Sleep better tonight if you have a manual transmission in your vehicle - repost

A police report out of St. Petersburg, Florida, reveals the current state of the U.S. car culture. Two would-be carjackers robbed a

45-year-old man and his 24-year-old girlfriend after they had dropped off the man?s work truck.

As the couple was getting ready to leave two men appeared, one on each side. They demanded money and a cell phone. One of them wielded a handgun and told the couple to get out of the woman?s 2007 Nissan. Neither of the thieves was prepared for what was next: the Nissan?s third pedal and stick shift. The two men quickly gave up and ran off on foot. The pair made off with a cell phone, but alas no money, or the car.

Reply to
Dickr
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Damn, 45 and 24, could be the dude's daughter.

That's funny! The automatic generation can't work three-pedal cars.

Patrick

Reply to
patrick.mckenzie84

Many years ago (in a galaxy far far away) California planned to offer two different driver tests. One for those who knew how to drive a standard shift and one for the rest. The drivers license would be so annotated that if you were certified for auto and you were driving a standard, you got cited and the car impounded until someone who could drive it bailed it out. The reason? A lot of young drivers were taking the test in Mom's automatic and then going out and buying a standard which they couldn't control, thus increasing the accident, injury and death rates. Unfortunately, the liberals considered that to be discrimination. I wonder how many young drivers might have been saved a lifetime of grief.

Decades later, new rules were instituted for young drivers which limited the hours they could be on the road, who could be in the car with them, etc. We still lose kids, but it seems we lose fewer.

Reply to
D E Willson

Wait... You want MORE government regulation, control, and oversight to protect the stupid from themselves?

What?

dwight

Reply to
dwight

As years go by, I've wondered about

Valet parking

Auto service centers (actually had to go 'round the back of a Ford dealership to get my own car, because the kid that was supposed to bring it around for me couldn't drive stick)

or any other situation where someone other than yourself has to drive your manual transmission car. It's becoming a lost skill, no question. On the flip side, with all of the improvements and changes made to automatics, selectable automatics, manual-shift automatics, etc etc, I'm wondering whether I would know how to drive one of those so-equipped cars.

dwight

Reply to
dwight

Sad, indeed.

My recent test drive of a new Corvette had me playing with paddles for while until I finally got it.

Nice thing about new manuals is they're easier. My GT's clutch and gearing are so smooth it's much easier to take off with out even giving in any gas. A nice thing when you're creeping in traffic. And I've seen some new cars are coming out with "hill control" so it won't roll back when the clutch is engaged.

Patrick

Reply to
patrick.mckenzie84

Have some real "fun", get a three-on-the-tree car. I am so glad my '73 is finally exempt from emissions testing. First they find the one person in the place that can drive an MT and then they look at it and don't have a clue... I then have to teach that person how to drive it a few feet because government regulations didn't permit me to do it. First is down and towards you... you have to put it in reverse to remove the key...

If you can operate a video game, you can. Just find where the buttons are. :)

Reply to
Brent

Adults can fend for themselves. They have enough experience in most things to make decisions, right or wrong.

The same can not be said of a "child" who is just beginning to drive.

Adults know that things like cell phones are distracting, and having other teens in the car is distracting, but a new driver doesn't.

I am not for more government. I just know that our local schools have lost a lot of A students over a moments distraction.

I wouldn't send a newbie who is learning to handle explosives out with other newbies to learn the hard way. A vehicle is a deadly weapon. Not just for the driver and passengers, but also for a large number of innocent people... and around schools, that means kids.

As one who has suffered the loss of my 12 year old son under the wheels of a school bus whose driver was "distracted" by cars which would not allow her to pull away from the curb - so she used the sidewalk upon which my son was standing... I am all about protecting children.

As a police officer who has had to investigate far too many such losses and had to deal with the parents, I am all about protecting children.

And let's be clear about it. The government may lower the age of what is considered an adult, but I don't see an adult at any age until they have the experience and knowledge needed to make adult decisions.

Reply to
D E Willson

My65 is in the shop right now (hopefully ready tomorrow) and I am driving a new Lincoln Townecar. There are more buttons, dials, levers, etc than I know what to do with. It's an automatic. I had to get some advice on how to get in it after I saw the key pad on the door... yet in my hand was a compact little remote. LOL I have not even listened to the radio yet. Compared to my 65, I feel like I'm steering the Queen Mary. I can't even feel the road when I hit a bump.

I WANT MY 65 BACK!

Reply to
D E Willson

Used to be that "Hill Control" was the stock way to tune your car. You put it on an incline and set it up so it would not roll backward while in gear. Made pulling out from a stop sign on a hill a lot easier.. especially in places like San Francisco or Seattle.

Reply to
D E Willson

It's getting harder and harder to find a mechanic who knows how to tune a carb.... and a good share of the dealerships hire kids to move the cars around, and they are totally lost. Ahhhh Just wait until the whole worldwide system of electronics crashes. The shade tree mechanics will rule! :0)

My broker said I should invest in gold, silver, and other prescious metals. I said, give me brass and lead. With bullets, I can get whatever I want. LOL

Reply to
D E Willson

And who gets to decide? You? A locally-appointed board of commissioners? Does an 18-year-old have to re-take a driving test to qualify for a manual transmission and, if so, what about the 30-something who's buying his first stick car?

