Crash Tests: Old vs New

[Skippy722]

Originally Posted by RayCJ


If everyone were required to take a street performance driving course, the roads would be much safer places indeed. I've taken a few levels of HPDE courses over the years. -Really good stuff. Unfortunately, most States hand-out driver's licenses the same way the Costco greeter hands-out sales flyers. It's great that you put your son thru some extra training!

Defensive driving is something most good drivers try to do. The game gets a little harder when you add drunk drivers and total fools into the equation. Matter of fact, I'd say good drivers are out-numbered by the bad ones.

I've never done any HPDE, but I learned to drive in vehicles (FWD minivan, RWD pick up) that did not have traction/stability control, or any other electronic nannies. When winter came around, my mother took me up to the school and let me drive and had me perform various maneuvers/force it to oversteer and then correct it, or slam on the brakes so I knew what the ABS felt like.

I took that experience and now whenever I get a new car, the first think I do is find a nice open parking lot after the first snow fall where I can safely get a feel for how my vehicle behaves. I like to think that makes me a little safer as a driver.

 

[RayCJ]

Originally Posted by Skippy722
Originally Posted by RayCJ


If everyone were required to take a street performance driving course, the roads would be much safer places indeed. I've taken a few levels of HPDE courses over the years. -Really good stuff. Unfortunately, most States hand-out driver's licenses the same way the Costco greeter hands-out sales flyers. It's great that you put your son thru some extra training!

Defensive driving is something most good drivers try to do. The game gets a little harder when you add drunk drivers and total fools into the equation. Matter of fact, I'd say good drivers are out-numbered by the bad ones.

I've never done any HPDE, but I learned to drive in vehicles (FWD minivan, RWD pick up) that did not have traction/stability control, or any other electronic nannies. When winter came around, my mother took me up to the school and let me drive and had me perform various maneuvers/force it to oversteer and then correct it, or slam on the brakes so I knew what the ABS felt like.

I took that experience and now whenever I get a new car, the first think I do is find a nice open parking lot after the first snow fall where I can safely get a feel for how my vehicle behaves. I like to think that makes me a little safer as a driver.


It just so happens, I was born/raised in Chicago and we did the same thing. Yep, we would find an open parking lot covered with snow and find-out how you and your car handle the lack of friction. Hint: Make sure the parking lot does not have any concrete parking stall dividers! (LOL).

I lived on the North side (Wrigleyville) when I started to drive. We had several years in a row in the late 70's were the lake effect snow accumulated so bad, you could not see sidewalks or pavement until the end of February. I remember going over the Laramie/Eisenhauer overpass -and it was 50% packed snow and 50% solid ice. Oh boy... My butt was biting the seat the whole way over. My beater was a ragged-out 67 Plymouth Fury III. OMG... It was a joke on dry ground much less, snow. Right after that, I got a 72, Olds 442. The car was in better shape but snow handling was worse than the Fury. Although I managed to avoid collisions, fender-benders were a fact of life.

Most people back then knew not to go too fast. When we get snow here in Maryland, people have no clue what they'r doing, travel full speed -and there's catastrophic wrecks every darn time. For that reason alone, I'm glad modern cars have so many basic safety features built into them.

BTW: If you ever get a chance, take an HPDE class. There's a lot of Autocross in the Chicago area... that's good too, for learning higher speed maneuvering.

Take Care

Ray