Don’t let anyone tell you watching Top Gear isn’t educational. I have learned, over the years, that this world contains more bipedal lifeforms than I was ever told about at school (the genus Stigus Tearassticus wasn’t in my textbooks), that grumpy old men are worth listening to and that even a Toyota can be exciting, but only if you turn it into a boat and sink it.
But the other night – during an episode in which James May is taught to rally by Mika Hakkinen – I learned something quite fascinating, which was that the fine people of Finland are probably such masters of motorsport because they are taught to drive properly, from day one. A Finnish learner driver has to undertake six of their 800 driving lessons on a skidpan. Being a good steerer comes in handy in a country where the roads are under at least six inches of ice and snow for 363 days of the year. They also have to take lessons at night, and their licence test is tougher than playing the flute with your lips sewn shut.
The Finns are a long, long way away from our attitude, which seems to be that if you have two eyes, you’re pretty much free to operate a deadly weapon. Sure, we make the getting of a licence difficult, but we do it by applying insufferably stupid rules rather than demanding proper driver training. We give learners an 80km/h speed limit and then put them out on freeways, where they become mobile chicanes and get their windows covered in spit as passing drivers yell at them.
Way back when Jesus was annoying his teachers by making the school bubblers burst forth with wine – ie when I got my licence – there were no such restrictions, yet, even then, as a motorbikerlyst I had to undergo intelligent, life-saving rider training. Why is it that we teach riders to think defensively and test them on emergency-braking manoeuvres, yet we demand none of this from drivers?
Every year, qualified yet idiotic drivers kill themselves, and others, on our roads and every year we fail to learn. And yet there are those who think driver-training is a stupid, or even dangerous idea, what do y’all reckon? Tell me quickly, because I’m flying north to edit Tup Geir Finland.
(FINALLY! I thought this monumental day was never gunna arrive. Welcome to the interweb, TGAm!)
Australia’s excuse-for-driver-trainin g is pathetic. When I’m Prime Minister, it will begin early in high school, it will include graphic footage of victims of car accidents, the whole log book idea will be ditched (has anyone ever been honest in them?), and the test will be a whole lot harder than it is now.
And the general public will be able to dob in any idiot who can’t drive, and the idiots will be forced to have lessons explaining such bizarre concepts as acceleration, braking, steering, driving within 40 kilometres of the speed limit, anticipation of other idiots potential stuff-ups, and all sorts of defensive driving tricks.
And all P-platers in Hyundai Excels who think they’re the lovechild of Peter Brock & Barry Sheene will have their car taken away, and replaced with a Flintstones car. Although it would probably drive and handle just as well as the Excel…
Well obviously advanced driver training is a great idea. The problem is that not everyone will be able to fork out the cash for the required lessons (which are more expensive than standard lessons). Another problem is that most people only drive as a means of transport not for the purpose of, well, driving.
Good point about the cost of lessons, Holdaro.
But considering the financial & emotional cost of emergency services extracting bodies from wrecks, replacing the light poles that split a car in half when hit at 140 kays on a suburban street, and paying innocent victims compensation, shouldn’t the government foot the bill for advanced driver training for every single learner driver? Don’t you think it may balance out in the long-term?
I don’t agree with the idea of advanced driver training, come to think of it. Advanced driver training should be basic driver training. Coz basic driver training isn’t working so well at the moment…
Good article, and very true. I’m engaged to a Finn and after many ‘exciting’ rides with in-laws I’d wondered how an entire race of people seems to carry some sort of inherited genetic trait that gave them the ability/inclination to powerslide a Subaru WRX on dry tarmac several times on the way to work.
Greetings all, so good to see so many of you, wellll, three of you, here so early, and we’ve only just been born, as it were. So, B, it’s true, they really do drive like their hair’s on fire? Imagine having a mother in law who could outdrive you, I’d run the cow down.
BTW, I think calling learners on highways ‘mobile chicanes’ is brilliant. Very apt. Unfortunately, she says apologetically, it leads me off on another rant.
