Drivers Education

[Broompilot]

Do you recall all of those long hours learning book work, listening to the instructor, road course, and of course being introduced to the open road?

Many TOO Many states are doing away with Drivers Ed.

Things I remember our instructor telling us that sticks to mind.

Tailgating and the elimination of the view in front of the vehicle in the lead. Thus = a guarantee of an accident (rear end collision) in our life time of driving. Thus whats the most common accident???

NEVER EVER, NEVER in any circumstance EVER back up on an expressway.

Always when pulled to the shoulder use emergency flashers, or a turn signal to the R if not an emergency especiallly on X-way.

Never turn your wheels prior to making a left while sitting at a light.

Give trucks there space, and NEVER pass one or a passenger car to IMM. make a turn.

States are trying to Save $, when as IL. has discovered the death rate for Teenagers has risen as to this decision. I cannot quote the % but its very high, and only the state is to blame and its lawmakers. Parents are not professionals at teaching this, most of them have to many bad habbits already and pass these down to there children learners.

I asked my daughter as she finished her Drivers Ed class this question and her and my niece both got this wrong. When driving in the rain is it OK to use the Cruise Control? True answer is NO, car can Hydroplane and Cruise will only cause the Tires to SPIN at full throttle. (Learned that in Drivers ED)

I have also noticed lately that the reason people do not speed up on an entrance ramp, is they are using the CRUISE Control to accelerate and not there foot! Watch them you will notice it also they are using there fingers on the turn signal instead of both hands on the wheel, and foot. I have always wondered SPEED UP IDIOT, you not going fast enough to prevent me from smacking ya, and than at the very last second when they reaslize oh I am not going fast enough either speed up or ABORT the attempt to merge and MERGE correctly. In the mean time were looking for a way to avoid an on comming accident. HORN, I use this more and more in this situation. It is getting there attention HEY I am big, fast, and aint moving for your slow SSA

 

[greg334]

In todays world...

where we freak out if a 12 year old child is found alone at home taking care of his brothers and sisters ....

...where we an absolute zero tolerance policies in schools that even if a child is caught with a sharp pair of scissors or a butter knife, such a bog deal is made and they are expelled....

....where we charge first graders with sexual harassment becuase he hugged a teacher and now is a sexual predator and has to be put on some website ...

.... we fail to understand that a vehicle of any sort can kill without difficulty and we fail to protect our kids on the road by teaching them how to handle a 2500 lb weapon.

Something is very wrong with our country and the parents who scream about guns and knives in school, who want to protect their brood at the cost of others and who are lazy enough to force them to get a license as fast as possible so they don't have to drive them around.

I have strong feelings about drivers ed and make no bones about it that we should adopt Germany's licensing program for kids and treat them as kids until they are 21. If we can't execute anyone below the age of 17, why should we give a license to a 16 year old who can't drive and may kill themselves or worst someone in my family or yours?

Remember driving is not a right, it is a privilege.

 

[cheri1122]

Many, if not most, schools, no longer offer Drivers Ed, leaving it to private companies, and parents. (Have to focus on those all-important 'tests', or lose Federal funding, you know).
The relative scarcity of private companies offering Drivers Ed, whether due to prohibitive insurance costs, or difficulty in securing good teachers, leaves the job mostly to parents - and that's truly scary! As BP mentioned, they are, at best, not professional teachers, and at worst, just pass on their own bad habits & misinformation.
Driving is one of the important 'life skills', like 'conflict resolution', and 'budgeting in the real world' that the schools simply don't consider important enough, or can't afford, to teach, and that's a poor indication of priorities, IMO.

 

[pelicn]

When I took drivers education we took it for a semester. We had to have our lerners permit before taking the class. First 9 weeks was classroom learning the rules and driving on the range. We had vehicles donated by auto dealerships for us to use. They weren't new cars, but they were kept in good condition by our auto shop class. The 2nd 9 weeks was spent driving on the road, and getting prepared for the road test at DMV.
I remember "correcting" my parents on some of the skills that they had acquired over the years and driving them crazy!
When our son's were ready to learn to drive, drivers ed wasn't offered, so we sent them to a private driving school. The cost was outrageous, but the school was good, and they learned the skills they needed to survive out here. They are all very good drivers now.

 

[dhalltoyo]

Broom,

WOW! We do have some common ground. Ditto! Ditto! Ditto!

How refreshing to hear the same things I learned years ago.

I have often thought about writing a primer for new drivers.

In my Driver's Ed class we had a box on the floor of the car with stand up weights inside the box. When the instructor yelled stop, he measured our controlled stop within a given distance, by how many (if any) of the weights flipped over.

I see so many drivers who can not make a controlled emergency stop.

Thanks for the great information you provided.

PS. What ever happened to one car length distance between vehicles for every 10mph of speed?

 

[Broompilot]

How about Drivers Ed for People over 80?

Yesterday fueled at the Wilco I-77 Wytheville, VA.

Upon crossing over the ramp to to to S.B. I 77 I had to stop early as a car was confused had not yet cleared the ramp but was sitting there. Being with a 53 foot box behind me I would wipe this vehicle out if he did not continue. HE DID NOT! So right in front of me he does a U - Turn, I HONK or LAY ON THAT HORN, as I thought he was gona enter the wrong way going N. bound on the S. Bound lanes. So get this HE DOES ANOTHER U -TURN.

OK your still reading this? He not only did the one full 360 but does yet another U -turn now the trucks are linning up behind me. Oh the CB well that was getting histirical. So he now completes his third U-turn and I am getting DIZZY. I still cannot believe my eyes and thinking of this post all the way around now two 360s.

I am not done, now guess what he does? Besides Ignoring or being Deaf the sounds of not only my horn but the guys behind me not realizing what is going on HONKING at me MOVE IT AM CAN. Now the 80 year old has finially made a decision, YEP ya guessed it same direction as me S. Bound at least he is heading in the right direction not to cause a head on collision. But now he strattles the white line preveneting me from Continuing my turn and STOPS. I now have both sides of this Exit ramp blocked plus the off and on ramps. Horns BLARRING from every direction.

I attempt to get out of my truck to tell this FOOL move over or get off the road or better yet move over in the seat and I will move it for you and take the keys away. Just than he takes off, I now have both feet planted on the pavement and just re-enter my cab and shift thru the grears, never to see this idiot again. He must of taken the wrong way at the 81-77 intersection cause I never saw him again or just maybee he knew how do the speed limit or little more cause those were FL plates on the Chrysler Mini Van.

Now to end my story, and we TRUCK DRIVERS are always in the front of the news papers, but Teenagers with no Classroom hours, and Seniors are OK to drive and Kill but Truck Drivers only get on the front pages, please go figure. I wonder how many people do these two groups of people hurt a year compared to OH Maybee a Trained bunch of Truck Drivers? Care to answer?

 

[dhalltoyo]

Amen!!!!

Reaction time testing - Judgement skills testing - Eye Exams

All should be mandatory every year.

Fail any of the above and you surrender your license.