Driver Awareness Course - bizarre advice?
Discussion
I was on a Driver Awareness Course today, after lethally piloting my car up a clear straight dry empty three lane road (two in my direction) in the middle of nowhere at a breakneck 60mph (saw the camera van but thought it was a 60, it was 50mph, so my fault).
The chap taking the course was a driving instructor in his sixties I'd say with a long history of HGV driving, HGV training, then car training. His shirt said 'police staff', not sure if he actually driver trains police officers (think so).
Most of the course was basically common sense which is a bit boring for those of us that already possess it, but hey ho.
But the bit I found odd was his 'tips for controlling car speed and sticking to the limit'.
According to him, cars are designed to run most efficiently at 50-60mph, and he reckons that the problem is that therefore it's hard to keep the speed down in a higher gear, which he reckons we're all taught to be in.
So his advice is to only drive in 2nd gear in a 20mph limit and never higher than 3rd gear in a 30mph limit, irrespective of what the car is. He also said on modern cars with economy lights telling you to shift up, you can put the light out by simply lifting completely off the accelerator. Which probably works, albeit with the slight inconvenience that you'll grind to a halt...
For automatics it got even more bizarre. His advice was, when entering a 40mph or 30mph limit, you should put the gearbox into Sport Mode. This, he reckoned, would engage another set of lower gears, therefore making it easier to control the car speed. Once back on NSL roads, put it back in Comfort Mode.
Now I know for a fact that's utter nonsense. I've driven autos for years, Sport Mode makes the car more responsive to the throttle, kicking down a gear or two more quickly and letting the revs build higher when accelerating firmly. But they still revert to whatever gear you'd be in if you'd selected Comfort Mode when on an even throttle (as you would be most of the time when coasting through a 30mph zone). If anything, I'd have thought it's going to give the inept less car control as it will be more eager to kick down and accelerate.
Oh, and he doesn't like cruise controls 'because of aquaplaning' (I can only guess he's referring to the urban myth that occasionally does the Facebook rounds about the copper who apparently tells a woman who crashed that it's because she was on cruise control, when the car aquaplaned the cruise control made it suddenly accelerate, causing her to crash).
Oh and the final gem was him saying that the record for speeding in his county was a Porsche clocked at 155mph. But it was limited to that and no car will ever go faster because they are all limited to 155mph.
The whole thing struck me as utterly bonkers advice, especially the idea of people driving for miles in a 30mph in third (which might be sound for a fast high geared car, but surely not a 'shopping trolley' Ford Ka or similar?) And the engaging Sport Mode to get a lower gear on an auto.?
Or is his advice sound do you think?
The chap taking the course was a driving instructor in his sixties I'd say with a long history of HGV driving, HGV training, then car training. His shirt said 'police staff', not sure if he actually driver trains police officers (think so).
Most of the course was basically common sense which is a bit boring for those of us that already possess it, but hey ho.
But the bit I found odd was his 'tips for controlling car speed and sticking to the limit'.
According to him, cars are designed to run most efficiently at 50-60mph, and he reckons that the problem is that therefore it's hard to keep the speed down in a higher gear, which he reckons we're all taught to be in.
So his advice is to only drive in 2nd gear in a 20mph limit and never higher than 3rd gear in a 30mph limit, irrespective of what the car is. He also said on modern cars with economy lights telling you to shift up, you can put the light out by simply lifting completely off the accelerator. Which probably works, albeit with the slight inconvenience that you'll grind to a halt...
For automatics it got even more bizarre. His advice was, when entering a 40mph or 30mph limit, you should put the gearbox into Sport Mode. This, he reckoned, would engage another set of lower gears, therefore making it easier to control the car speed. Once back on NSL roads, put it back in Comfort Mode.
Now I know for a fact that's utter nonsense. I've driven autos for years, Sport Mode makes the car more responsive to the throttle, kicking down a gear or two more quickly and letting the revs build higher when accelerating firmly. But they still revert to whatever gear you'd be in if you'd selected Comfort Mode when on an even throttle (as you would be most of the time when coasting through a 30mph zone). If anything, I'd have thought it's going to give the inept less car control as it will be more eager to kick down and accelerate.
Oh, and he doesn't like cruise controls 'because of aquaplaning' (I can only guess he's referring to the urban myth that occasionally does the Facebook rounds about the copper who apparently tells a woman who crashed that it's because she was on cruise control, when the car aquaplaned the cruise control made it suddenly accelerate, causing her to crash).
Oh and the final gem was him saying that the record for speeding in his county was a Porsche clocked at 155mph. But it was limited to that and no car will ever go faster because they are all limited to 155mph.
The whole thing struck me as utterly bonkers advice, especially the idea of people driving for miles in a 30mph in third (which might be sound for a fast high geared car, but surely not a 'shopping trolley' Ford Ka or similar?) And the engaging Sport Mode to get a lower gear on an auto.?
Or is his advice sound do you think?
poppopbangbang said:
I had an experience several years ago where a similar sort of chap told the room with a straight face that "a professional driver can always stop quicker without ABS but it makes you lot safer because you aren't that skilled". I questioned this based on my experience of calibrating Bosch ABS systems for motosport and road car use along with, at the time, being a paid test driver which eventually resulted in being told to be quite or I would be marked as having not attended.
The only thing more terrifying than the lack of general automotive knowledge and ability members of the public have is the lack of general automotive knowledge and ability those who are supposed to improve the general publics motoring ability have.
I didn't bother querying it for that reason and for not wanting to be there any longer than absolutely necessary. Nearly bit through my tongue keeping my mouth shut though! The only thing more terrifying than the lack of general automotive knowledge and ability members of the public have is the lack of general automotive knowledge and ability those who are supposed to improve the general publics motoring ability have.
I have an email address for the course, wondering whether to write in and suggest they check their facts a little more carefully.
kambites said:
I think the "cruise control causes aquaplaning" thing, whilst clearly not literally true, probably comes from the fact that if you have have CC engaged and hit standing water, it takes you longer to come off the throttle.
Would you want to come off the throttle? I think I'd want to keep an even throttle in a temporary loss of grip situation. Surprised by the amount of people claiming their autos change down when engaging Sport Mode. Certainly it makes the gearbox more eager to change down with lighter throttle inputs, and yes it will hang on to gears longer as you accelerate.
But travelling on an even throttle at (say) 30mph in 4th (7 speed box) - it drops to 3rd upon activation of the button?
Surprised and not my experience, but I've not driven every auto so maybe some do.
But travelling on an even throttle at (say) 30mph in 4th (7 speed box) - it drops to 3rd upon activation of the button?
Surprised and not my experience, but I've not driven every auto so maybe some do.
There was one very interesting fact to come out of the course for me (assuming it's actually true of course. One hopes that, whilst they might not know much about cars, the safety advice is at least well researched).
Paint a line on an empty motorway. Drive at 70mph, hit the brakes as you cross the line as hard as you can till you stop.
Then get an identical car in the next lane doing 100mph, same thing, hit the brakes as hard as poss once it crosses the line.
The second car still be doing just over 70mph as it passes the stationary car that braked from 70mph!
That's pretty sobering!
Paint a line on an empty motorway. Drive at 70mph, hit the brakes as you cross the line as hard as you can till you stop.
Then get an identical car in the next lane doing 100mph, same thing, hit the brakes as hard as poss once it crosses the line.
The second car still be doing just over 70mph as it passes the stationary car that braked from 70mph!
That's pretty sobering!
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