One request is all it takes.....
A funny story about Gordie eh? Gordo is cetainly one of the greatest people I know and very storyworthy. In many ways, Gordie is more or less, exactly what I would be sans wife and children (well, sans children anyway). Our predilections are mostly identical: exotic cars, motorcycles, technological gadgetry, and hand made guitars. All of those fabulous attributes not withstanding, a "funny" story about the Gordmeister requires that you know the man on a level not possible via the blog medium. So, for now, let's stick with the driving.
Lack of ability in this area is not something that I find to be unique to the Bay Area. The fact of the matter is that Americans cannot drive. Why is it that in the country that contains such an amazing density of vehicles, an abundance of fantastic roads, and (relatively) cheap gas that this is so? I believe that it all starts with the all-too-common American sense of entitlement. Driving is and always should be, a privilege to be hard won. Our driving test is more about parking than driving. While in driver training, how many of you spent time learning to threshold break? How about accident avoidance? Spin recovery? Unless you had the good sense to attend a high performance driving school, the answer is none. The consequences of our cavalier attitude toward motoring are abundantly evident. The morning commute is full of clowns who seem to think that they've got this drivin' thing licked, let's find somethin' else to do, like apply makeup, talk on the phone, read the paper, shave, etc. And how about the wannbe boy racer darting in and out of traffic, riding bumper after bumper like some possessed reincarnate of Dale Earnhardt. These guys are even worse than the merely clueless, they actually believe that they can drive (that they have mad skillz). Let me just state for the record that no actual race driver would ever drive that way in traffic. How about the basics? Ever wonder why some people first make their way into a left hand turn lane, stop, and only THEN turn on the directional indicator (AKA: blinker)? That little device is designed to show intent, not results. Maintaining a constant speed, signaling to change lanes, lane checking, these all seem to be very difficult concepts to master for the average jackass on the road these days.
It's time for a change folks. We need to adopt the U.K. approach and driving culture. Most of you are probably not aware that during the same time period that roughly 2,500 Americans have died in Iraq, over 22,000 Americans between the ages of 16 and 19 have died on American highways. The context of the comparison is not meant to be direct, but more an illustration of where we choose to devote our attention and effort, and when. Also, to be fair, teen driving deaths are not always the result of a lack of skill but more often a lack of maturity in decision making. Teens view themselves as invincible during the years of highest mortality and teaching maturity is indeed no small task. But the rest of you have no excuse ( I say "you" because I've done my duty by spending a considerable amount of time and money learning how to control my vehicle). OK, you have one excuse, driving schools are expensive. That's why we'd be better off completely revamping the curriculum in driver ed, driver training, and ultimately, testing. With very little increase in spending, we could spend time teaching kids actual skills like the ones I mentioned before. We have a rigorous high school exit exam now (ill conceived as that idea is), shouldn't we have the same to obtain a driver's license? Not many people die by improperly parallel parking or screwing up a 3 point turn. Jamming on the brakes at 60 mid corner in the rain is probably a more likely scenario.
So I say get out there on the skid pad! You won't believe how much you can learn in one day. You'll wonder how you've managed to survive all of these years without killing yourself (or anyone else for that matter). Most of all, driving school is fun. Maybe, the most fun you've ever had with your clothes on. Here's a short list of schools should you be persuaded:
Skip Barber Racing
Bondurant Driving School
Russell Racing
and for those of you who think you know how to ride a motorcycle, there's only one place to go:
California Superbike School
Drive safely now, ya hear?
A funny story about Gordie eh? Gordo is cetainly one of the greatest people I know and very storyworthy. In many ways, Gordie is more or less, exactly what I would be sans wife and children (well, sans children anyway). Our predilections are mostly identical: exotic cars, motorcycles, technological gadgetry, and hand made guitars. All of those fabulous attributes not withstanding, a "funny" story about the Gordmeister requires that you know the man on a level not possible via the blog medium. So, for now, let's stick with the driving.
Lack of ability in this area is not something that I find to be unique to the Bay Area. The fact of the matter is that Americans cannot drive. Why is it that in the country that contains such an amazing density of vehicles, an abundance of fantastic roads, and (relatively) cheap gas that this is so? I believe that it all starts with the all-too-common American sense of entitlement. Driving is and always should be, a privilege to be hard won. Our driving test is more about parking than driving. While in driver training, how many of you spent time learning to threshold break? How about accident avoidance? Spin recovery? Unless you had the good sense to attend a high performance driving school, the answer is none. The consequences of our cavalier attitude toward motoring are abundantly evident. The morning commute is full of clowns who seem to think that they've got this drivin' thing licked, let's find somethin' else to do, like apply makeup, talk on the phone, read the paper, shave, etc. And how about the wannbe boy racer darting in and out of traffic, riding bumper after bumper like some possessed reincarnate of Dale Earnhardt. These guys are even worse than the merely clueless, they actually believe that they can drive (that they have mad skillz). Let me just state for the record that no actual race driver would ever drive that way in traffic. How about the basics? Ever wonder why some people first make their way into a left hand turn lane, stop, and only THEN turn on the directional indicator (AKA: blinker)? That little device is designed to show intent, not results. Maintaining a constant speed, signaling to change lanes, lane checking, these all seem to be very difficult concepts to master for the average jackass on the road these days.
It's time for a change folks. We need to adopt the U.K. approach and driving culture. Most of you are probably not aware that during the same time period that roughly 2,500 Americans have died in Iraq, over 22,000 Americans between the ages of 16 and 19 have died on American highways. The context of the comparison is not meant to be direct, but more an illustration of where we choose to devote our attention and effort, and when. Also, to be fair, teen driving deaths are not always the result of a lack of skill but more often a lack of maturity in decision making. Teens view themselves as invincible during the years of highest mortality and teaching maturity is indeed no small task. But the rest of you have no excuse ( I say "you" because I've done my duty by spending a considerable amount of time and money learning how to control my vehicle). OK, you have one excuse, driving schools are expensive. That's why we'd be better off completely revamping the curriculum in driver ed, driver training, and ultimately, testing. With very little increase in spending, we could spend time teaching kids actual skills like the ones I mentioned before. We have a rigorous high school exit exam now (ill conceived as that idea is), shouldn't we have the same to obtain a driver's license? Not many people die by improperly parallel parking or screwing up a 3 point turn. Jamming on the brakes at 60 mid corner in the rain is probably a more likely scenario.
So I say get out there on the skid pad! You won't believe how much you can learn in one day. You'll wonder how you've managed to survive all of these years without killing yourself (or anyone else for that matter). Most of all, driving school is fun. Maybe, the most fun you've ever had with your clothes on. Here's a short list of schools should you be persuaded:
Skip Barber Racing
Bondurant Driving School
Russell Racing
and for those of you who think you know how to ride a motorcycle, there's only one place to go:
California Superbike School
Drive safely now, ya hear?
posted by Jaybeau at
6:57 PM
1 Comments:
So, your saying Gordie can't drive?
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