Speaking of evolution, our modern car technology seems to be breeding lousy drivers:

Fewer than 30 of those questioned in a recent survey knew what anti-lock brakes were, and less than 5 percent understood traction control. To test some skills of the average driver, the U.K.’s Times newspaper brought along a 15-year-old BMW 3-series devoid of every modern safety feature and asked some regular drivers to take it through the test track at the Graham Griffiths of Ultimate Car Control training school. While all the drivers were able to drive their modern Volvos, Hondas, and Subarus successfully in all conditions, they failed when forced to drive the classic car.

I grew up in Michigan, and drove sixties British sports cars through my formative driving years. They didn't even have redundant brake master cylinders, let alone automatic braking systems (in fact, my 1960 MGA had to share the hydraulic reservoir for both brakes and clutch actuator, so if you got a brake leak, you eventually lost your clutch as well--made for fun times occasionally). On snowy winter nights, I used to go over to the parking lot at the neighborhood golf course to practice driving my '67 MGB-GT in an area where there was no danger of hitting anything if you spun out.

I remember a few years ago when I was in St. Louis at Christmas, and they got a sudden blizzard the night before we were to fly out. Our flight ended up being canceled, and we rented a car to get back to the relatives' home where we were staying. I noticed that when I hit the brakes in the snow, they would chatter, and that was the first time I'd experienced ABS. I didn't like it, because I felt like I didn't have control of the car (the same problem I have with automatic transmissions). But apparently, modern drivers just learning are going to know nothing else, and not understand the physics or techniques of driving in low-traction conditions.

I'm afraid that as we get further and further from the era in which certain skills were required to survive, we'll have a larger and larger population that won't manage even the slightest breakdown in our technology. I want to see the future, but this is, I think, one of the real downsides of it--a population that becomes Eloi.

One of my fondest memories is when I demonstrated for my wife (not yet my wife) that I could shift a standard transmission car without using the clutch, at least for certain gears, by watching the RPM and listening to the engine.

Scared the be-jeebers out of her the first time I explained what I was going to do.

Was it your car, or hers?

My MGs were particularly a challenge in that regard, because they didn't have a synchronizer in first gear.

Mine, a V-8 Mustang convertible, my favorite car ever.

I'd also do power slides in the snow on large empty parking lots. That usually provoke a scream or two.

Bah. Next you'll be complaining that people don't know how to drive oxen.

In not too distant future, people may not drive cars at all -- the cars will drive themselves. And those people will be better off for it. Life is too short to spend time learning to do mundane. otherwise unenjoyable things that machines can do better.

I love to drive cars.

Especially manual transmissions. Playing the clutch, engine braking around a curve (no brake pedal applied) ready to accelerate into the straight. And so on.

Its fun, no matter how inefficient.

= = =

Reflecting on my previous post, I guess my future wife and I had already become so serous about each other that the "what's yours is ours" meme had already started taking root. It was no longer "my" car to trash as I saw fit.

One of the things that has made both commercial and civil aviation so astoundingly safe is the national- and almost world-wide- standardization of pilot training and proficiency rating.

When it comes to the 'piloting' of automotive vehicles, we still have more than half on the road who learned to drive from their parent, relative or friend (to assure that bad habits are passed on)- and another percentage who went through some sort of 'rubber stamp' driver's ed. program in high school. The driving tests given by states run the gamut from aggravating (let's see if you can parallel park) to absurd (a mutiple-choice guessing game.)
Police officers experienced in working traffic fatalities and collisions have repeatedly stressed that the single most effective means to make our roads safer would be the implementation of a standard national program for seriously training, testing and re-testing drivers--- but these are fighting words to the ACLU who thinks driving is a 'right,' to the legions of lawyers whose entire lavish lifetyle is dependent upon traffic incidents, and to the insurance companies who just love the (sad) statistics that justify their ever-increasing premiums.

I would have to fess up to a reduction in my driving skill since selling my Audi TT (manual transmission) and getting a Prius (which has a CVT). I think it's because of the nav system bells and whistles, but lately I've been turning off the screen.

Previous post mine. Oops.

Driving my 73 Celica on 2 lane blacktops was a riot. A car that would corner and go well over 100. The first car I had radials on. What a difference. People in the south have no idea how fun cookies in an empty, icy parking lot can be.

Apropos of the 'self-driving car' prediction, one of the throwaway prediction bits in John Barnes' _Mother of Storms_ is for self-driving cars that depend on guidance data from the roadway. When one of the monster storms in the book starts demolishing the infrastructure, all of the youngsters that haven't driven a car since they got their license suddenly find themselves in dire straits. As to all the oldersters that they keep running into...

Well, a few months ago myw ife and I test-drove a car with a stick, first time for either of us in more years than we care to remember. She had some trouble getting back into the mode of using the clutch and gearshift, but I managed it almost effortlessly.

The fact my first car was a 4-speed stick (and I actually had to kinda figure out for myself how to drive it, since I couldn't "get it" from just being told), and the next thing I drove much, though not mine, was a 5-speed stick, may have helped just a little.

I've never had anti-lock brakes. Even the last new car I had -- a 2001 Toyota Echo -- didn't have them (they were optional). However, I've never learned to drive a stick. Maybe I should, but it's just not necessary in Florida, and in the city it's positively a hindrance.

