Date: Fri, 24 May 2013 17:18:04 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Ohana <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Ohana <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Organization: Cosmic Reminders
Subject: Re: Friday A couple of things
In-Reply-To: <vanagon%2013052419413786@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
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He charges his daughter tuition ??
wow, a bit harsh perhaps.
yes, the great bulk ( hope that's not a pun about fitness of today's
people ) ....er rather...
the great majority of teen driver's do survive to adulthood.
bit of a random tricky thing- diving into today's driving environment.
I would emphacize a few things intensely ..
1. **Stay Away** from other cars every way possible.
I honestly do think there is some wiring in the female brain that
equates closeness with safety, trust and bonding.
and that's not a sexist statement.
it's a biological phenomenon observation. And being close to other cars
is not good or safe ...
in stop-and-go traffic..sure ...but otherwise ...they should all repel
each other magnetically. Nice thing to pretend too, that.
2. Be especially vigilant to the forward 45 degree angles..
it's easy to see cars in front ( and really ...people can look Right At
an elephant or a car , or you, right in front of them and their brain
will not register the input. )
easy to see to the sides and behind.
Watch the 45's !!
blind spots too.
DO NOT let anyone shadow you or fly formation on you in your blind spot !!
Modern driver's are just clueless about this.
A typical freeway driver these days ( two lane freeway) will pull up
alongside a slower-going truck, that's in the right lane, get next to
it, and slow down, holding up a string of 10 cars.
Too, too common.
NEVER drive alongside buses or trucks. Get on by those suckers. I know
they don't teach this in driver's ed anywhere, would love to hear that
someone does somewhere.
3. MANAGE what and who is behind youand how close they are. Needless to
say, 20 year old males in monster jacked up 400 hp pickup trucks might
not be a good choice about who to allow behind you, espeically closely.
People generally fail to manage and monitor what goes on close behind
them. A serious mistake , from a safety point of view.
4,Get as much seat time in safe areas as you can. Long country drives.
When I had been driving for about 6 months...it was very hard for me to
transition from out in the country and going fast with few cars, to
intown and in traffic quickly, for example .
5. There is just nothing like seat time..
start out in low stress venues ...gradually build up.
** The operation of the car has to be automatic and without thought ..
before full attention can be paid to the situation outside the vehicle.**
that only comes with seat time, and lots of it.
Start out easy to build confidence and familiarity. That can only help.
good luck !
sincerely,
Scott
turbovans
On 5/24/2013 4:41 PM, David Beierl wrote:
> At 06:40 PM 5/24/2013, Aristotle Sagan wrote:
>> So the question is... How do you ever let your young one out of the nest
>> with a 2 ton death machine in their hands?
>
> Dear Tim,
>
> I heartily recommend that you do not personally teach her. My
> observations of parents teaching children to drive is that both
> parties strongly tend to get overexcited, which interferes with the
> tuition.
>
> It may help to remember that your own parents managed to let you
> leave the house in a death machine. If it doesn't make you feel
> braver, it may at least give you some empathy for what they went through.
>
> Remembering your own actions at that age may not be comforting. But
> the fact is that the great bulk of teen drivers do survive into
> adulthood.
>
> Yours,
> David
>
