First driving lesson next week!! Yayyy

[Ava Estelle]

Ava, you are clearly a moron.

Bye.

Good comeback, it saves you digging a bigger hole for yourself.

[clocker]

Just drove to work.
During this journey of about 8 miles I had to stop six times- three of these were on inclines of various degree.
Didn't use the handbrake once.

How I failed to leave a trail of carnage and destruction is beyond me.

Sheer dumb luck, I suppose.

[Snee]

See, that's what I'm talking about.
Seems a bit odd engaging the parking brake for stops like that.


I do know some great (sometimes professional) drivers, and I can honestly say that I've never seen anyone use the parking break like that, not for short stops when they weren't actually parking.


EDit: TBH, I somehow imagine that engaging it all the time might be more dangerous, 'cos rather than just pushing down the throttle, and leaving the clutch alone to go again, you now have to focus on disengaging the parking brake as well. One more thing for people to mess up with.

And it seems lazy. Like you drop all control while waiting for a green light.

[j2k4]

I do know some great (sometimes professional) drivers, and I can honestly say that I've never seen anyone use the parking break like that, not for short stops when they weren't actually parking.

Vidcc assures us there is "no such thing" as an excellent driver.

He may denounce your claim of knowing any who are merely "great", as well.

I await his next post with 'bated breath...

[j2k4]

Just drove to work.
During this journey of about 8 miles I had to stop six times- three of these were on inclines of various degree.
Didn't use the handbrake once.

How I failed to leave a trail of carnage and destruction is beyond me.

Sheer dumb luck, I suppose.

Had Ava been driving in front of you, you would no doubt have been late arriving.

Had he been behind you, I expect you'd be somewhat injured just now, and your car roont, as well.

Oh, no, wait...he'd have been in the wrong lane.

Never mind...

[clocker]

I admit that I briefly considered attempting to use the hand...fuck it, ebrake as recommended but the entire process seemed so ludicrous and unnatural that I merely smiled and continued to drive as a normal person would.

Perhaps only "jap crap" cars are capable of such refined driving techniques.

[bigboab]

UK driving Test

Take the example of a simple mistake of not putting on the handbrake while waiting in traffic. That would be a driver error which will not cause you to fail the test (unless it takes you over the 15 driver error limit). However if the car behind you accidentally bumps you, and your car surges forward a bit without hitting the car in front of you (because you had stopped far enough behind using tyres and tarmac rule), your little mistake is now a serious error due to what you would say is no fault of yours, and you will fail the test. Even if your car does not surge forward when bumped, you are certain to fail the test because your car was not secured when stationary.

http://ukadi.blogspot.com/

Useful hints on sitting the UK driving test.

[MagicNakor]

I thought you guys were talking about pulling away from parking on an incline...not idling in traffic.

[vidcc]

I await his next post with 'bated breath...

This after twice publicly throwing your rattle down and stating you would be ignoring my posts.

You and I have different opinions as to what makes for a good driver. I used to be close to your present opinion but as I said I had a lot of what I thought made for a good driver dispelled. Making it pertain to this subject, more or less it was put like this.

It's not about being able to multi task with your limbs while driving. If it was then those that say they can talk on the phone with one hand while driving, being able to lean over and change a CD (modern version of an 8 track) while still watching the road, women being able to put their make up on during the drive to work (somehow not crashing so obviously skilled) or changing gear with your elbow would be considered good drivers.
I'm sure you will say that the examples are like chalk and cheese or some other term, but that's not how I see it.

It's not about performing race car tactics as a definition of being an "accomplished" driver that makes for a good driver.

It's about the safety. Not just yours but that of the world outside your vehicle.

Performing race car tactics during a race is designed to cut a fraction of a second off a maneuver. It may well require practice to become accomplished at such a maneuver but it trades off on safety. This trade off is made due to the circumstance of being in a race.
Perhaps a cop in pursuit would use the tactic, but it's a trade off of safety over the need to cut that fraction of a second.
The safest thing would be one pedal one foot. It's a more natural position because of the angle and there is less chance of the foot slipping. The fact that one manages to do it without slipping "so far" does not make it the safest.
So in summation IMO the ability to perform neat little tricks makes for an arrogant driver. The neat little trick makes mistakes more likely so is not the safest.

The Summation as I remember it given to me when talking about various techniques we may wish to employ went something like this.
Obviously safety is traded off just by the act of driving. The question is are you trading safety due to circumstance or the wish for a exhilarating drive?

[j2k4]

So in summation IMO the ability to perform neat little tricks makes for an arrogant driver. The neat little trick makes mistakes more likely so is not the safest.

In MY honest opinion (IMO, to you) the matter of safety goes without saying.

I have done my share of racing; Clocker has, believe me, done more than the rest of us combined (sorry, Ava), and I can say, with his concurrence, racers have forgotten more about safety than your average "safety-oriented" driver will ever know.

The bottom line?

If you want to know about safety, ask a racer.

Period.

The "neat little tricks" are just a carry-over of refined abilities born of having raced at one time or another.

That is precisely why these things are disseminated by such means as we have attempted here, rather than what a google or driving manual will tell you.

Granted, not everyone can execute certain maneuvers, but the simpler ones can be a tremendous help, especially if imparted with a view toward the "why" of things, which we've also provided.

The Summation as I remember it given to me when talking about various techniques we may wish to employ went something like this.
Obviously safety is traded off just by the act of driving. The question is are you trading safety due to circumstance or the wish for a exhilarating drive?

That last is a complete, utter, and total misapprehension of this entire thread.

BTW-

I'd like your "honest opinion" on whether any level of attainable driving ability might warrant use of the term "great", considering you've already ruled out "excellent".