Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
Oct 30th 2002, 11:59 pm
#121
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 22:38:25 GMT, "Dave C."
wrote:
>" Bruce Bowe" wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> The reason for that is this: We like to have a bunch of really crappy
>> drivers on our roads--and we do. That way, all of our cities and states can
>> make more money from traffic tickets. It's an industry that, at least IMO,
>(snip)
>Your theory would be correct, if it was only the crappy drivers getting the
>tickets. But with everybody speeding, and speeding tickets being passed out
>in lottery fashion . . . you've got a lot of good drivers throwing extra
>ticket money into the pot, as well. This has nothing to do with driver
>training. -Dave
They don't care who they ticket. Whether the money comes from a good
driver or a bad driver is irrelevant.
--
Brandon Sommerville
remove ".gov" to e-mail
The easy way is always mined.
wrote:
>" Bruce Bowe" wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> The reason for that is this: We like to have a bunch of really crappy
>> drivers on our roads--and we do. That way, all of our cities and states can
>> make more money from traffic tickets. It's an industry that, at least IMO,
>(snip)
>Your theory would be correct, if it was only the crappy drivers getting the
>tickets. But with everybody speeding, and speeding tickets being passed out
>in lottery fashion . . . you've got a lot of good drivers throwing extra
>ticket money into the pot, as well. This has nothing to do with driver
>training. -Dave
They don't care who they ticket. Whether the money comes from a good
driver or a bad driver is irrelevant.
--
Brandon Sommerville
remove ".gov" to e-mail
The easy way is always mined.
Oct 31st 2002, 12:10 am
#122
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
Alex Rodriguez wrote:
>
> In article , [email protected]
> says...
>
> >My car is constantly and properly serviced, but I still prefer to use
> >both the engine and the brakes, in tandem, to bring it to a stop.
>
> I very rarely do this. I rely on my brakes to slow me down. Changing
> brake pads is cheap and easy. Changing a clutch is expensive and time
> consuming.
Normal use of a clutch shouldn't wear it out during the life of the car.
Abusive use (such as "riding" the clutch) is what wears it out.
Barbara
>
> In article , [email protected]
> says...
>
> >My car is constantly and properly serviced, but I still prefer to use
> >both the engine and the brakes, in tandem, to bring it to a stop.
>
> I very rarely do this. I rely on my brakes to slow me down. Changing
> brake pads is cheap and easy. Changing a clutch is expensive and time
> consuming.
Normal use of a clutch shouldn't wear it out during the life of the car.
Abusive use (such as "riding" the clutch) is what wears it out.
Barbara
Oct 31st 2002, 12:19 am
#123
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
"James Silverton" wrote in message news:...
> "Alex Rodriguez" wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Don't I wish the US had similar standards.
> > -----------------
> > Alex __O
> > _-\ > (_)/ (_)
> >
>
> Ah! all these expert drivers who realise that the others are incompetent!
It about sums up a good percentage of the posters on rec.autos.driving
Gav
> "Alex Rodriguez" wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Don't I wish the US had similar standards.
> > -----------------
> > Alex __O
> > _-\ > (_)/ (_)
> >
>
> Ah! all these expert drivers who realise that the others are incompetent!
It about sums up a good percentage of the posters on rec.autos.driving
Gav
Oct 31st 2002, 12:20 am
#124
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Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
Such as holding the vehicle on the clutch instead of the handbrake?
CM
"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Alex Rodriguez wrote:
> >
> > In article ,
[email protected]
> > says...
> >
> > >My car is constantly and properly serviced, but I still prefer to use
> > >both the engine and the brakes, in tandem, to bring it to a stop.
> >
> > I very rarely do this. I rely on my brakes to slow me down. Changing
> > brake pads is cheap and easy. Changing a clutch is expensive and time
> > consuming.
> Normal use of a clutch shouldn't wear it out during the life of the car.
> Abusive use (such as "riding" the clutch) is what wears it out.
> Barbara
CM
"Barbara Vaughan" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Alex Rodriguez wrote:
> >
> > In article ,
[email protected]
> > says...
> >
> > >My car is constantly and properly serviced, but I still prefer to use
> > >both the engine and the brakes, in tandem, to bring it to a stop.
> >
> > I very rarely do this. I rely on my brakes to slow me down. Changing
> > brake pads is cheap and easy. Changing a clutch is expensive and time
> > consuming.
> Normal use of a clutch shouldn't wear it out during the life of the car.
> Abusive use (such as "riding" the clutch) is what wears it out.
