What cheeses me off

[mrsterryn]

Firm believer in reversing in to parking spots. Too often tiny wee car has that huge flipping cars besides me. So going out I can have headlights on to indicate a car is coming out .

 

[Pushka]

Firm believer in reversing in to parking spots. Too often tiny wee car has that huge flipping cars besides me. So going out I can have headlights on to indicate a car is coming out .

Yes. Agree but not for cars reversing into driveways.

 

[blackcat20]

Well, WCMO is huge tradie and other massive 4WD who can't fit lengthwise into a car park and jut out so much into the. road you have to reverse basically across the other side before you can see oncoming traffic. Just inch out, waiting for a toot and hope that an idiot speeder isn't there at the same time. Amd that happens whether you have driven or backed in. Worse obviously if driven in.

I actually find it easier if I've driven in, because I have rear cross traffic cameras. If I'm going out forward I have no chance seeing past the huge cars/utes.

 

[love_the_life]

I try to park next to a pillar - reduces potential car door damage to one side. Preferably pillar on left side. If ifs adjacent to a car that is even better because I've reduced adjacent car door opening from 2 to 1

I parked next to a pillar just before Christmas and managed to take out the right rear door and panel - it was hot, busy and I was in a hurry - didn't swing wide enough.

 

[anat0l]

I actually find it easier if I've driven in, because I have rear cross traffic cameras. If I'm going out forward I have no chance seeing past the huge cars/utes.

Ironically, I'd say more people feel confident driving backwards rather than forwards in certain situations thanks to the common prevalence of said cameras, especially with SUVs or vehicles which have an appreciably large front end (and driven by those of us who barely come up to average height amongst the population).

360 degree cameras are a thing, not limited to EVs, and I wonder how long it will take before they become similarly mainstream (I mean, they are, but usually only on the more expensive models of a series).

 

[Lat34]

Ironically, I'd say more people feel confident driving backwards rather than forwards in certain most situations thanks to......

... being of a certain age before any parking/ driving technology assistance.
Old Skool skills honed by actively paying attention, driving a vehicle that needs a lot of muscle power, plus observations via rear + small side mirrors and ongoing practice = good technique.
Plenty of young 'uns & older have zero close quarter parking skills.
Just sayin...

 

[JohnK]

New Thailand tourist visa entry laws.

Who would have thought that Thailand would become the test case for restricting general travel by 2030.

 

[TheRealTMA]

... being of a certain age before any parking/ driving technology assistance.
Old Skool skills honed by actively paying attention, driving a vehicle that needs a lot of muscle power, plus observations via rear + small side mirrors and ongoing practice = good technique.
Plenty of young 'uns & older have zero close quarter parking skills.
Just sayin...

New cars have auto self parking.

 

[anat0l]

... being of a certain age before any parking/ driving technology assistance.
Old Skool skills honed by actively paying attention, driving a vehicle that needs a lot of muscle power, plus observations via rear + small side mirrors and ongoing practice = good technique.
Plenty of young 'uns & older have zero close quarter parking skills.
Just sayin...

No, you're right on that one.

I'd imagine the ongoing practice in the old days without technology has honed the innate skills which are lacking in today's drivers (in a similar way that the mathematical mastery of different generations has probable defined differences depending on the amount of use of calculators during schooling). I wonder how the discussion around the calibre of drivers was around when power steering became more commonplace, or when SUVs started to dominate the roads in place of standard / small cars (yes, I'm aware utes and 4WDs have been around for yonks).

New cars have auto self parking.

I always wonder how good those auto self parking systems work. Sure, we've seen heaps of demonstrations online or in marketing videos, and a handful of us have probably sat in a vehicle which has done an auto self park, not to mention those among us who own a Tesla.

So it'll be interesting to see if or when parking (viz. reverse parallel parking) will be removed from the practical driving test (I wonder if hill start is still on it).

 

[Denali]

For all my hate for the shower of death over bathtub yesterday it was a small metal strip at the front door that had me come a cropper and after almost a day Im thinking Ive done more to my ribs than just feeling sore and sorry for myself

On the plus side, Im not dead or in hospital so just going to have to get through this until it feels better. Glad I pack a first aid kit with extra meds/pain killers

 

[Lat34]

New cars have auto self parking.

Maybe… drivers should be confident with vehicle volume plus manual operation.
What happens if auto mode is faulty - sit there and cry because driver has no idea how to park or how exit tight space?

 

[anat0l]

What happens if auto mode is faulty - sit there and cry because driver has no idea how to park or how exit tight space?

We have a situation where technology becomes so prevalent that this possibility is not really entertained in advance of it happening.

Access to Internet is a very real example of this. We are so used to having access to the Internet at almost all times that personal and professional lives run now with that very assumption, with little contingency when it goes down.

The only thing in our favour is that for some of these "prevalent technologies", the incidence of catastrophic failure is remote.

If the system goes down, you could sit and cry, or realistically you just bite the bullet and move slowly, or just find another parking spot.

To put another spin on things, most younger people likely can't change a tire, even with the user manual. (I can, but I definitely won't be the fastest at it). Most people these days will just telephone roadside assistance (in fact, my car purchase came with roadside assistance in the deal). Of course, we could just say don't be an idiot and get a flat tire in the first place.

If it were so important that core skills should be practised and ingrained in every driver, the driving test should be made much more difficult to reinforce those and it should be imposed regularly, i.e. everyone must retake the practical driving test every five years. As it stands, everyone treats the driving test as a "once off trial" that you kind of "cram" for and get out of the way. Don't forget that you can pass the driving test while still making some (or certain) mistakes.