As I’ve mentioned before elsewhere, my kids already have ‘driving lessons’. They’re 7 & 10 years old. No, they’re not allowed behind the wheel. I’m teaching them to understand road rules and other road users. I’m pointing out the benefits of anticipation. I’m showing them that a driver is possibly performing a u-turn around a roundabout even if they don’t use their indicator, because if you look at their eyes, you can see that they’re aiming for the same road they entered from, so let’s not assume they’re going straight ahead & venture onto the roundabout into their path, shall we?
(I’ll save my indicating-on-roundabouts rant for another day.)
And when my kids are tall enough to see over the dashboard, and old enough to be looking forward to getting their L plates, we’ll be venturing out to a block of land (ah, the benefits of being a country girl) and letting them loose, as I was, to get the feel of a car, to become comfortable with handling a vehicle before you have to contend with road rules and other road users as well.
I desperately don’t want to join the ranks of too many mothers who have answered the phone or a knock on the door to find a cop delivering bad news. And the government, RTA, or society in general can’t or won’t arm my kids with the driving skills that may one day save lives, so it’s up to me.
More education for drivers the better. After all the more you learn about eh TG team the better they get so….! Love the new site guys, keep it up.
Please stop using big words.
Not all of us have access to the internet where we can look up “bipedal”.
Well thanks, Barry, we’ll try. And don’t worry, bipedal isn’t a kind of sexuality.
As a Finn I feel compelled to comment. Yes it was a brilliant episode of TG, yes we do have to spend a few driving lessons on the skidpad, and most of us enjoy sliding around in FWD, RWD and AWD cars. However despite all this training we too suffer from idiots who cannot drive, who over estimate their abilities, drive drunk and kill themselves or others, or in some other ways are just a plain nuisance on the road. As far as limiting new drivers to 80 km/h we had that rule but scrapped it in -95. It didn’t change the statistics concerning young drivers having accidents but it sure helped many drivers’ tempers on the roads not being stuck behind some poor sod doing 80 on a 100 road. So it probably reduced the amount of crazy overtakes.
Good morning Stephen….
Great magazine…great article…have you ever considered the American model of licencing? Not only do they actually have to pass a school based course, they learn how a car works, how to do simple things like find the carbie, check the oil (and why a car likes to have oil in its motor) and then, when they finally pass, on some of the longest straightest roads in the world, they are told the speed limit is 50 miles per hour….
Well, well, that is interesting about Finland scrapping the 80km/h rule. Glad we’ve followed world’s best practice there, by bringing it in just as you dropped it.
And I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that every country in the world still has idiots.
And ddebb, good to hear from you. I find it hard to believe the Americans would get something like driving instruction right, but I do that the states over there with 55mph limits. Mind you, I think they were the last people in the world to bring in seatbelt laws.
Yes Stephen, that’s very true…but the best bit…their drink driving laws…what a laugh!!!
Of course, it goes without saying, that it is good to hear from you too!!!
I love that they sell beer in all their servos. I drove some shocking big thing across some states once, a Chevy Impala, and we could fit a six pack each just in the door bins. We’d start drinking every day about an hour before our final stop. I do loooove America.
Hi Corby, wowee this site’s looking alright. Well done. In SA we get our license at 16 (well did in my day not sure if it’s changed) and no lessons required just pass the test. Seems a little young.
Glad you clarified “bipedal”..
ddeebb I had lessons at school on checking oil, changing tyres etc in a subject called “Ms Management”. I guess how to get by without men. It was quite dull for a country girl but helluva lot more fun that home ec. Strangely enough I recently thought I best check the oil in the Madaz given I hadn’t had it serviced in awhile and be buggered if I could find it. Had to ask a fella. Ouch!
It is he, and it’s alive and blogging! I shouldn’t be here as there’s a billion Finnish translations to be, ehm, translated, but as the topic is Finnish, I can’t shut up.
