|
|
Post by willien on Feb 24, 2024 17:03:10 GMT
I did not "learn to drive a car"* till I was 29 but had been driving tractors while still at school and had 4 years of motorbikes as my sole means of transport including two European tours. Difficult to come up with rules apt for all.
* When I was 14 aqn uncle taught me to drive his Austin 1800 on an old WWII airfield.
|
|
|
|
Post by spinno on Feb 24, 2024 17:13:05 GMT
I didn't learn until I was 38. Made up for it since, all the miles I've driven...
|
|
|
|
Post by zou on Feb 24, 2024 17:20:42 GMT
We absolutely need to get away from the idea that a driving licence is a right. Testing should be harder, qualified drivers should be periodically retested, fitness to drive should be periodically assessed, and there should be no qualms about banning dangerous drivers for life, not 6 months to a year or two.
|
|
|
|
Post by spinno on Feb 24, 2024 17:34:47 GMT
We absolutely need to get away from the idea that a driving licence is a right. Testing should be harder, qualified drivers should be periodically retested, fitness to drive should be periodically assessed, and there should be no qualms about banning dangerous drivers for life, not 6 months to a year or two. Why do motorists who kill lose their licence at the same time as serving a custodial sentence, why shouldn't the ban start when they are released? |
|
|
|
Post by MJB on Feb 24, 2024 17:41:45 GMT
The simpler solution is to prohibit vehicles with over (say) 100bhp, and fit all new vehicles with speed limiters. Right?  Sort of but that has loads of flaws, a Fiat 500 with 100 bhp would be quite rapid and would be of interest to a new driver because it is small and easy to drive. A 2 ton SUV with 100 bhp would be as fast as a snail on sedatives but still found in the right hand lane of a motorway flat out at 65mph. because, well just because. I had a Fiat 500 with a 1.4l, 100hp engine. Best fun I ever had on two wheels. |
|
|
|
Post by willien on Feb 24, 2024 17:42:33 GMT
We absolutely need to get away from the idea that a driving licence is a right. Testing should be harder, qualified drivers should be periodically retested, fitness to drive should be periodically assessed, and there should be no qualms about banning dangerous drivers for life, not 6 months to a year or two. Why do motorists who kill lose their licence at the same time as serving a custodial sentence, why shouldn't the ban start when they are released? At least courts atitudes have change. My Criminal Law tutor opined tha british courts would never jail a british motorist who had caused death because they were so in favour of the motoring class. I piped up - "What not even if someone uses a car to deliberately kill someone?". He gave me a look which I interpreted as "you are a sicko to consider that someone might ever do that", but may in fact have may have been "shit an undergraduate has just pointed out that I am an ignorant dick".
|
|
|
|
Post by willien on Feb 24, 2024 17:48:12 GMT
Sort of but that has loads of flaws, a Fiat 500 with 100 bhp would be quite rapid and would be of interest to a new driver because it is small and easy to drive. A 2 ton SUV with 100 bhp would be as fast as a snail on sedatives but still found in the right hand lane of a motorway flat out at 65mph. because, well just because. I had a Fiat 500 with a 1.4l, 100hp engine. Best fun I ever had on two wheels. Obviously you have never had a Guzzi Le Mans.  FFIW I did find the Nova 1.3 Sri more fun than the Mki Golf Gti for my kind of fun driving - briskly on slow roads. Not only was the Golf's gearing useless for that kind of driving but "the beast" only seemed to wake up about 90mph in top gear which for me was basically useless.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bipolar on Feb 25, 2024 13:48:00 GMT
My last employer required everyone who drove a company vehicle to have their driving skills audited every three years. They had their own driver instructor who rode with you. I always passed but some did not. If you failed you had to take driver training with the instructor.
Because I have a commercial driver's license I had to do my audit in a large truck. The last time I was tested I had to drive a tandem axle crane truck in a large unfamiliar city. I passed but was quite nervous as I live in a small community that just installed their ninth traffic light.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kath on Feb 25, 2024 15:37:24 GMT
My middle child (24) has recently passed her driving test. It has cost her a small fortune. When I did mine (at the ancient age of 27), my instructor took me out for two lessons and at the end of the second told me to book my driving test. I told him I didn't think I was ready but he said that we wouldn't get a date for another few weeks and even then it would probably be for a good three weeks after that. He reckoned it was best to have a date and be prepared to learn everything in the interim so that you hopefully only had to maintain that 100% exam level prep for a couple of weeks. He said there was no point being 'ready' to take the test and spending another six weeks trying to keep the momentum up - reckoned you'd just learn bad habits in the meantime. Anyway it seemed to work for me and I probably spent about £200 on lessons. My daughter booked a set of ten lessons which cost her twice that. Covid hit. She forgot everything she'd learned because she didn't have a car to practise in. Eventually was able to restart and her instructor got her to the point of being ready and then told her to book the test. By now there's a massive backlog of people who had their tests cancelled. She's had to keep payhing out for lessons for what seems like ages. She did pass first time but has had to take out a credit card to pay for it all which basically means even more expense.
My youngest won't be able to start lessons for at least another year - assuming her new meds work (and touch wood they do seem to be doing) she has to have been seizure free for a year. The eldest sees no reason to learn to drive and would rather spend his money on train sets. I'm not unsympathetic to that view!
|
|
|
|
Post by dorsetmike on Feb 25, 2024 16:42:48 GMT
I vaguely recall my driving test, late 1950s, in a Ford 8 van that some previous owner had "converted" to an estate cut windows into the sdes and added an old bus seat in the back, cost me £60; it jumped out of second gear, had a half turn play on the steering and the brakes almost worked, tyres were also borderline.
The test was in Wellington, it was an accepted fact at RAF Cosford that nobody failed at Wellington if in uniform.
Luckily my Father was stores manager for a Ford main dealer, so I headed home, just over 200 miles overnight, Father was not happy, he proceeded to take the vehicle into work and had the apprentices fix it which saved a few quid on labour charges, as well as part worn tyres from a local scrap yard, after which it drove quite well.
I stuck with Fords for many years, 100E, Mk2 Consul, Mk 1,2 & 4 Cortinas, Zephyr 6, (first car I drove at over 100MPH, A34 on a Sunday afternoon.) I quite liked the Citroen BX 19 estate, great for towing a trailer tent, now on my 4th Mazda
|
|
|
|
Post by don on Feb 27, 2024 8:28:33 GMT
? Another suggestion is a minimum of 40 hours tuition. I tool ten lessons, cost me about £150 (if I remember correctly) plus the price of the test. Average costs for driving lessons seem to be about £40 per hour now, so forty hours... £1,600 plus the £62 fee for the driving test. That's putting driving out of the range for a lot of people nowadays. My driving lessons were about ten quid an hour I was earning about twenty quid a week. Currently minimum wage for 18 year old is £7.49 so as a rule of thumb it is less expensive nowadays |
|
|
|
Post by mick on Feb 27, 2024 9:49:08 GMT
I taught my D-in-Law to drive. Her previous experience was on a motorbike in a very busy SE Asian city. I reckoned that if she could survive that then she had pretty good traffic sense. I eventually got to the stage when I thought that I could teach her no more and to 'smooth the edges' handed her over to a pro. I was very surprised (and pleased) at the things that he taught her that I hadn't.
Her theory test was a revelation. At the time, her English reading skills were not the best and her vocab was limited. Those of you familiar with the theory test will know that the English used in the questions isn't easy - it's not Janet and John stuff!! She practised assiduously using a computer practice programme.
She passed both sections first time and, IMHO, is now an extremely competent driver.
Mick
|
|
