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SNOOOOOOOO!
15 years ago
General
We got snow today! It's a bit late for snow. It's been unusually warm and dry, but we finally got snow! I love snow, I love rain. I hate sun...
Thing is... there's a lot of car accidents out there. It's not freezing on the streets, it's barely sticking to grass. I don't have a clue why Coloradoans have such a hard time driving in snow. We're KNOWN for our snow and it's only common sense to drive in it. Coming home from KMart I saw a rolover accident on a straight stretch of road. I'm guessing we have a lot of people driving out there who have never lived anywhere where there is snow, thus have no idea how to drive in it.
Also, ever notice how on mountain passes and such you see Cadillac Escalades, Lincoln Navigators, Hummers, and things like that rolled in the ditches...
but you don't see old Chevy Blazers, Toyota pickups and SUVs, and other less prestigious four wheelers. I'm guessing these yuppies with lots of money buy these big expensive SUVs thinking their "More sophisticated" suv traction control will take over if they lose control, and all they have to do is sit back, and let the vehicle do it's thing.
"Well, I'm sideways in a ditch at 75 MPH. I'll just take this moment to stretch and take a breather while the Escelade fixes the problem."
or they're some sort of gang banger who played too much Midnight Club. On their cell phone
"AW SHIT! HOMIE! OH HOMIE THIS SHIT AINT RIGHT! WHAT IF THE COPS FIND THE CRACK I HAVE IN THE TRUCK, HOMIE!"
then either way... they go into a death roll, are ejected out the window, wind up paralyzed in the colorado river where their lifeless body is found frozen three days later in another state.
I think it's the Neatherlands that do this... but before you can get your driver's license you have to go through much more strict training. They put you on courses where you WILL hydroplane and you HAVE to learn how to deal with it. America can stand to learn a lesson from them. Besides, there's a reason some of the worlds best race drivers are in or from Europe.
Mebbe I should go to Europe (with the Camaro) and learn to stop driving like a raving loon and drugs... and learn to properly race...
Thing is... there's a lot of car accidents out there. It's not freezing on the streets, it's barely sticking to grass. I don't have a clue why Coloradoans have such a hard time driving in snow. We're KNOWN for our snow and it's only common sense to drive in it. Coming home from KMart I saw a rolover accident on a straight stretch of road. I'm guessing we have a lot of people driving out there who have never lived anywhere where there is snow, thus have no idea how to drive in it.
Also, ever notice how on mountain passes and such you see Cadillac Escalades, Lincoln Navigators, Hummers, and things like that rolled in the ditches...
but you don't see old Chevy Blazers, Toyota pickups and SUVs, and other less prestigious four wheelers. I'm guessing these yuppies with lots of money buy these big expensive SUVs thinking their "More sophisticated" suv traction control will take over if they lose control, and all they have to do is sit back, and let the vehicle do it's thing.
"Well, I'm sideways in a ditch at 75 MPH. I'll just take this moment to stretch and take a breather while the Escelade fixes the problem."
or they're some sort of gang banger who played too much Midnight Club. On their cell phone
"AW SHIT! HOMIE! OH HOMIE THIS SHIT AINT RIGHT! WHAT IF THE COPS FIND THE CRACK I HAVE IN THE TRUCK, HOMIE!"
then either way... they go into a death roll, are ejected out the window, wind up paralyzed in the colorado river where their lifeless body is found frozen three days later in another state.
I think it's the Neatherlands that do this... but before you can get your driver's license you have to go through much more strict training. They put you on courses where you WILL hydroplane and you HAVE to learn how to deal with it. America can stand to learn a lesson from them. Besides, there's a reason some of the worlds best race drivers are in or from Europe.
Mebbe I should go to Europe (with the Camaro) and learn to stop driving like a raving loon and drugs... and learn to properly race...
but for some reason we get a bunch of people from florida this time of year and they all freak out at the sight of a snowflake.
i personally am still waiting for snow. it did snow around the area but not here. personally other than the flood last year i kinda liked the snowpocalypse. it reminded me of when i was a kid and we got huge snow.
You'll get your final driving license at the age of 20 or 21, depending on what season you start the school and depending on your own schedule at the driving school.
Here, you get to learn these things:
Driving in daily traffic
Driving during rush hour.
Driving on different kind of roads, i.e. tarmac, dirt, snow, wet, etc.
Car control in dangerous situations (how to stop the car with no ABS, most school cars have an electric switch for the ABS, which I already mentioned to you, how to spin out the car properly in high speeds, etc.)
Controlling the car in a sideways slide - Yes, they do teach "drifting" in driving schools, when you've been driving with the shcool for 2 months and you visit a special driving course, built for these exercises. They aren't any D1 drifting lessons, but they teach the basics of car control and how to get the car out of a sideways slide, like the drifting pro's do, with a minimal countersteer.
Night driving in different kind of weathers.
Driving on constantly changing road conditions and road types (twisting roads, from tarmac to dirt to tarmac, bending roads, etc.)
Avoiding dangerous situations
Stopping the car with the handbrake in a dangerous situation from a high speed (here, high speed is 60mph or more - 40-60mph is mid-speed and 0-40 is low speed)
Stopping the car with no brakes at all (these too are controlled with electric switches. Basically as 85% of the cars in Finland are with manual gearboxes, you must stop the car by shifting to a smaller gear and by using double clutching - With manual cars, they teach you how to stop the car with the steering wheel deceleration)
That's pretty much it for a starter... After 1 year of driving school, you get your temporary driving license. After 12-24 months, you must go and do the final exam, where they test your knowledge of traffic and behaviour, car control on daily traffic and overall knowledge of traffic laws.
James May from Top Gear talks a little bit about Finnish driving...
You might have seen it already, but oh well.
I say "Oh we know how. We just don't care."