Having lived in Finland for 3 years and visiting whenever I can, I totally agree with Andy the Finn: despite all the training, a fair amount of Finns manage to get themselves killed each year, if only by parking under crossing elk. It’s a shame, really, as there’s so few of them already (of the Finns) (well, of elk too, I’m sure).
Being Dutch, I’m puzzled by the fact that there are countries on earth where there’s no drivers training. I laughed in disbelief the first time I heard about that, but apparently it’s true. Amazing. Do your Qantas pilots get handed the door code to the flight deck too without prior practice? Remind me to row to Oz next time.
Wow, you’re all here. Right, I really have to work out how to post comments, rather than just blogging myself in a desperate attempt to make myself look popular.
Sure you don’t need a moderator Corbs?
Nah, Fingers, no moderation needed until Ben shows up… (Dreamy sigh. Ah, Ben. Where art thou?!)
Annemarie,
No way, so the Dutch have proper driver training too? I thought they just rode bicycles everywhere. Which reminds me, do you have a helmet law for cyclists over there? As to moderation, I’ve done away with it for Christmas. Nothing in moderation I say. Good to hear you’re out there too, Fingers. Now where’s Clune?
as a driver trainer in tasmania and having been a trainer in both the Northern territory and Queelsland i see the problems with the current testing methods clearly,
the emphasis is on manouvers which save the insurance companies money as most claims stem from shopping centre carpark bingles.
Whilst an instructor in the Territory we asked for tougher testing procedures like more driving, more turns, more traffic situations and after due consultation with the powers that be they came up with only two changes, the first was that you now had to get 3 out of the 4 manouvers attempted correct to the standard and the second, which made a huge improvement to driver saftey was the rule that there could be NO DRY STEERING, yup thats right NO Dry Steering,
so no turning of the steering wheel without the vehicle being in motion, SO why was power steering invented if not for this sole purpose.
So the insurance Lobby save its fellows lots of money cos the new drivers wont back into a car in a car park, but you can simulate and accident,or as happened to one of my cars just a few weeks ago during a test here in Tasmania where the testing officer is not there to supervise the student and the instructors arnt allowed in the car during the test, the student hit a stationary object during a three point turn. this was a very stationary object it was the size of a house, hang on…..IT WAS A HOUSE
and the student still passed her test.
What hope do we have when this can occur during a test? isnt the sole purpose of the test to ascertain wether or not the student is capable of handling a vehicle in a safe and legal manner,
not from where im standing
Also in the territory the “L” student has a number of lessons subsidised by the government through the compulsory third party component of the car rego, What a fabulous idea.
Why is that, at least in that last part of your missive, the NT is always more progressive about driving? Or they were, until they put the speed limits in. The exhaustion vs speed debate was fought and lost up there.
I do love that story of the three-point turn into a house, but if the tester ain’t in the car with the Learner, how do they do it, by helicopter? Google Earth?
Good grief, Cali. She hit a house & still passed the test? Although I shouldn’t be surprised…
Here in NSW, I accompanied my L-plated cousin to her first driving test. I was scared to death as her passenger (and I don’t scare easily). She had no concept of controlling a vehicle – driving up the gutter while trying to turn a corner was her special talent, although she did master the 2 essential speeds (flat out with whiplash, or ending up with your head under the dash when she braked). Her parents had fudged the log book. She failed the first test, but passed the second.
She’s, um, 23 I think, and has written off 2 cars. So far.
How long ’til she’s a statistic or, worse still, some other innocent bystander/driver/family gets taken out? All for the want of decent training, and a strict exam. Sigh.
You bet we get driver training in NL! Most people take at least 25 lessons à 1,5 hours à ahelluvalottamoney (in my days, 40 guilders per lesson, some 25 ozzie dollars, maybe?); some fast learners could do with only 10 lessons, some weren’t allowed to take the test until they had close to 100 hours of instruction behind them. Basically, the instructor decides, based on your progress during the lessons, whether you’re ready to take the test (aka whether you stand a chance of passing it). Then you apply for the test, then you don’t eat or sleep until the day after you’ve taken the test, because it is TOUGH! If you even so much as create the impression that you’re about to pull up for a left turn but there’s oncoming traffic going straight ahead, which has right of way, you flunk. No discussion. Then you go back to some more tests, after which you try again. (Did I mention that in my days the test alone cost a couple of hundred guilders?)
