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That sounds -mighty- young to have an unrestricted license at 16!! In Australia most of the states are now on the same system - South Australia used to make it possible to get your license at an earlier age, but I believe that's all been scrapped in most of the main states. Certainally though there's local laws on the road still being placed.

In Victoria though (as if the other Eastern States, SA & WA) it's about 16 when you can get your learners, 18 is probationary & after 3 years (I think it was) your onto full license (about 21). There's been trouble though in regards to this & I think it's under review that the current Probationary period will be changed to reduce the number accidents that this particular age group of people drive on the road. It was suggested to change the probationary thing slightly to incorporate two parts, the first part means more restrictions for the driver - incorporate a passenger (with full license) like with the learners & to attend a course on safe driving. Heavier fines will occur if Drivers within this stage don't meet those rules. This sounds fine on paper, but the downside is all the good drivers will still have to do this - which sounds a bit unfair. I try to be a good driver - hence I don't act like an idiot, so it's the low common demoninator which is fixing it good for everyone - which is stupid.
 
Not always, it can happen to anyone. This is simply it... the people who get into accidents, or just plain old stupid car crashes are inexperienced drivers, and/or drivers who are wreckless, and think, "well, 20, or 30 KM/h(or MPH) over the speed limit won't hurt, i've done it before." But yes, it is usually the young driver who gets into the wrecks.

Also, i'd like to point out, that being youger than you need to be in order to have a full licence, and having the privlige to drive heavy machinery, i am guilty in the fact that i do think that going 20, or 30 km/h isn't going to hurt! Eventually, i will learn my lesson, i just hope it's not with a tractor!!!!!!
 
jjzcp said:
Not always, it can happen to anyone. This is simply it... the people who get into accidents, or just plain old stupid car crashes are inexperienced drivers, and/or drivers who are wreckless, and think, "well, 20, or 30 KM/h(or MPH) over the speed limit won't hurt, i've done it before." But yes, it is usually the young driver who gets into the wrecks.

Also, i'd like to point out, that being youger than you need to be in order to have a full licence, and having the privlige to drive heavy machinery, i am guilty in the fact that i do think that going 20, or 30 km/h isn't going to hurt! Eventually, i will learn my lesson, i just hope it's not with a tractor!!!!!!
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I learned my lesson the hard way, acting cool(not paying attention), and speeding, I hit a 1978 buick in the rear that was full stopped going 45mph, when the speed limit was 25mph. I had no air bags(1989 cutlass), I tend to detest speeders after that one. Luckily I didn't get seriously hurt, but it scared the living $h!t out of me. I have only sped excessivly once since then( my dog was foaming at the mouth and I was rushing him to the vet, it was ok, he just has a wierd problem with watrer making his mouth foam a bit)
I will tell you, if you speed, you shouldn't, because the more you do it, the more you think you can get away with it, truth is, if you hit something just right at 30mph, you can die, I just got lucky the frame rails locked the buick's rear metal bumber, if not, I would have had an engine in my stomach. Please consider what I have written. I was 16yo when I did this, too young to drive(IMO), but I had a unrestricted liscense! woooah! People need more time with a learner's liscense I believe.
If you really speed over like that, and are only 13, you dont have enough experience to handle dangerous situations(IMO). Plus what you are doing is utterly illegal.
 
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For myself, I try to be a sensible driver & I was pretty good when I was on my Learners & Probationery License. Okay, I was nearly involved in an accident one morning - the road was wet (after some rain) & traffic stopped suddenly (worse case scenario). Fortunately, I had distance between me & the car in front - unfortunately the car behind me didn't & ran into the back of me - pushing me even closer to the car in front - fortunately I didn't hit them.

Unfortunately, after I got off my Probationary - I've had a couple of accidents, one of them being a stupid accident (which makes insurance companies happy) - perhaps I deserved it since it was my fault - but it was merely an accident which should have been easily prevented. My worse (and first) accident costed me dearly - fortunately I was working, cause I damaged my own car. Was comming home after one afternoons drive on a busy road & was distracted for a second - which costed me dearly - simply breaked too late.

When I think about it - it's good talking about it, cause it simply shows I'm open to discussing it & discussing about it can be useful in knowing your mistakes & eliminating those problems. The one where the person ran into me is also a good example on why you should put plenty of distance between you & the driver in front. I see so many people tailgate & get it a lot, which mean's I shouldn't drive so close to anyone in front in case there's trouble ahread & I need coverage - regardless of if someone hits you in the back - if you hit the person in the front - it's your fault too!

For the youngsters - yeah well, I don't like critising all of them - cause I tried to be a fair driver, it's all those hoons & party go'ers which seem to cause the most trouble. I've also had the impression that a car is a tool - it gets you from A to B, most people love to play around with their car & modify it - I couldn't care less (cause to me a car is a car).

CP/M User.
 
I didn't take driving lessons until I was 20, and didn't get my license until I was 21, although the legal ages in Sweden were 17 respectively 18. Now it is possible to get a permit at 16 or 16.5, with some special rules about how your teacher (if practising in private) needs to have a special license too.

I'm trained to manual transmission ("drive stick"), but I've driven an automatic a few times, if I can recall correctly. I have understood in the US most cars are automatic and people (in particular girls) are content just to learn how to drive those, and would have little or no skill in driving stick?
 
I too, have been driving since I could reach the pedals, but I was however, prevented from aquiring a legal licence before my 22nd birthday, due to an unfortunate incident at 17, involving a '59 Pontiac and a US government-owned Silver Maple tree, in which the poor, underdeveloped maple tree lost it's life (severed at the root). The sentence was that I was not allowed to have a licence for the next five years, but by the time the five years were over, I was so used to driving illeagally, that I never got around to applying for a licence until I was 26.

