This was going to be headed ‘Clutch control missing – presumed gone’ but rather wonderfully on my last lesson my clutch control was a-okay.
I didn’t stall, the gears didn’t clunk, I even negotiated nose to tail traffic for a considerable stretch AND traffic on a roundabout without killing, maiming or swearing.
Ok, there was a bit of swearing.
So instead I’m going to dwell on something that has been interesting me for a while – which is why some people are allowed to drive.
This does not apply to the majority. Objectively I can appreciate that 90 percent of road users are reasonable individuals who might occasionally have a bad day, lose concentration or get frustrated. Which is a completely human and understandable thing to do.
I also appreciate that the rules I am being taught are rules to help me pass, not what I will do once I have been driving for years. Things like putting the handbrake on every time I stop will probably go out of the window as soon as I give up my green card and get a pink one.
However, there are a minority of people that make me think regular refresher tests, and some form of common sense exam, should probably be implemented before anyone is allowed on the road in any vehicle.
I’m largely talking about the type of driver that has, in the recent sunny weather, taken to driving shirtless. They normally wear baseball caps too, and have ear-rings. They make me nervous on the road, they make me nervous when I’m a pedestrian and sometimes they make me nervous when they are nowhere near a car.
Surely good judgement is essential in driving?
I don’t mean intelligence. I know some incredibly intelligent people that should never be allowed to drive because I have witnessed them do things like forget to tie their shoelaces or meander slowly down the street looking at clouds.
Before being given permission to drive a car, some kind of basic thinking skills about why it is a bad idea to drive like a maniac around a tight corner in a one way street is a Bad Idea.
It irks me that people who make such poor judgements and who don’t seem to care about their own safety are allowed behind a wheel of anything, ever.
Look, if I choose to wear a baseball cap while zipping it across town with my shirt off, who are you to judge me?
Now GET OUT OF MY WAY.
Ok, I’m only pretending – but I’m sure every man at heart secretly wants to drive this way.
You’re right, of course. People who do anything shirtless in public should be rounded up and deported to somewhere where that sort of behaviour is acceptable. I’m thinking of Australia or maybe Brazil. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind being deported to those locations and I’m sure they wouldn’t either -so everyone’s a winner. Sadly I could never qualify for exotic deportation owing to my unfortunate untolerance for shirtlessness.
I also think you’re missing the bigger picture here, which is people who drive while attempting to wear a hat. These people genuinely do not belong on the public highway and something needs to be done about it.
And by ‘untolerance’ I mean, naturally, intolerance.
I think both you and Dan are on to something here…
Shirtless – It’s generally not a good look – you are correct in this.
Driving with a hat, this catches a great number of sins, it catches people across a wide age group, and some professions – I can’t think of a single hat wearing group of people I’d like to see driving. I will accept that motorcycles present their riders with such danger that ‘hats’ must be worn, but if you see a car driver in a helmet, you can predict that something ‘other than driving safely’ is on their mind.
Thanks for the observations.
“I also appreciate that the rules I am being taught are rules to help me pass, not what I will do once I have been driving for years.”
I’m sure these rules aren’t just for your test. If more people continued in the manner they’d been taught there would be a lot less accidents and hey, maybe, just maybe, lower insurance premiums for everyone…
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘Safety for life’, that you’re learning a life skill, not just to pass your test. I know that sounds a bit over dramatic but it often takes two people to cause an accident. For example; the person overtaking with a junction on the right and the person pulling out of that junction without looking to the left (it has been known…)
So, if YOU do everything correctly, as you’ve been taught, you’ll reduce the likelihood of mishaps for yourself and others.
Okay, getting off my soapbox now…
Jason Masterman (ADI)