Discussion
Idiot tearaway. Video in the car shows terrifying driving practises. They try to put him right in two days, including:
Sending him with an ambulance crew to a fatal - excellent idea, seems to make a brief impression.
Handling training at a proving ground - completely pointless, may have made him realise he had not been as good as he thought he was before, but now he will think he is.
Brake and avoid exercise - not bad, showed him how difficult it can be, might improve his ability to deal with genuine emergency.
Exercise with a car-load of people distracting him - demonstrated to him that his abilities were reduced by distractions - quite good.
Brain scan - I did not understand the point.
At the end we watched him driving again. Very marginal improvement.
I think the fundamental problem with this guy was that he was proud of having no fear, and did not want to drive safely. To make him drive safely needs a change in psychology, not skills.
Sending him with an ambulance crew to a fatal - excellent idea, seems to make a brief impression.
Handling training at a proving ground - completely pointless, may have made him realise he had not been as good as he thought he was before, but now he will think he is.
Brake and avoid exercise - not bad, showed him how difficult it can be, might improve his ability to deal with genuine emergency.
Exercise with a car-load of people distracting him - demonstrated to him that his abilities were reduced by distractions - quite good.
Brain scan - I did not understand the point.
At the end we watched him driving again. Very marginal improvement.
I think the fundamental problem with this guy was that he was proud of having no fear, and did not want to drive safely. To make him drive safely needs a change in psychology, not skills.
waremark said:
To make him drive safely needs a change in psychology, not skills.
I didn't see the programme but this statement could be applied to most of the driving population: I would guess that most people never look at their driving in a critical fashion, never mind have any interest in improving their driving. I think the problem is that there is a disparity between how acceptable motoring danger is to our society (having thousands of people dieing annually isn't acceptable), the potential danger of motoring (very high), and the way motoring fits into our society (i.e. it's a social and economic necessity, rather than a hobby or a profession that demands extremely high standards) I've recorded the show, but have yet to watch it. In the meantime...
Wasn't there some research published recently wrt brain development, that suggested that young men may be innately reckless?
And I wonder if personality types have an influence? One could imagine that people who favour a planned and organised approach to problems might drive more repeatably than those that prefer a more spontaneous and laissez-faire approach...
Wasn't there some research published recently wrt brain development, that suggested that young men may be innately reckless?
And I wonder if personality types have an influence? One could imagine that people who favour a planned and organised approach to problems might drive more repeatably than those that prefer a more spontaneous and laissez-faire approach...
Thanks for the link Tom.
Just watched it, nothing special and nothing that hasn't been done before.
The root of the problem is that they are making a programme for entertainment, not actually tackling the driver and his associated areas for improvement.
I think the problem with trying to make a programme such as this is that it is hard to make something like driving (or advanced driving) interesting as people expect something very different.
I am sure if you asked people what they expected of advanced driving they would talk about speed, performance and skid pans. In reality spending time on the road trying to improve your observation skills/steering technique/commentary doesn't make a interesting programme for the viewer hence the car control, handling and timed laps to 'jazz' it up a bit.
Ben Collins (isn't he 'The Stig'?) did come across well though and has to be admired for his efforts.
Just watched it, nothing special and nothing that hasn't been done before.
The root of the problem is that they are making a programme for entertainment, not actually tackling the driver and his associated areas for improvement.
I think the problem with trying to make a programme such as this is that it is hard to make something like driving (or advanced driving) interesting as people expect something very different.
I am sure if you asked people what they expected of advanced driving they would talk about speed, performance and skid pans. In reality spending time on the road trying to improve your observation skills/steering technique/commentary doesn't make a interesting programme for the viewer hence the car control, handling and timed laps to 'jazz' it up a bit.
Ben Collins (isn't he 'The Stig'?) did come across well though and has to be admired for his efforts.
Thanks for posting the link.
As A-W said, the programme was compromised by its need to provide entertainment to a general audience. It would have been far more interesting had the subject been of the sort who isn't widely regarded to be a 'problem': an older, more experienced driver who doesn't exhibit a reckless attitude and possibly one who is female. Similarly, the training should have been more relevant to road driving. A few days of driving with an police instructor would have been much better. That would have been far more telling, but I suppose it would have been too subtle for a viewer not interested in motoring to 'get'.
As A-W said, the programme was compromised by its need to provide entertainment to a general audience. It would have been far more interesting had the subject been of the sort who isn't widely regarded to be a 'problem': an older, more experienced driver who doesn't exhibit a reckless attitude and possibly one who is female. Similarly, the training should have been more relevant to road driving. A few days of driving with an police instructor would have been much better. That would have been far more telling, but I suppose it would have been too subtle for a viewer not interested in motoring to 'get'.
vonhosen said:
henrycrun said:
Sadly I don't think many drivers examine their driving abilities until they've had a crash
A lot don't even do it then. They just blame someone else because it can't be their fault, after all they are a good driver.Too true.
(The above quote was me, as a fairly new driver, after a spin. I went around saying that for about a month, before I came to terms with the fact that there was no oil, it was just me, and I had, in fact, done something stupid. I think my driving improved rather a lot after that)
I have since heard a lot of people saying similar, but without that realisation though - it will forever be "just one of those things" in their minds.
Flintstone said:
SamHH said:
.......... had the subject been.........female.
Go on then. I'll bite.Why female?
My point is that it would be more interesting to see the faults of a driver who the 'man on the street' would consider to be 'safe' than it is to see the faults of a complete nutter who anyone can see is completely unsafe.
One point made in passing, which I found interesting, was that a man's brain won't be fully developed until he reaches his mid-20's. In particular, the bits of the brain responsible for risk assessment and the avoidance of reckless behaviour are still maturing.
Of course, how to act on this information is the real issue...
Of course, how to act on this information is the real issue...
SamHH said:
My point is that it would be more interesting to see the faults of a driver who the 'man on the street' would consider to be 'safe' than it is to see the faults of a complete nutter who anyone can see is completely unsafe.
Agreed - many who consider themselves the very essence of safe and courteous driving display some very less-than-ideal approaches to driving activities.Regarding Willibetz's point, it can only be a question of degree in terms of risk-taking. None of them would do anything which would end in certain disaster. I would therefore be looking at using the driving simulator as a shock tactic to show how a sloppy approach can so quickly result in disaster. In other words, use the simulator to throw some hazards at them which a demonstrably good driver would avoid but which involve them in a collision, and then let them ponder... I'd show them the "good driver" demonstration (recorded) after they've had their run to demonstrate to them how far they've yet to go.
Nick
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