> Barbara
Oct 31st 2002, 12:54 am
#125
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
> > Oh absolutely: I would never do that, and never did. (Though on a
> > couple of occasions, I have forgotten to carry my license with me
> > while driving, which gets one a good slap if pulled over.)
> Why? You don't have to carry your driving licence with you when driving in
> the UK... (though you can be asked by a policeman to show it as a police
> station within 7 days...)
This thread is cross-posted to groups who aren't necessarily about the UK
only. In some other countries it IS required to have a DL with you whilst
driving.
Tim.
> > couple of occasions, I have forgotten to carry my license with me
> > while driving, which gets one a good slap if pulled over.)
> Why? You don't have to carry your driving licence with you when driving in
> the UK... (though you can be asked by a policeman to show it as a police
> station within 7 days...)
This thread is cross-posted to groups who aren't necessarily about the UK
only. In some other countries it IS required to have a DL with you whilst
driving.
Tim.
Oct 31st 2002, 1:52 am
#126
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
In article ,
BrianE wrote:
>Just imagine you're on an incline, when you take your foot off the brake you
>roll back into the motorist behind.
Done it many a time without handbrake, without contact, and without an
automatic transmission. And I don't even have three feet. In any
case, if I do choose to use the handbrake on a hill start, I lift the
handbrake holding the button down, then release the clutch while
moving my other foot from the footbrake to the gas. No need to use
the handbrake to keep stopped while waiting -- I don't trust the
handbrake, anyway.
--
Matthew T. Russotto [email protected]
=====
Every time you buy a CD, a programmer is kicked in the teeth.
Every time you buy or rent a DVD, a programmer is kicked where it counts.
Every time they kick a programmer, 1000 users are kicked too, and harder.
A proposed US law called the CBDTPA would ban the PC as we know it.
This is not a joke, not an exaggeration. This is real.
http://www.cryptome.org/broadbandits.htm
BrianE wrote:
>Just imagine you're on an incline, when you take your foot off the brake you
>roll back into the motorist behind.
Done it many a time without handbrake, without contact, and without an
automatic transmission. And I don't even have three feet. In any
case, if I do choose to use the handbrake on a hill start, I lift the
handbrake holding the button down, then release the clutch while
moving my other foot from the footbrake to the gas. No need to use
the handbrake to keep stopped while waiting -- I don't trust the
handbrake, anyway.
--
Matthew T. Russotto [email protected]
=====
Every time you buy a CD, a programmer is kicked in the teeth.
Every time you buy or rent a DVD, a programmer is kicked where it counts.
Every time they kick a programmer, 1000 users are kicked too, and harder.
A proposed US law called the CBDTPA would ban the PC as we know it.
This is not a joke, not an exaggeration. This is real.
http://www.cryptome.org/broadbandits.htm
Oct 31st 2002, 4:05 am
#127
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
"Dave C." wrote in message news:...
> "Geoff McCaughan" wrote in message news:LJ_v9.2938
> > How is "driving backwards around a corner" a basic skill - I've never
> needed
> > to do it in all the years I've been driving, and it sounds like a bloody
> > dangerous practice.
> >
>
> As someone else said, it's part of basic vehicle handling skills . . .
> something that most U.S. drivers lack. I've had to do it before. Last time
> I remember, I was backing down a narrow one-way street (more of an alley,
> actually) to get out of the way of an ambulance that, for some reason, was
> going the wrong way. (I wasn't going to argue with him!) I would have
> slowed him down doing a (20 point?) turn in the confined space of the narrow
> passage, so I just gunned it down the road and around the next corner . . .
> in reverse. That way, even though we were both going the wrong way down the
> one way (and me in reverse) . . . at least the ambulance wasn't slowed down.
>
> Driving in reverse, even around corners, is not dangerous. If you can't
> drive skillfully in reverse, you have no business operating a vehicle in any
> forward gear, either. IMHO -Dave
I'm not exactly clear what this test is. My impression from the
article was that it involved driving close to curb without hitting it.
If we are just talking about driving backwards, I'm not sure what the big
deal is. If we are talking about through some set of narrow cones or
something, that can be a right bit tougher. Precision steering with
rear wheels is a bear.
> "Geoff McCaughan" wrote in message news:LJ_v9.2938
> > How is "driving backwards around a corner" a basic skill - I've never
> needed
> > to do it in all the years I've been driving, and it sounds like a bloody
> > dangerous practice.
> >
>
> As someone else said, it's part of basic vehicle handling skills . . .
> something that most U.S. drivers lack. I've had to do it before. Last time
> I remember, I was backing down a narrow one-way street (more of an alley,
> actually) to get out of the way of an ambulance that, for some reason, was
> going the wrong way. (I wasn't going to argue with him!) I would have
> slowed him down doing a (20 point?) turn in the confined space of the narrow
> passage, so I just gunned it down the road and around the next corner . . .
