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I have been in the car of several hot headed young drivers who seem to believe that when they have passengers they must impress. Do they drive like that when they are by themselves though? Some of course do, as they really make an effort to out-do the other young driver in conversation. "I did 180kmph" "Yeh well I did 220kmph on the freeway" and then you have the real stupid cases where they even boast about losing their Learners due to joy riding.
Can you really change a drivers attitude when they do a 60kmph activity at 70-80kmph at a driver training course. Afterall they have just knocked down half the cones in the slalom, overshot the emergency breaking cones and gone at least 25m further with their wheels locked. Then they get out of their cars with a smile on their face, and later talk about it to their mates around them.
Another interesting factor is that some drivers with even 20 years experience are yet to experience an emergency stop, or what ABS feels like. I have also been in the car when someone has locked up their tyres and just released the brake pedal as they didn't know what to do. But thats ok, they are a good driver as they passed the test to get their P's. Afterall thats all that is important isn't it?
But the funniest thing of all is to listen to all the different opinions on what you should do when you lock your tyres. Im not talking about how the professionals explain the situation, just everyday young drivers. Out of about 5 people you will get 3 different opinions. Pump the pedal. Completely lift off then re-apply but not as hard as before. Or ease the pedal back to the threshold braking point. And some will say "I dont know".
They have all passed their liscence, yet they all have a different opinion on how to correct a simple situation. Whose to blame? Parents? Ads? Driver Instructors?
You arn't graded on an emergency stop in your liscense test so they don't teach you it. Yet a driver training course does teach you this. Surely it would make sense that a life saving technique needs to be taught as soon as possible. Then would we get three different opinions on how to correct the locked brakes situation?
What about attitude. How many of us can honestly, honestly say they slow down to the 60kmph recommended in a road works area, when before the speed limit was 80kmph. I doubt very many can. Why though? Dis-respect for the law? Are you in so much of a hurray that 20kmph difference for a few hundred metres will make you late? Peer group pressure?
Howcome the average driver will speed in zones from 40-80kmph yet won't speed on the freeway or country roads. Speaking from experience on the nice drive to Winton Raceway from the Yarra Valley I must say that you will get stuck behind someone in the 100 zone, but then when it comes to a town and the speed limit is 60kmph, they are all of a sudden speeding. Why?
But what I would really like to ask. Is that are our road rules enforced enough for us to respect them? Are we taught all the right things during our time on L plates. And are we tested on all the right things when getting P plates?
Or are we all just in too much of a hurry to worry about stop signs, and road works.
And maybe its just too simple to say that drivers have an attitude problem that ads and road rules or punishments wont fix.
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