot you would have to move the (reversed in) car and leave it sitting there while it was loaded.

I would be more worried about not testing that drivers are able to do 3 point turns. Also relying on satnav is daft, if we get solar flares interfering with satellites etc you will end up with chaos, everyone should be able to read a map.

Exactly how do you load a cars boot with heavy goods when you have no space behind you to stand and no space between cars to get the stuff to the rear
if you can not reverse the motor you are driving, get rid of it

 

[chrisb]

they want to add some proper things like, change a flat tire on the car, check fluid levels, check tire pressures,check tire condition, checking operation of lights, entering and exiting a motorway, and made to show green P plates for 12 months after test

 

[Millet]

they want to add some proper things like, change a flat tire on the car, check fluid levels, check tire pressures,check tire condition, checking operation of lights, entering and exiting a motorway, and made to show green P plates for 12 months after test

A lot of new cars don't even carry a spare, just a tin of spray foam to blow it back up again, that would of been me knackered 6mth ago when i had a 70mph blow out on the motor way.. .

 

[theeggman]

Just to wind things up a bit.
20 yrs ago when I took and gained an HGV class 1 license the guy who trained with me for 2 weeks was failed for "failure to make progress", he wasn't fast enough. That morning around Swindon the mist had closed in and he went slowly, but not fast enough to pass the test!! So HGV drivers have to travel at what they consider to be excess speed to pass the test. Sorry it's total c**p.

I ceased driving HGV's a while ago (thank God with the current traffic) but have a lot of sympathy with the poor sods who do it daily.

 

[pargyle]

I had to do one of those 2yrs ago when a mobile camera van clocked me doing 55mph on a 50mph stretch of the A1 Motorway, it is definitely opened my eyes and it also jogged my memory on a lot of things i had forgotten when i first past my driving test, it lasted four hours and to be honest it flew by and i quite enjoyed it among other folk who where moaning and trying to tell the advanced driving teachers they where wrong..

Yes .. I've had to do it twice, both caught slightly above the speed limit on fixed cameras ... once, a long time ago, it was a full day course, the morning was all the classroom stuff and in the afternoon they took us out, two to a car, with an advanced driving instructor who watched us drive and commented on what we were doing ..

The second one about five years ago was jiust a half day classroom job .. much more hard hitting but very informative and I too found it worthwhile.

I don't speed and I leave lots of thinking and braking room - just as well or I would probably be in hospital or dead now if I had been a second or two faster through the lights last Tuesday.... It shook me up a bit and I keep thinking back as to whether I could have avoided the collision ~ but I can't remember even seeing the other car coming and I think it was hidden by the angle and the car waiting at the lights.

 

[Fritillary]

A lot of new cars don't even carry a spare

Yes, isn't that ridiculous! And my sub-standard spare is stored underneath the rear of the car, where it's guaranteed to get completely rusted up. (If a fake one, why can't we have a real one?) After a rapid puncture, fortunately near a garage, as it took them some time filing rust down and releasing bolts on the car before the thing could be fitted - I could never have done it by the side of the road - I swore I would get a proper replacement wheel. But where to store it in a hatchback? (Already full of swarm collecting kit etc etc etc!) Wouldn't want to be without a little compressor in the car - that's been very helpful for anything but a real blow-out.

 

[jd101k2000]

GPS in the driving test

Had to have a giggle - people complaining that people should learn to read a map rather than use the GPS. I don't remember the test including reading a map while driving... or even parking up to read a map.

Had a lovely mental picture of someone with a map over the steering wheel, trying to read it while on their driving test.

I think the important point about that part of the revised test is that lots of drivers do use a GPS while driving and that it is important that they do it safely. I can remember when I started using a GPS that I was so entranced by the moving map that I wondered why it didn't show the oncoming traffic and that I still had to look out the nice window at the front of the car. (Screech, swerve.)

 

[alldigging]

Had a lovely mental picture of someone with a map over the steering wheel, trying to read it while on their driving test.

And only actually passing if you can fold it back up properly!

 

[jd101k2000]

Of course, folding a map incorrectly is the eighth deadly sin, (but the most deadly).

 

[Millet]

Yes, isn't that ridiculous! And my sub-standard spare is stored underneath the rear of the car, where it's guaranteed to get completely rusted up. (If a fake one, why can't we have a real one?) After a rapid puncture, fortunately near a garage, as it took them some time filing rust down and releasing bolts on the car before the thing could be fitted - I could never have done it by the side of the road - I swore I would get a proper replacement wheel. But where to store it in a hatchback? (Already full of swarm collecting kit etc etc etc!) Wouldn't want to be without a little compressor in the car - that's been very helpful for anything but a real blow-out.

100% spot on , after rolling around on the dirty road for 15 minutes getting rotten only to find the spare also flat is no fun, i have an estate car with the back seats permanently laid flat, my spare is inside the car now in full view where a can easily check in regularly.

 

[MartinL]

Just to wind things up a bit.
20 yrs ago when I took and gained an HGV .

You would be well acquainted with the manouvering part then?

If you want to drive something your ability to do so should be tested. If you fail to prove yourself capable then you fail, simple!

Since when has a sat-nav said "right hand down and back a bit more, , , HOLD IT"!

 

[MartinL]

rolling around on the dirty road for 15 minutes getting rotten only to find the spare also flat.

If you change your car it makes sense to check that all of it works and how!

 

[pargyle]

Had a lovely mental picture of someone with a map over the steering wheel, trying to read it while on their driving test.

Ahhh ... I well remember my early days working in London ... no GPS in those days ... standard practice was the medium sized A-Z open on the steering wheel and the occasional glance to check that the minute arrows on the roads that indicated one way only were not pointing in the wrong direction ! I can remember a number of occasions getting stiuck in the Barbican giratory system ,.. unable to go the way I wanted as they had, yet again, changed the one ways and my A-Z had not caught up.

They are not perfect but there's a lot to be grateful for in a GPS - until they break down ! Then ... best print out the Google map as a back up !!

 

[Millet]

If you change your car it makes sense to check that all of it works and how!

After 28yrs of driving i think i have that bit sussed.

 

[theeggman]

After 28yrs of driving i think i have that bit sussed.

After 50 yrs I'm with you. Grannies and eggs comes to mind!!