> in reverse. That way, even though we were both going the wrong way down the
> one way (and me in reverse) . . . at least the ambulance wasn't slowed down.
>
> Driving in reverse, even around corners, is not dangerous. If you can't
> drive skillfully in reverse, you have no business operating a vehicle in any
> forward gear, either. IMHO -Dave
I'm not exactly clear what this test is. My impression from the
article was that it involved driving close to curb without hitting it.
If we are just talking about driving backwards, I'm not sure what the big
deal is. If we are talking about through some set of narrow cones or
something, that can be a right bit tougher. Precision steering with
rear wheels is a bear.
Oct 31st 2002, 4:05 am
#128
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
"Terry" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Father; rest his soul, used to say he enjoyed driving in BAD
> weather!
[God, am I as old as your *Dad*?] Actually, learning to drive in a big old '55
Buick and a '62 Chrysler *wagon* in Northeast Ohio during *December* makes
everything *else* look like *great conditions*! I still love driving in snow.
Having an Audi Quattro turbo to do it in doesn't hurt ...
--
C.R. Krieger
"Don't argue with 'em, dear; they're beneath our dignity." - W.C. Fields
news:[email protected]...
> Father; rest his soul, used to say he enjoyed driving in BAD
> weather!
[God, am I as old as your *Dad*?] Actually, learning to drive in a big old '55
Buick and a '62 Chrysler *wagon* in Northeast Ohio during *December* makes
everything *else* look like *great conditions*! I still love driving in snow.
Having an Audi Quattro turbo to do it in doesn't hurt ...
--
C.R. Krieger
"Don't argue with 'em, dear; they're beneath our dignity." - W.C. Fields
Oct 31st 2002, 4:31 am
#129
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
In article , [email protected]
says...
>Normal use of a clutch shouldn't wear it out during the life of the car.
>Abusive use (such as "riding" the clutch) is what wears it out.
If you drive in conditions where you must slip the clutch often, start
and stop traffic and hills, then your clutch will wear out well before
your car does. The clutch on my Dodge Omni GLH Turbo started to slip
at 153,000 miles. The rest of the car is running just fine. Clutches
can, and do, wear out well before the car dies even when you don't
abuse it.
-----------------
Alex __O
_-\<,_
(_)/ (_)
says...
>Normal use of a clutch shouldn't wear it out during the life of the car.
>Abusive use (such as "riding" the clutch) is what wears it out.
If you drive in conditions where you must slip the clutch often, start
and stop traffic and hills, then your clutch will wear out well before
your car does. The clutch on my Dodge Omni GLH Turbo started to slip
at 153,000 miles. The rest of the car is running just fine. Clutches
can, and do, wear out well before the car dies even when you don't
abuse it.
-----------------
Alex __O
_-\<,_
(_)/ (_)
Oct 31st 2002, 4:57 am
#130
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
Alex Rodriguez wrote:
>
> In article , [email protected]
> says...
>
> >Normal use of a clutch shouldn't wear it out during the life of the car.
> >Abusive use (such as "riding" the clutch) is what wears it out.
>
> If you drive in conditions where you must slip the clutch often, start
> and stop traffic and hills, then your clutch will wear out well before
> your car does. The clutch on my Dodge Omni GLH Turbo started to slip
> at 153,000 miles. The rest of the car is running just fine. Clutches
> can, and do, wear out well before the car dies even when you don't
> abuse it.
The last car I ran into the ground went to nearly 200,000 miles without
replacing the clutch. I was driving in central New Jersey, which doesn't
have an awful lot of hills. I also mostly drove on open highways, as I
always walked or biked to work.
Barbara
>
> In article , [email protected]
> says...
>
> >Normal use of a clutch shouldn't wear it out during the life of the car.
> >Abusive use (such as "riding" the clutch) is what wears it out.
>
> If you drive in conditions where you must slip the clutch often, start
> and stop traffic and hills, then your clutch will wear out well before
> your car does. The clutch on my Dodge Omni GLH Turbo started to slip
> at 153,000 miles. The rest of the car is running just fine. Clutches
> can, and do, wear out well before the car dies even when you don't
> abuse it.
The last car I ran into the ground went to nearly 200,000 miles without
replacing the clutch. I was driving in central New Jersey, which doesn't
have an awful lot of hills. I also mostly drove on open highways, as I
always walked or biked to work.
Barbara
Oct 31st 2002, 7:29 am
#131
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
In article , [email protected]
says...
