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Part of me wants to create a fake gearbox and clutch kit for an automatic car that does absolutely nothing, but looks convincing to driving examiners. You can j

Part of me wants to create a fake gearbox and clutch kit for an automatic car that does absolutely nothing, but looks convincing to driving examiners. You can just change "gears" when you feel like it without any actual effect and the clutch is just a dumb pedal.

ThePadawan 6y ago
> and the clutch is just a dumb pedal Thus completely negating training on a manual? Learning how to effectively use the clutch pedal to me was like, 90% of learning to drive.
jusssi 6y ago
Accelerating to a highway would be a dead giveaway to an examiner. Those who learn to use the clutch well enough in the mandatory 20 hours to do it as smooth as automatic gear are few and far between. And obviously they are the ones who wouldn't need to fake it anyway.
- taneq 6y ago
  Yeah, it'd be like when a TV character "plays" a guitar with dubbed music without moving their left hand.
  - alasdair_ 6y ago
    This is a complete aside, but I was extremely impressed by the NPCs in the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, where every tune they play has correct movements on the guitar for each chord.
- bluGill 6y ago
  I would think the examiner can also tell because the car does change acceleration, and the engine noise changes. That said, as an American who prefers a manual, I'm not sure why Europe cares so much. It is a skill to learn, but it isn't that hard to learn: I've taught a few people. They have some rough starts (and avoid hills for a while), but the need to shift isn't something that affects how they drive once they get off my street.
gambiting 6y ago
At least here in Poland you can only take the exam in the car provided by the testing centre, you can't have the exam in your own car(with some exceptions like when you need to have a car adjusted to your disabilities)
- Tor3 6y ago
  I believe that's the case all over Europe. That the US apparently or supposedly allows taking a car driver's license exam in your private car is.. extremely surprising.
  - gambiting 6y ago
    It's not in UK(I realize it's not part of the EU any more, but even when it was it was the same). You take the exam in your own car or a car provided by the training school. The exam centres don't have cars.
    - nix23 6y ago
      >your own car or a car provided by the training school. The exam centres don't have cars. Same in Switzerland.
  - ryanmercer 6y ago
    >That the US apparently or supposedly allows taking a car driver's license exam in your private car is.. extremely surprising. At last here in Indiana, you have to provide your own car to take the driving test in.
  - Ancapistani 6y ago
    US drivers’ licensing is much less rigorous than Europe’s as I understand it. In Arkansas, where I live, I got a “learner’s permit” at 14 having passed a short written test. I got my full license at 16 after passing the road test, which consisted of driving for perhaps ten minutes with a cop in the passenger’s seat. I had to drive around the parking lot, navigate and park between traffic cones, then drive the testing route. The testing route started in an industrial part of town with very little traffic and consisted of driving about a mile to a residential neighborhood, circling the block, and coming back to the testing center. I remember being surprised that I didn’t have to demonstrate parallel parking or even driving on a highway. I think I “studied” for the written test by skimming the handout brochure at school during lunch, and had no issues. The driving test was a joke; I’m very confident my 7-year-old could pass it today based only on her having driven utility vehicles (e.g., a Kubota RTV) around our family’s property and having watched us drive from the back seat. Apparently Arkansas revised the licensing system in 2009, and now there is an “Intermediate” license for people under 18. That license is restricted from driving from 11pm to 4am (with exceptions), prohibited from using a cell phone while driving (with exceptions), and all passengers must be wearing a seat belt. If you’re married, in the military, have graduated high school (or equivalent) or have been legally emancipated you can get your full license at the age of 16 years and six months. This discussion had me curious about how the very different licensing regimes might impact outcomes, so I looked up some statistics on motor vehicle fatalities. US (2018): * 12.4 per 100k residents * 14.2 per 100k vehicles Europe (2016) * 9.3 per 100k residents * 19 per 100k vehicles Poland (2019) * 7.7 per 100k residents * 13.5 per 100k vehicles Honestly, I don’t think there’s a substantial impact. The US has 838 vehicles per 1k residents compared to Poland’s 719. I strongly suspect that US drivers drive substantially more miles per year on average, which would more than account for the per capita numbers. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...