--T
 
The funniest thing I went though - when I got my learners, was at the time I was 18 years old. Okay usually when you start off on your learners - your about 16 & between 16 -> 18 you have to be on your learners. However once you turn 16 - after having your learners for a couple of years - you can apply for a probationary license. However becuase I was 18 when I started out driving - I only needed to be on my Learners for 6 months - I was on my learners for about 9 months & in that time crammed in as much driving as possible - at the time I was up in the bush (which I'll discuss later) & did many trips around the country - some of the trips were great fun & others involved obsticles - I remember one I was comming home on a road & a floodway was full of water - so we had to drive very slowly into it & out.

I was fortunate to get my probationary license up in the bush - however it was my last year up there 1996 before moving down to the big city. Of course down in the suburbs there's much more traffic & many more traffic lights & divided roads, in a way I miss where I originally came from & last years holiday was certainally an interesting experience for myself cause I'd never been that far before. Moving downto the city though, I seemed to adjust just fine. To drive into the big city though I wouldn't do, I can manage the outskirts okay, but we had freeways now which seem to eliminate this problem! :)
 
My only vehicle at the moment is a 1981 red corvette with 70K miles on it, 25 year old cars are interesting (thank god its fiberglass).
 
I grew up in Tennessee and did a lot of illegal driving, too, around little dirt roads and in the woods. It taught me, though. I've had my share of wrecks and near misses, too. The latest really wierd one was when I was blocked in by a truck and had to maneuver myself out. It took about 20-30 seconds to get out of the space. The wierd part was that a car had gotten in front of me on the street and was where I would have been, stopped at a red light (same route and everything) when an out of control car hit that car and the car next to him.If i hadn't been blocked in then I would have been in that guy's place having my car hit.

My teenage wreck was when the brakes on my '77 Thunderbird gave out (bad master cylinder) and I was at the top of a hill doing 20mph cause it was really curvy, and at the bottom of the hill was a sharp right turn. I fluttered the pedal like you're supposed to and it didn't work. When I tried to take the turn the rear end slid around and I hit (what later turned out to be) a large spool of phone cable, the kind they use on poles, not rj11. Heavy stuff. I hit it on my driver-side rear quarter panel, and it pushed my bumper out on the other side 12 inches and bent the frame and bumper leads. The car was still drivable, though, adn I drove home.

I like old cars, too. They're safe, even if they use a lot of gas. That happened after I got my license at 18. I didn't get my lic at 16.
 
These aren't the best photos, but my weekend toy AND daily driver are the same vehicle: a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata. This is the factory turbocharged model and only 4,000 were ever made (mine's #97)... the color is "Velocity Red"... at about 6 seconds flat for 0-60, it will probably lose a drag race to Erik's Corvette, but suppose Erik had to actually * STEER * around an obstacle or turn? Well, my 6-speed Miata with its 50-50 weight distribution, stiffened and lowered suspension, and limited-slip torsen differential handles like it's a slot car. Erik would struggle to keep his rear end from sliding off the road and down the side of the mountain. :) [Note: the second photo is more recent after I installed a rollbar -- not just a lame style bar -- for autocross racing. I swear the car isn't orange or hot pink, I'm just a terrible photographer!]

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A picture with the top up:

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And last but not least, a nice picture of my old Miata (a 1996 model)... the wide silver stripe made it faster: ;)

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Alas, the trunks on Miatas (a.ka. MX-5 or Eunos to non-Americans) are VERY tiny... so now ya'll understand why I collect handhelds and laptops. :)
 
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MM, that is a nice car. The car looks red on my correctly calibrated crt monitor, so maybe your tint or hue is off on yours?
That car, if it can do 0-60 in 6 secs, can beat Erik's vette in a drag, unless he modded it, they generally do 6.5-7 secs 0-60. The vette just looks super sexy.
Anyway, nice car, always liked mazda's, just can't fit in them too well...lol
 
6 seconds for 0-60? Last time I tried, (Pulled out onto the highway) I got my Crown Vic to do 0-50 in about 2 seconds. It's got a special engine though.

(Think about it, Crown Victoria, Special engine....)

-V
 
vlad said:
I got my Crown Vic to do 0-50 in about 2 seconds.
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HA HA HA HA HA HA

That is absolutely NOT true.

A multi-hundred-thousand-dollar Lamborghini can do 0-60 in the low-three-second range. Something more reasonable, like a 2006 Corvette Z-06, can hit 60 in 3.7 seconds. My friend's 2001 Dodge Viper hits 60 in 4.1 seconds.

The only way a Crown Vic is reaching 50 in "about 2" seconds is if it's strapped to the side of a NASA solid rocket booster. Tell me you hit 50 in "about 6-7" seconds and I'll believe you.

Having said that, lots of cars will beat a Miata in a drag race. A Subaru WRX hits 60 in about 5.4, for example. You don't buy a Miata for its top speed, you buy it for the handling. And by "handling" I don't mean "smooth cushy ride" like on a late-model Cadillac. I mean "handling" as in "Formula 1 car"...
 
I guess the sarcasm didn't work out right..... :)

My LTD was lucky to hit 55 down hill. But it turns out every time I started it, it shot oil out of the engine......

I don't really know how fast the Crown Vic can go, I never really tried.
 
vlad said:
6 seconds for 0-60? Last time I tried, (Pulled out onto the highway) I got my Crown Vic to do 0-50 in about 2 seconds. It's got a special engine though.

(Think about it, Crown Victoria, Special engine....)

-V
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Hmmmn, does the term 'Interceptor' ring any bellz?

--T
 
Okay, okay, so that one went over my head. Sorry. It's 3AM and my brain is a bit slow at the moment!
 
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