>The last car I ran into the ground went to nearly 200,000 miles without
>replacing the clutch. I was driving in central New Jersey, which doesn't
>have an awful lot of hills. I also mostly drove on open highways, as I
>always walked or biked to work.
Every time you start moving, you wear your clutch a bit. So if you drive where
you rarely encounter traffic lights, that too will extend your clutch life.
I live in NYC, so clutch life is always going to be shorter for me than for
someone who lives out in the boonies.
-----------------
Alex __O
_-\<,_
(_)/ (_)
says...
>The last car I ran into the ground went to nearly 200,000 miles without
>replacing the clutch. I was driving in central New Jersey, which doesn't
>have an awful lot of hills. I also mostly drove on open highways, as I
>always walked or biked to work.
Every time you start moving, you wear your clutch a bit. So if you drive where
you rarely encounter traffic lights, that too will extend your clutch life.
I live in NYC, so clutch life is always going to be shorter for me than for
someone who lives out in the boonies.
-----------------
Alex __O
_-\<,_
(_)/ (_)
Oct 31st 2002, 9:10 am
#132
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
"Pulaski" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> The NY driving test is a joke. Less than seven minutes in an automatic
> crawling around an housing estate at less than 25mph, plus a couple of
> multiple choice tests that you could teach a chimp to pass,
My state now has driving-test courses and doesn't use the public roads for
the tests. These courses generally have a stop sign right at the end, after
the inspector says "OK, let's go back and park the car". Many candidates
then overlook that final stop sign.... Bingo - you fail.
news:[email protected]...
> The NY driving test is a joke. Less than seven minutes in an automatic
> crawling around an housing estate at less than 25mph, plus a couple of
> multiple choice tests that you could teach a chimp to pass,
My state now has driving-test courses and doesn't use the public roads for
the tests. These courses generally have a stop sign right at the end, after
the inspector says "OK, let's go back and park the car". Many candidates
then overlook that final stop sign.... Bingo - you fail.
Oct 31st 2002, 9:32 am
#133
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 19:28:49 GMT, [email protected] (Ricardo)
wrote:
>On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 14:01:52 -0500, grey wrote:
>>About the "standards"--what about all the illegit drivers on the roads
>>in Britain now because they can't pass a test that may be too tough?
>The police just pull 'em over and arrest them.
After the accident.
---------------------------
A truly cool book:
The World Is Already Yours
Conscious living in the real world
www.alreadyyours.com (sample chapter, etc...)
wrote:
>On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 14:01:52 -0500, grey wrote:
>>About the "standards"--what about all the illegit drivers on the roads
>>in Britain now because they can't pass a test that may be too tough?
>The police just pull 'em over and arrest them.
After the accident.
---------------------------
A truly cool book:
The World Is Already Yours
Conscious living in the real world
www.alreadyyours.com (sample chapter, etc...)
Oct 31st 2002, 9:33 am
#134
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 23:05:49 GMT, [email protected] (Jesper
Lauridsen) wrote:
>On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 14:01:52 -0500, grey wrote:
>>About the "standards"--what about all the illegit drivers on the roads
>>in Britain now because they can't pass a test that may be too tough?
>Would they be less of a hazard if the standard of the test had been
>lowered to their level?
Got to be a mid-point that maximizes safety.
---------------------------
A truly cool book:
The World Is Already Yours
Conscious living in the real world
www.alreadyyours.com (sample chapter, etc...)
Lauridsen) wrote:
>On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 14:01:52 -0500, grey wrote:
>>About the "standards"--what about all the illegit drivers on the roads
>>in Britain now because they can't pass a test that may be too tough?
>Would they be less of a hazard if the standard of the test had been
>lowered to their level?
Got to be a mid-point that maximizes safety.
---------------------------
A truly cool book:
The World Is Already Yours
Conscious living in the real world
www.alreadyyours.com (sample chapter, etc...)
Oct 31st 2002, 9:52 am
#135
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Getting a Driver's License Is a Royal Pain in Britain
"CeeJay" wrote
> In all other ways, you were correct - a dual carriageway is little more than
> a mini-motorway. What separates a dual carriageway A-road from a motorway is
> the number of exits, and the degree of the bends.
And the fact that pedestrians, pedal cyclists, learner drivers, (and
see the Highway Code book for all the et ceteras) are not allowed on
motorways.
Owain
> In all other ways, you were correct - a dual carriageway is little more than
> a mini-motorway. What separates a dual carriageway A-road from a motorway is
> the number of exits, and the degree of the bends.
And the fact that pedestrians, pedal cyclists, learner drivers, (and
see the Highway Code book for all the et ceteras) are not allowed on
motorways.
Owain
