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PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 02:38 
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http://www.worcadvmot10.fsnet.co.uk/tips.html

Have a look through this site and see what you think - and no doubt post your comments!

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:13 
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People are "designed" to travel at running speed, perhaps around 10 mph, but we drive at speeds of up to 70 mph, so have to learn to adapt our thinking and reactions. If our driving is usually sedate, but we then take a sick person urgently to hospital we will probably want to drive faster. Our potential life saving journey may then become a life threatening one!


This appeals to me.

The first suggestion is that although we are only evolutionarily predisposed to deal with speeds up to a fast run (I would like to think that I can run a little faster than 10mph though!) we can be trained and conditioned to cope safely with much higher speeds. Nowhere, perhaps, is this better illustrated than in the case of my colleagues of a more 'streamlined' workplace (plank-wing tossers :P). Of course each individual's potential is unique, but it lends weight to the seemingly obvious, and yet oft ignored, standpoint that greater speed is by no means automatically unmanageable, and therefore dangerous, and that each case is massively subjective, and thus incompatible with automated enforcement, from a road-safety, as opposed to revenue, perspective.

The second pertinent point is the implication that a habitually 'sedate' driver will be less well equipped to deal with higher speeds. The counterpoint might be that people are free to drive as slow as they like, on non-restricted roads, and that emergency driving is seldom necessary for a private individual. This is of course quite true, but it might well be suggested that if an individual's capabilities do not stretch to maintaining a safe, compliant and expeditious speed for given conditions then they need improving! Here I am picturing those who'll potter along at 45-50mph on NSL Lincolnshire SCs on a beautiful summer's day, creating 'plugs' that result in long queues, risky tailgating and somewhat 'ambitious' overtakes!


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:52 
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There's some good stuff on there. I'm not sure about this bit though...

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The salesman's claim: "Leave it in 'Drive' all day", although feasible and reassuring to a potential purchaser, is a little simplistic. To retain the best control and to pass the Advanced Driving Test in an automatic drivers needs to show some use of manual selection.


With the modern five/six speed electronically controlled autos there is really no need to intervene manually. The automatic car I have driven the most is a Volvo and the box is so good that you just forget it's even doing anything - which is the whole point of any automatic system. It is true that the older style autos did need some 'help'.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 13:04 
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I found most of the stuff well researched - I suspect they mean an understanding of manual will make you a better driver even in an automatic.
Do they still lack a degree of engine braking?

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 13:16 
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Ernest Marsh wrote:
I found most of the stuff well researched - I suspect they mean an understanding of manual will make you a better driver even in an automatic.
Do they still lack a degree of engine braking?


The places I have driven in the Volvo are not very hilly, which is where engine braking is most needed, but I have never noticed a lack of it - I have certainly never had to manually select a lower gear.


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