Thread: A question on Leraner driving.

Originally Posted by vulcannz

Got my missus a Haval H6 Hybrid before christmas. The thing almost drives itself, it has smart cruise control, just set the max speed you want and it will adjust to any cars in front including braking where necessary. It has auto lane centering, it will basically steer the vehicle on the open road for you including slowing down on sharp bends.

You still need to keep your hands on the wheel, and it will beep at you and start to slow down if you don't (has like a 5-10 second window).

Seriously not convinced on all those driver aids, I'm convinced its dumbing us down as a species

As for learner drivers


I taught both my girls to drive & here's a couple of things I worked out


* Just go auto for teaching, while I grew up on the farm with manual bikes, tractors, trucks etc. My kids did not & using an auto take's one major problem out of the equation ( had a mate that was so caught up on his son learning to drive in his manual, was to much pressure on the little guy, his old man got fucked off he nearly burned outed the clutch n was just a stressful shit experience alround ) worry about the stick shift stuff later on once they get some road time & street skills.


* Be in a decent sized wagon don't learn to drive in a Vitz or Micro, you want something high n big ( I used my Ranger WT & they soon become aware to size, traffic & can see what ahead ). Then start by going somewhere quite ( I used the local Massey Uni ) has all the characteristics of a proper public road with low speed limits n traffic to get their basic skills up with carparks, reversing etc before going to highway level.


* Once they get the confidence up, go do proper after dinner roadies be it around town, off to the beach, open road windy shit & night driving. This is where modern features come in handy like auto wipers & high beam dipping are really handy ( just one less thing to worry about while learning proper real world - defensive driving skills ) worry about that stuff later, it's not hard to learn

* Put the hours in, drum through defensive - reading the road skills, read the room - pressure when needed to drive home form seeing Nana, get their confidence up but tell em when they do a dick move.

* Then go pay for some proper driving lessons, it's a great way for them to get up the "Licence test curriculum" & shows em that the old man knows his shit

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Seriously not convinced on all those driver aids, I'm convinced its dumbing us down as a species

On the other hand it might save us from the dumb drivers

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Seriously not convinced on all those driver aids, I'm convinced its dumbing us down as a species

Trust me...its not driver aids doing that.....There are so many factors at play. I suspect drivers aids are actually there to ensure the targets of the 'dumbing down' survive....I mean dumbing the population down and then weeding them out with car crashes sort of defeats the purpose....

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Seriously not convinced on all those driver aids, I'm convinced its dumbing us down as a species

Sure there is that aspect to it. I used to think that way as well. But I used to sales rep territories from Taranaki, across to Hawkes Bay, down to Wellington. Those were long drives. And lapse in concentration - even small ones - were what got people killed.

When you drive one of these new cars and start using the drivers aids you can see how they are more safety aids.

And the big thing I've noticed, with the cruise control that automatically speeds up and slows down you get a lot less pissed off with other drivers.

Originally Posted by vulcannz

Sure there is that aspect to it. I used to think that way as well. But I used to sales rep territories from Taranaki, across to Hawkes Bay, down to Wellington. Those were long drives. And lapse in concentration - even small ones - were what got people killed.

When you drive one of these new cars and start using the drivers aids you can see how they are more safety aids.

And the big thing I've noticed, with the cruise control that automatically speeds up and slows down you get a lot less pissed off with other drivers.

One thing that really helped me was a learning experience. In the 90s I was working as a driver for a rental company and had picked up a secondment for a weekish in Nelson while I was living in Blenheim. I would do my days work in retail, drive for 80min or so work for a couple hours in Nelson, drive home and repeat. I used to get pised of at having to overtake everything going over each time but never had the issue on the return journey. In daylight I was usually cruising at about 105-115km give or take and was constantly behind slower traffic. On the return trip, my headlights and the road meant I was only able to travel comfortably at around 85-95. What I learnt was two fold...

At 85-95 I never caught up on the truck in front and the truck behind me never caught up to me and I was far more relaxed and less worn out after the return journey...........and when I timed the trips...they were within 5 minutes of each other (there and return)

Secnd thing I learnt was my fuel usage was about 10% or more improvement for the additional 5 minutes....Upsshot, I arrived within 5 minutes, I did not need to take a fiver and refocus before starting what I was doing and I used less gas......

Ever since then I tend to travel at or just below the speed limit. If anyone catches up on me, I let them past as soon as I can. A- I dont want to annoy other drivers, and B - when they are n front of me I have control over how their driving affects me but when they are behind me I am at their mercy....If they are in froont I can make sure to stay clear and aout of their way.