And then, and only then, do you get to borrow your dad’s car and crash it into the first house that has the audacity to stand in your way. At least that’s what my guy did. But he’s German.
Scary stuff, Malibu (and Cali). If I’d known all of this before, I would’ve never explored Australia by rental car, what with all the potential killers lurking around the corner. Speaking of which: I’m always amazed that people from right-side-driving nations are handed the rental car keys without the rental car company representative so much as blinking, be it in Alice Springs, where I drove on the left for the first time of my life, or in downtown Sydney. I mean, think of all the things that can go wrong while you’re figuring out which is the windscreen wiper and which the indicator! Especially if you’re figuring this out while passing a traffic island on the right!
Oh, this is taking me back about 23 years or so…
All I remember about my driving test is that the cop in the passenger seat had huge black boots. I was terrified. I passed first time, but I had learnt to drive in a column shift Falcon ute on a big block of land with not many obstacles. Oh, except for the horses & fences, but I don’t remember hitting any of them.
And despite my love of old cars, I still hate column shifts with a vengeance.
Annemarie (AM), I dislike driving in Sydney now, and I learnt to drive on the same side of the road as them – I cannot imagine getting in the passenger seat, having the gearstick on the right, and having to contend with staying on the wrong side of the road.
Corby? You love going to the US, how did you find driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time?
Good morning…I have a confession to make. I am not the world’s best driver. I feel for the girl who hit a house, as I have hit every house I have ever lived in with a motor vehicle…Never hit another car mind you, but property beware!!! I am ok on the road, but confined spaces do my head in.
Confined spaces do your head in? Does that refer to the car (no, ‘cos you wouldn’t be ok on the road then)? So it refers to the house. Ddeebb, ddeeaarr, what on EARTH are you doing driving INSIDE a house? Or is that a requirement for passing the test in Oz?!
Oh dear oh dear, I’m very, very concerned about your drivign Ddebb. It’s often said of poor shooters that they’d be lucky to hit the side of a barn, but clearly you’d have no trouble.
And Malibu, I think the first time I drove on the wrong side of the road was on a Volvo launch, in Pebble Beach, and I was terrified. Fortunately I was in a Volvo so everything I ran into broke, and I didn’t.
Good to see we’re staying on topic, as usual. From Finnish driving, to Ddeebb hitting the side of a barn, to Corby creating havoc in a L/H drive Volvo. Love it.
Now, back on topic – the Mudgee RTA must have had a big week issuing L-plates. I have no problem with learner drivers, we were all one once. I give them space, I don’t tailgate, I exercise some strangely-out-of-characte r patience, but when they clearly have no concept of the difference between the clutch, brake & accelerator but are put on the road on a day like today, I’m afraid I berate the licensed passenger under my breath. Okay, sometimes more out the window than under my breath, but anyway…
Picture this: small country town. Dead straight main street, with potholes the size of, oh, the airport tunnel (or whatever you city slickers call it). Potentially rainy weather, so all the cockies are in town. And it’s tourist season (I do love it when someone with a city-car-dealer-plate-bra cket-thingy slams on the brakes to gaze adoringly at a pub that has been around since before Adam). It’s 5pm on a pension Thursday (?), a fortnight before Christmas. The only shopping days that are more chaotic are this Saturday, and next Thursday, and the following Saturday. (Yep, I avoid the main drag like the plague from now until 29 December.)
And why would you inflict those traffic conditions on your son or daughter for their first driving lesson? What did the Corbster say? Mobile chicanes?
To say that chaos ensued is an understatement.
Next blog, please. Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top???
Or should that be ‘next topic, please’? Or ‘next post, please’? Anyway, we want more fodder, Foreman Corbster.