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| Thread ID: 107057 | 2010-02-02 20:51:00 | Use of 5th gear??? | Billy T (70) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 854718 | 2010-02-03 09:48:00 | He is 20 and he is driving my wife's Mazda Demio 1.3 import, which is the stripped down basic version and is very light. It goes like a scalded cat and it too is quite comfortable two-up in 5th and 50km/h. We are not currently using an open area (car park), instead we have access to a long private road that is not used in the evenings and it has intersections and other features plus a wide turn-around at each end. He is not at all mechanically minded, so one of the first things I taught him before he turned a wheel was which gear was which, and why, and where to find them without looking. I explained about spring-loaded gates and how to tell where you are in neutral without looking just by the feel. He already changes instinctively without taking his eyes off the road or fumbling, he doesn't grip the gear change knob but guides it by feel instead and as soon as he could start without stalling I taught him how to do a hill-start Billy's way (on a hill of course), which he mastered in a couple of minutes. This is before he had even got above 20km/h or out of 2nd gear. It is a great confidence booster. When I met Mrs T she was driving miles out of her way to avoid making hill starts, so I told her I could teach her how to do it on the steepest street in our area (really steep!!) inside of ten minutes. She mastered it in a lot less than five and it was quite a liberating experience for her as it was one of her biggest fears. For the secret, send a stamped addressed envelope containing a $20 dollar note to............. :) Cheers Billy 8-{) Thanks for the explanation Billy T. I have to say that I know a person really well that has held a NZ drivers license for over 40 years and can't parallel park even now. Having said that she has never had a collision with another car except one that ran into the rear of the car she was driving when she was stopped at a red light. Just once I remember her trying to corner too fast and I should have been wearing brown underwear that day! To get back it looks like you are doing the right thing so carry on. I can't imagine that your Son would be failed for being in fifth gear and you do have redress if you think that the examiner has failed him for no apparent reason. :2cents: |
Sweep (90) | ||
| 854719 | 2010-02-03 09:58:00 | instead we have access to a long private road that is not used in the evenings and it has intersections and other features plus a wide turn-around at each end. Am looking out the window at one right now, long private road, wide turning bay each end, intersections............they are called run ways, usually found at all good airports.:clap |
PinoyKiw (9675) | ||
| 854720 | 2010-02-03 10:13:00 | Gisborne even fit a rail crossing on theirs. | R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 854721 | 2010-02-03 10:17:00 | What's this secret hill start thingy? They're not hard to do at all. | --Wolf-- (128) | ||
| 854722 | 2010-02-03 10:18:00 | It's damn tricky in Chicago | R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 854723 | 2010-02-03 13:02:00 | Thanks for the explanation Billy T. I have to say that I know a person really well that has held a NZ drivers license for over 40 years and can't parallel park even now. Having said that she has never had a collision with another car except one that ran into the rear of the car she was driving when she was stopped at a red light. Just once I remember her trying to corner too fast and I should have been wearing brown underwear that day! To get back it looks like you are doing the right thing so carry on. I can't imagine that your Son would be failed for being in fifth gear and you do have redress if you think that the examiner has failed him for no apparent reason. :2cents: I put my wife in the same category she cant drive for ****. Speeds in 30 mph zone, hoons into intersections, hasn't worked out roundabout rules yet, no situational awareness of things happening in front of her. I only let her drive after I have had few drinks but the ride home is still terrifying. |
prefect (6291) | ||
| 854724 | 2010-02-04 00:14:00 | What's this secret hill start thingy? They're not hard to do at all. Not when you know how, and anybody who has got to license stage has usually mastered them (Mrs T excepted) but tests were not so stringent when she got her licence, and all I had to do was drive the local traffic cop around the block for mine. The problem is that the average learner driver tenses up because they are afraid that they'll roll backwards into the car behind, then they stall because they try to go with the brake still on, so they tense up more and..................then they get the handbrake in a death grip and beads of sweat break out on their forehead and their biceps swell as they try to rip it out of the floor................then the car behind leans on the horn, ignoring the yellow L plates because so many people drive around with permanent L plates up and whanau hanging out the windows..........and what colour is custard? The solution is actually very simple. I have taught a number of young people to drive and I first wait until they can move off confidently and smoothly under normal conditions, very early in the learning process and before they even get out of second gear, then I show them how slowly a car actually starts to roll backwards, even on quite steep hills by holding with the footbrake only, then transferring to accelerator and moving off, They can see that the car moves only a few cm backwards before it takes off forwards. I don't recommend this, it is just an easy way to illustrate a simple exercise in physics without using unfamiliar expressions like inertia. Then I tell then NOT to try and hold the car with the handbrake, they are already confident to drive off on demand, so when they want to go, just drop the handbrake and drive off normally, using accelerator appropriate for the steepness of the hill. It is exactly what an experienced driver does, unless they have a phobia still, or were taught to hold the car with the handbrake and drive off against it, not releasing it until the car is moving forwards. Mrs T got it in a couple of minutes and couldn't believe it was so easy, and my son got it right first try and will continue to do so now for as long as he drives. It is what most experienced drivers probably do without thinking, but for a learner driver, a person with a phobia, or somebody who misunderstood instructions or was taught badly, it can be a major hurdle to overcome. It is probably not a problem with drivers who learn on an automatic, but IMHO that is not really driving, it is just point and squirt, stop and go and I think everybody should have to be able to drive a manual first, then they can go to an auto. I told my kids that one day they may need to get somewhere fast in an emergency and if the only vehicle available is a manual they'll be stuffed so learn that first and get thoroughly familiar with it, and go auto later if they wish. As an example of bad instructions, when I first went out in a car with Mrs T (to be) driving, I noticed that she did not look ahead on the road far enough and was always on edge. Turns out the family member who taught her to drive told her to 'look down the centre of the bonnet', presumably for road position, but she took it literally and was looking no further ahead than a few metres. How on earth she had avoided a crash for so long I'll never know, but when learning she rolled her father's car down a bank by driving off the side of a slip-road to some houses, and I think that was the reason. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
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