Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Ferrari Digest, Vol 31, Issue 25

[BRIGANDBAR (BRIGANDBAR]

In a message dated 2/14/2009 8:25:20 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
ferrari-request [at] ferrarilist.com writes:

I am a  firm believer that in the US of A, driver training is abysmal...I  
know many adults who could not manage to parallel park to save their  lives
Mike:
 
I'm not sure of the validity of you argument, e.g. that a lack of a single  
set of skills defines a driver as "abysmal".  Further, I'm not sure that  your 
entire hypothesis is structurally flawed.
 
What  is "non-abysmal" driver training?
 
Where I grew up, and where I took my undergraduate degree in Kansas has a  
completely different set of essential driving skills than one who lives in New  
York City. In fact, we used to call what you refer to as "parallel parking" as 
 "city parking" and it was something we had no real use for in our daily 
lives.  It wasn't part of my test for my first driver's license and I don't see 
why it  would be in most localities. Even now, here in Bowling Green, KY there 
is really  little use to learn that skill just to be able to use a very small 
proportion of  available parking spaces. We park between lines, at an angle and 
the scariest  part of it all is trying to back out into traffic in the 348 
when someone like  me has parked he Excursion in an adjoining parking space, 
too 
tall to look over  and not quite high enough, even with a lift kit, to look 
underneath to clear  oneself  while attempting to rejoin parking. Having driven 
on the  Interstate Highway system here, and the Autobahn(s) in the FRG (now 
back to  being known as Germany) I think that learning to drive on the Texas 
and Kansas  interstate highways at or perhaps, on rare occasion, in excess of 
the 80 mph  speed limits was just what I needed to be safe over there. Our next 
generation  of drivers were brought up on the 55 mph national speed limit (or 
as they called  it in Montana the 55 mph Environmental Control Law with no 
such things as points  against a driver's license and a $5.00 fine), 0 to 60 
times that would allow the  driver to grow a pretty nice mustache during the 
intervening period of time, and  highway patrol and state police agency 
troopers 
brainwashed into believing that  55 mph was the XI Commandment. I had to take 
my 
first driving test in a car with  what was then called a "standard" 
transmission or my license would have been  annotated with a limitation 
restricting me 
to vehicles equipped with an  "automatic transmission only". Even now, the 
state of Nevada has, except  for "Silver State" event days, given up on 
"reasonable and proper" which  was frequently defined as "Did you have an 
accident? No. 
Then your speed was  reasonable and proper". How can we expect out new 
drivers to develop the skills  necessary to drive to the "standard" that you 
espouse 
under these  conditions.
 
I drive my Ferrari with perhaps a little less aplomb than you display on  the 
track, but how well would you do driving my 20 ton winch truck, with a  
cranky 7 speed non-synchro transmission and air brakes, negotiating the Animas  
Mountains or Sonoran Desert to get to the exact spot where your GPS says that  
Geronimo surrendered to the Cavalry, or bringing a 54,000 pound fire truck  
with 
l00' lift platform to a fire for them to use in extinguishing the fire to  
save the Ferrari in their garage? The track requires a special skill set that 
is 
 not usually acquired by drivers on the street, but are also not necessary 
and  rarely used by them.
 
Most American drivers who don't end up as highway statistics develop the  
skills necessary to meet the demands of their life circumstances. Of course, as 
 
their physical limitations overcome them they become the blue-haired old 
ladies  or the old men in the c*ck-sucker caps who have to drive the speed 
limit or 
less  in the left lane totally oblivious to the lineup of traffic behind 
them, the  mental midgets who think that their personal cars are traffic 
control 
devices  designed to run, aligned with another idiot of similar thinking 
blocking both  lanes of a highway to ensure that no one drives at a speed 
greater 
than that  which they consider to be "reasonable and proper". No amount of 
driver training  can cure these ills.
 
One last question. Why so disparaging of new developments such as the speed  
synchronizing features of certain cars or the paddle shifters? Actually, there 
 are some reports of automatic transmission equipped automobiles 
outperforming  the same make and model, virtually identical, automobiles 
equipped with  
conventional three pedal manual transmissions. Remember the folks that could 
not 
 understand why anyone would want to own tires without tubes, or with speed  
ratings, and then there are the idiot manufacturers who develop cars that can  
attain speeds in excess of 200 mph but equip them with electronic speed 
limiters  to prevent owners from doing so. Heel and toe driving may be fun, and 
a 
skill to  demonstrate on the track amongst competitors but just as  
intentionally stalling an aircraft when learning to fly is a skill to  
demonstrate to the 
FAA examiner or designee, a skill that goes generally unused  except in the 
most limited of circumstances. 
 
Dr, Steve
 
1964 Rolls  Royce Silver Cloud III...........1975 Pontiac GV Conv.
1980 MB  450SL..................................1982 RR Corniche
1985 MB 280 GE  G-Wagen................. 1985 GMC Brigadier 20 Ton 
Winch/Wrecker
1988 Rolls  Royce Silver Spur................1990 Cadillac "Eagle" Hearse
1994 F-350  Powerstroke 4x4................1995 Ferrari 348 Spyder
1996 Bronco  ......................................2000 Lincoln Town Car
2004  Excursion...................................(+ Audrey's 2x MB's)
and  a
1976 Fire Truck...................................HAHN, WARNER &  SWASEY- 
DUPLEX 
DIVISION  HOWE  APPARTUS . MODEL #R400 FIRE  TRUCK w/a 100' Tower

Dr. Stephen B. Spies, CES,  CFI
Director, Forensic Sciences Laboratory
Explosives Engineering  Technologies
lex talionis
Fides tamen Quin

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