Among other things I'm a car nut. I learned to drive on a '66 Plymouth Belvedere which originally had a polysphere 318 but was later swapped out for a 383+.30 over big block with a street cam, 3 angle valve job, port and polish, gasket matching, etc etc – it made around 415 HP and 495 ft/lbs. It had a 3 speed automatic torqueflite with a shift kit but could bald street tires well into 2nd gear and I could peg the speedo at 120 while only turning somewhere around 3000 rpm. It too had the single reservoir master cylinder with drums brakes all the way around. One time I swapped out the brake shoes up front and replace the hold down pins with a set that were slightly too long. Front brakes fell apart and took the wheel cylinders out which promptly made the pedal fall to the floor. Good thing the emergency brake still worked after 25 years.

I then graduated to a 1995 Mustang GTS 5.0L 5-speed non-ABS. Fun car till the electrical problems started to creep in. First time to have a limited slip differential so doing donuts on dry pavement was a hoot.

Then got a Honda CRV AWD w/ABS which proved helpful the one day it iced over in Dallas. After the 2 thrill rides I tried something more practical and economic. HATED IT!! I did enjoy the AWD though quite a bit, which is putting an enormous monkey on my back wanting me to go buy a Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

Then, I bought a 1999 Toyota Solara w/ABS that has a 3.0L v6 but runs every bit as strong as a v8. The ABS is touchy, even grinding on dry pavement if you’re under braking while going over a particularly bumpy section of road. I will say that I had my first experience with ABS with this car that actually helped I think – wet road, sudden stop, ABS chattering like crazy but the car never skidded.

Took a business trip to South Bend long time ago and it just so happened to snow 16 inches the day I got there. So, there was Josh, out in a parking lot, trying to get a Chrysler Sebring rental car to power slid. This Texas boy doesn’t get the opportunity to play in the snow to often so I took my chance while I had it.

Maybe I should, but it's just not necessary in Florida, and in the city it's positively a hindrance.

You should - you'll be a better driver for the experience. This is good for you of course but also for the people around you.

I love to drive cars.

Well, I DON'T. I much prefer when someone else drives so that I could do productive things while moving. If the car can drive itself, so much the better.

My 14-year old daughter does not want to learn to drive. That is, she fully intends to, because she understands it is a necessary life skill, but she is not looking forward to it, the way American 14-year olds historically have. As far as she is concerned, learning to drive -- and driving, -- is a chore. What she really wants is a robot car that would take her where she wants to go.

I believe ABS causes a vehicle to take longer to stop, than one without ABS. That is, based on what I've experienced, and a friend of mine.

Further, it's my own opinion of course, but I've always thought the most important, and highest priority, should be to stop as quickly as possible. Not every non-ABS hard stop results in uncontrolled skidding. So ABS is only helpful in a less than 100% rate of hard stops.

Worried about becoming an Eloi?

What do you do when the oil lamp starts smoking?

Why do you put the woodpile between the house and the outhouse?

How do you bank a fire?

If you can't answer these off the top of your head, you're already an Eloi. Not as bad as you thought, is it?

I drove stick shifts for over 20 years, but years of Colorado Springs traffic (and a bum knee) finally convinced me to go to an automatic transmission. When you have to go through dozens of unsynchronized traffic lights each way to and from work, a stick shift is simply a pain. It has been over 12 years now and I've only had the opportunity to drive a stick a few times since. Can't say I really miss it.

The argument is like the ones where taildragger pilots ridicule us nosegear pilots. In the air, they fly the same. On the ground, a taildragger is dynamically unstable and, left to its own devices, will promptly try to swap ends. Taildraggers have their advantages but they suck eggs in a severe crosswind (like the kind we very commonly get here). No thanks, I'll give up a couple knots of airspeed.

My Honda Odyssey comes with a "TCS off" button. When the light is lit is it off or on? Ergonomics of negative checkoff sure leaves me in the dark.

Ilya it's not a matter of using - or learning - to use a manual shift because you enjoy driving.

Learning to use a manual shift - even if you never own one - will tend make you a better driver; you'll have better driving habits and a solid appreciation for what goes into driving vs. just aiming your machine down the road.

This is a worthwhile investment of your time considering that you are talking about a chore that involves piloting tons of metal around at speed. It could mean your life, probably will mean the difference between an expensive accident and avoiding same, or being able to reduce the damage to 'fender bender'.

What do you do when the oil lamp starts smoking?

Bob, if the _lamp_ is smoking then I've got more serious problems than wondering if I'm an Eloi.

What? Nobody here waxing nostalgic over hand-cranked engine starts? Manual chokes? Manual spark advance?

Pussies!

Taildragger pilots know their rudders in ways that nosepushers tend to forget, Larry. It's really true.

'My 14-year old daughter does not want to learn to drive. That is, she fully intends to,..'

I hope for her sake and mine that you instill in her the fact that CARS KILL PEOPLE and should not be taken lightly. In round numbers, about 40,000 annual fatalities in the US alone. If all the discussions and marching and political posturing that has been directed toward 2000 soldiers US killed in Iraq (my apologies to Iraqi citizens) were directed toward learning to drive safely, we could save over 2000 lives per year (just 5% of 40,000).

Ask any Highway Patrolman what is the leading cause of fatalities, and the answer will be some variant of "Did something stupid", which includes talking on the cell phone. You don't have to enjoy driving to treat it with the respect it deserves because of its lethality.

When I moved to CA, I took a written driver's test that was a joke. It was difficult, but the questions were about the arcana of the laws, not about either safety or courtesy (which helps the flow of traffic). There were questions on "How far from a railroad crossing gate must you stop?", but nothing even remotely like: "What happens to wet stopping distance from 60 MPH as your tire tread wears thin?"

As to where I fit on the driver spectrum; on one hand I enjoy taking my mid-engine 2-seater to open track day at the local race course, and on the other hand I appreciate travelling long distance in my girlfriend's rolling bank vault (Mercedes-Benz 300D).