I need another two cylinders
Dear white Lincoln Town Car,
I know that you can't corner very well, or understand that your foot doesn't actually have to be on either the brake or gas pedal while driving. That's why, while you gassed it forward from the stop line in your heavy american V8, you had to brake all the way through a curving on-ramp while I caught up behind you by ( Read more... )
I know that you can't corner very well, or understand that your foot doesn't actually have to be on either the brake or gas pedal while driving. That's why, while you gassed it forward from the stop line in your heavy american V8, you had to brake all the way through a curving on-ramp while I caught up behind you by ( Read more... )
I should clarify that then. Perhaps a better wording would be "if you don't have the capacity of learning to drive a standard shift automobile ..." (ignoring procuring one, et al)
The reason I say it is it takes a certain amount of concentration and skill to drive a standard. It's not out of reach for almost everyone, and I by no means claim I'm the most expert person out there (in fact, my skills are going downhill with me walking to work every day!).
Automatics are too accessible, open the door, turn key, drive away. It's way too easy. Contrast that with a manual shift transmission. You start off the same, then you have to actually have to shift properly before you can go anywhere ... and you can't get going too fast if you can't shift and clutch properly.
Essentially it forces you to have more time learning things before you can do something silly. You have to sort out actually shifting, and when to shift. You have an extra foot that has to be active to clutch and gas at the same time, et al. That all makes you pay much more attention to what is going on around you, because you need ot know.
The benifit that I see is that last bit, people more aware of what's going on around them, and thinking a little more actively about driving.
Is it a generalization ? Oh hell yeah!, not denying that at all.
Do I think everyone is a bad driver ? Hell No! And nobody is perfect, but there are a lot of people who really need help because they are consistently horrible and are actually a danger to others because they aren't paying attention to anything they should be.
Would it help by requiring everyone to spend more time learning to drive by making them learn standard first ? It's my opinion that it would ;-)
Is it going to solve all the driving problems ? Christ no! You can be a bad driver in a standard shift car as well, but I do think it would weed out some people.
I'm also a fan of the graduated license ... but that's a whole other topic ;-)
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