4 ms·
In Denmark, you learn basic control of the car in a closed circuit, there you learn how to work gears, clutch, brakes, blinkers, steering, and then you practice
by dusted 4y ago
In Denmark, you learn basic control of the car in a closed circuit, there you learn how to work gears, clutch, brakes, blinkers, steering, and then you practice by driving some patterns and have brake-tests, including on a slippery track (artificial ice). I feel this gives you the best from both worlds.. It's a very safe environment, and the first time, you'll have the driving instructor in the car with you, and he has a pair of pedals too, so he can break and kill the engine before anything bad happens. One of the things simulators suck at, are g-forces, like, what does it FEEL being in the drivers seat, hands on steering wheel when taking a turn.. And I also agree with nickjj, that it is probably best to do it in an environment with consequences, as not to build up unwarranted over-confidence.
Also, I find it disturbing that it is legal to learn how to drive with automatic transmission.. If you're not able to learn how to drive a car with gears, that is, you can't muster the hand-eye coordination and basic motorskill to get a feel for this simple operation, I'd expect you to be equally clumsy with steering, blinkers and brakes and that makes you're unfit to commandeer any motorized hunk of steel down any road in my book.
- floxy 4y ago>...only 1.3% of new vehicles are sold in the U.S. with a stick, down from 3.4% in 2010. https://www.cars.com/articles/why-manual-transmissions-are-dying-and-whatll-end-them-for-good-424059/ https://www.cars.com/articles/why-manual-transmissions-are-d...
- giantg2 4y agoAnd most of those aren't even real sticks (auto rev matching, no lift shift, etc).
- thorin 4y agoI've always considered that weird, given most cars in Europe aren't automatic. Not sure what the exact stats are. Idiocracy? The only time I've had an accident was in Canada, because I wasn't used to using an automatic and went forward unexpectedly. It's just what you're used to. Amusingly we got told off in California for "not knowing how to use our gears". As we hadn't put the auto into the low setting on a switchback. I did learn the benefit of that several years before when I burnt out my brakes the 1st time I drove in the alps and just wasn't used to the sustained descents.
- giantg2 4y agoI agree that closed circuit is the best answer. In my opinion, the coordination is not an issue. Most of the accidents and near accidents I've seen are due to poor decisions, inattention (which is usually a poor decision), and not understanding vehicle dynamics.
- mradek 4y agoI’m sure in a few decades people won’t even need to drive. Let alone know stick.