ThePadawan 6y ago

> and the clutch is just a dumb pedal Thus completely negating training on a manual? Learning how to effectively use the clutch pedal to me was like, 90% of learning to drive.

jusssi 6y ago

Accelerating to a highway would be a dead giveaway to an examiner. Those who learn to use the clutch well enough in the mandatory 20 hours to do it as smooth as automatic gear are few and far between. And obviously they are the ones who wouldn't need to fake it anyway.

taneq 6y ago
Yeah, it'd be like when a TV character "plays" a guitar with dubbed music without moving their left hand.
- alasdair_ 6y ago
  This is a complete aside, but I was extremely impressed by the NPCs in the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, where every tune they play has correct movements on the guitar for each chord.
bluGill 6y ago
I would think the examiner can also tell because the car does change acceleration, and the engine noise changes. That said, as an American who prefers a manual, I'm not sure why Europe cares so much. It is a skill to learn, but it isn't that hard to learn: I've taught a few people. They have some rough starts (and avoid hills for a while), but the need to shift isn't something that affects how they drive once they get off my street.

gambiting 6y ago

At least here in Poland you can only take the exam in the car provided by the testing centre, you can't have the exam in your own car(with some exceptions like when you need to have a car adjusted to your disabilities)

Tor3 6y ago
I believe that's the case all over Europe. That the US apparently or supposedly allows taking a car driver's license exam in your private car is.. extremely surprising.
- gambiting 6y ago
  It's not in UK(I realize it's not part of the EU any more, but even when it was it was the same). You take the exam in your own car or a car provided by the training school. The exam centres don't have cars.
  - nix23 6y ago
    >your own car or a car provided by the training school. The exam centres don't have cars. Same in Switzerland.
- ryanmercer 6y ago
  >That the US apparently or supposedly allows taking a car driver's license exam in your private car is.. extremely surprising. At last here in Indiana, you have to provide your own car to take the driving test in.
- Ancapistani 6y ago
  US drivers’ licensing is much less rigorous than Europe’s as I understand it. In Arkansas, where I live, I got a “learner’s permit” at 14 having passed a short written test. I got my full license at 16 after passing the road test, which consisted of driving for perhaps ten minutes with a cop in the passenger’s seat. I had to drive around the parking lot, navigate and park between traffic cones, then drive the testing route. The testing route started in an industrial part of town with very little traffic and consisted of driving about a mile to a residential neighborhood, circling the block, and coming back to the testing center. I remember being surprised that I didn’t have to demonstrate parallel parking or even driving on a highway. I think I “studied” for the written test by skimming the handout brochure at school during lunch, and had no issues. The driving test was a joke; I’m very confident my 7-year-old could pass it today based only on her having driven utility vehicles (e.g., a Kubota RTV) around our family’s property and having watched us drive from the back seat. Apparently Arkansas revised the licensing system in 2009, and now there is an “Intermediate” license for people under 18. That license is restricted from driving from 11pm to 4am (with exceptions), prohibited from using a cell phone while driving (with exceptions), and all passengers must be wearing a seat belt. If you’re married, in the military, have graduated high school (or equivalent) or have been legally emancipated you can get your full license at the age of 16 years and six months. This discussion had me curious about how the very different licensing regimes might impact outcomes, so I looked up some statistics on motor vehicle fatalities. US (2018): * 12.4 per 100k residents * 14.2 per 100k vehicles Europe (2016) * 9.3 per 100k residents * 19 per 100k vehicles Poland (2019) * 7.7 per 100k residents * 13.5 per 100k vehicles Honestly, I don’t think there’s a substantial impact. The US has 838 vehicles per 1k residents compared to Poland’s 719. I strongly suspect that US drivers drive substantially more miles per year on average, which would more than account for the per capita numbers. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...