Or is a 30-something automatically assumed to be an adult ('cause I could argue that point, too)?

And I still laugh when I hear that some video game or the other is "rated mature." That's funny, and another topic.

dwight

Reply to
dwight

And the age of a 'child' keeps going up and up.

A new driver is a new driver regardless of age.

Perhaps it's time to reconsider fear based driver's ed?

Imagine for a moment that explosives training taught practically nothing about handling them, wiring them up, etc and so forth but instead focused on making the students fearful of explosives, that handling them fast will kill them, and showing them the results of accidents with explosives. Would that result in graduates who knew how to use explosives safely and competently?

The problem is that driver's ed is faulty so that the learning happens on the road when they are driving by themselves or with their friends.

Early in the age of the automobile, when they were far more difficult to handle and far less safe 12 year olds managed to use them competently. Age is not relevant, but ability, training, and experience. Age is just a rough indicator of development and often a poor one.

I for one am tired of being less and less free and seeing young people more and more restricted to later and later ages because people make decisions based on emotions. Sad things happen, but they cannot be prevented with increasing levels of government dumbing things down while micromanaging our lives. What we do get is ever less capable people who end up doing dumber and dumber things requiring more and more laws and more and more oversight.

The government keeps acting to retard people into a condition of childhood for their entire lives. Oddly enough, government gets to be the parents.

Reply to
Brent

--- Snip a bit ---

--- Snip a bit more ---

I would say that anyone _of_any_age_ driving a car with a manual trans, has to have the manual trans endorsement, just like most states require a motor cycle endorsement, or heavy truck, bus, etc. I think that is an excellent idea.

Reply to
twk

You get no argument from me about government intrusion. I think a M/C rider has the right to decide whether to use a helmet or not. Same with seatbelts. Yet I have no problem requiring a child to be belted in or wear a helmet. Of course, I also don't have a problem with an insurance company which says, no helmet, no coverage, or limited coverage. That is a business decision.

As an example, I present the following: Most people know that military people have full medical coverage for themselves and their families. What few people know is that a GI who is involved in an accident while not wearing a helmet or a seatbelt, etc, will have the military refuse to cover his medical needs. Used to be that GIs took off the helmet, or unbuckkled as soon as they were off base. No more. It also used to be that no matter what the state drinking age was, or whether a locale was "dry" or not, GIs could drink on base. That too ended.

Yes, bad things happen to anyone. And, I think the government has gone way too far to protect people from themselves. The crap they are pulling now with Happy Meals and soft drinks is just a small example. But that does not mean we should be totally oblivious to things which can help save lives of innocent people.

One other point... in the beginning, autos were not harder to operate. They were very simple mechanical devices. Sure, you had to put some muscle into turning the steering wheel, but, at the same time there were far less distractions and far less traffic on the roads. The highway next to my grandparents farm was two lanes, undivided, and we pulled straight onto it from the gravel driveway. Today that same highway had eight lanes, and in some sections, more.

Reply to
D E Willson

Only if the insurance business isn't a government regulated cartel. But that's exactly what it is these days.

The government also uses those who signed up for the military as test subjects for all sorts of things from vaccines to radiation exposure, so perhaps they aren't a good example.

The mistake was allowing the government to get a foot in the door. The USA is full of control freaks and once the government has a little power the control freaks merely need to encourage government and no government needs much encouragement to expand its power.

Driving is a relatively simple task. Distraction and bad driving is due to the teachings we get. Distraction is easy because of the dumbed down conditions and mind-numbing slow speed limits, it craves distraction because driving as it has been legally dumbed down to is BORING. 55mph on a near empty 6 lane interstate... where's the television? Where's the internet connection? Furthermore we are taught to drive slow because of the other guy. The teachings make bad driving socially acceptable. It's gotten so assbackwards that people are offended and believe the other guy at fault when someone doesn't give way to their piss poor inattentive driving.

Reply to
Brent

It might be regulated at present, but that is nothing compared to what ObamaCare will do.

As a eretired GI/Combat Vet (as well as cop), I take issue with this statement.

Agreed. Unfortunately, this is the end result in allgreat civilizations. The people, in the name of safety, relinquish more and more power to the government. The government doesn't so much take power as it does accept power. But, once it has it, only revolution can return the power to the people.

I disagree, respectfully. At low speed, a distraction may cause things to go bad, but, a distraction at high speed, caused things to go bad everr faster. So much so that the ability to react is slowed, and the reaction usually becomes far more than necessary. That leads to a total loss of control. Think about what happens if a driver drifts off the edge of the pavement. At slow speed, the driver may slow further and stop, or may correct back onto the pavement (which may require further deceleration). At high speed, a slight turn of the wheel to rgain the pavement has a greater impact force against the pavement edge. Toss in some loose soil/sand and the result is usually disasterous. I don't care how many years the average drive has spent behind the wheel, when unexpected things happen, the reaction is most often the wrong one. Heck... Even professional drivers make errors in judgement.

You can also take a driver from one climate to another, and without experience behind them, a dust devil, patch of ice, etc, can be the end of a nice drive.

Reply to
D E Willson

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