P-plate drivers

[Wongo]

We live in a pretty quiet area. There are kids riding bikes on the road and playing in the park across the road all the time.

On Saturday, a car came charging down from up the road. The speed must be a least 100km. It then stopped at the end of the road and was waiting to turn right into the main road.

I was angry, very angry and my blood was boiling.:(( :(( :(( I got out of the garage and ran 60m to the car. I knocked on the window and I told the young driver what he needed to hear. Doing 100 in a 50 zone is dangerous and he could have killed someone or himself. :((

Surprisingly he was quite apologetic.

[jmk89]

I am glad to hear:

that you took the effort to tell the kid what (s)he needed to hear; and
that (s)he was apologetic.I think that one of the things that kids often fail to understand is how the rest of us worry about the things they do both because of the danger to aothers and the danger to themselves.

I hope that they kid now will realise that (s)he is in charge of a really dangerous piece of machinery and that (s)he needs to exercise a great deal of care when using it for his/her own sake and that of others.

For many of us (myself included), it is only when we have our first accident that we realise how dangerous this all is and start to drive in a more sensible and appropriate way. This P-plater may have got that lesson without having to have the accident. Well done Wongo...

[bitingmidge]

Surprisingly he was quite apologetic.

Maybe not surprising Wongo. There's just something that isn't always connected between Brains and Tentacles until a certain age.

There's no solution, but serious limits on horsepower would help. Coming from a time when supercars like the Cooper S had 75hp, and the standard VW 40, I could probably only get to about 80 clicks in a street like yours, but I'm sure I would have. Of course I couldn't have stopped in twice the distance of a modern car.......

My Suzuki GrandVitara has been criticised in the press for it's lack of oomph, yet is faster over a quarter mile, than my drag car was in 1968. :oo:

Some of us need all that horsepower, but the rest of you don't!

Cheers,

P

[munruben]

Surprisingly he was quite apologetic.
Probably thought you were going to beat the crap out of him :D

[Wongo]

I thought the opposite. He could have pull a gun out and shot me.

[Howdya do that]

I am amazed that he was apologetic. Normally the testosterone overides any sense of humility that male p-plate drivers.
I did the same thing as you once Wongo when a young fella lost control around a corner and ended up on our front lawn:o .
It may have been a coincidence but when we got up the next morning a not very nice reference to the female anatomy was spray painted on our garage door:?.

[silentC]

I am amazed that he was apologetic
I'm not surprised. An angry Wongo would be a frightening sight for any of us.

But Scott, you know you shouldn't argue with teenagers, you can never win. Next time, just lob a brick through his windscreen.

[Barry_White]

Surprisingly he was quite apologetic.

I thought you may have had your prison T shirt on and you frighted the S#*t out of him.

[Grunt]

Maybe not surprising Wongo. There's just something that isn't always connected between Brains and Tentacles until a certain age.

There's no solution, but serious limits on horsepower would help. Coming from a time when supercars like the Cooper S had 75hp, and the standard VW 40, I could probably only get to about 80 clicks in a street like yours, but I'm sure I would have. Of course I couldn't have stopped in twice the distance of a modern car.......

My Suzuki GrandVitara has been criticised in the press for it's lack of oomph, yet is faster over a quarter mile, than my drag car was in 1968. :oo:

Some of us need all that horsepower, but the rest of you don't!

Cheers,

P

Limiting horse power only partly works.

I came pretty close to killing me and some friends when I was 19 in a Renault 10. This was hardly a speed machine.

Young men think they are bullet proof. Always have been, always will.

[jmk89]

Young men think they are bullet proof. Always have been, always will.


Very true. The only thing that, in many cases, might bring them around to their senses is an actual accident.

My recent experience with my 19 y.o. niece is that the female of the p-plate species is now similar to the male - they think they are bullet-proof. I had to put her in a car that is overpowered and badly set up and tell her to drive it as fast as she could before I frightened her enough to get her to realise that driving is a bl**dy dangerous activity and you need to be very careful. And she is studying to become a doctor.....

[wheelinround]

Maybe not surprising Wongo. There's just something that isn't always connected between Brains and Tentacles until a certain age.

There's no solution, but serious limits on horsepower would help. Coming from a time when supercars like the Cooper S had 75hp, and the standard VW 40, I could probably only get to about 80 clicks in a street like yours, but I'm sure I would have. Of course I couldn't have stopped in twice the distance of a modern car.......
P

I recall a poem from my school days oh so long ago "Ode To A Fanger" anon it was a beaut about a fellow who ended up weled inside a VW.
I kept it fo many years but its dissapeared.

[Howdya do that]

Next time, just lob a brick through his windscreen.
:2tsup:

Or throw a stiff garden rake in the middle of the road. prongs up:2tsup:

[Bodgy]

Well done Scott, he won't be that stupid again, well not in your street.

I had exactly the same experience when my kids were young, and, like you, I was terminally pizzed off and ready for a bit of biffo, but completely disarmed by the kid's embarassment, politeness and contrition when I confronted him.

As previously stated, young, dumb and full of c*@*, watched too many car chases on TV and they just don't think.

I was exactly the same at that age, I sometimes wonder how we all survived our youth.

[silentC]

I was exactly the same at that age
So was I, as was my old man. His mother in law did her best to stop him marrying my Mum, he was such a ratbag. He tried to tell me where I was going wrong when I was 18 but I wouldn't listen, as no doubt he wouldn't listen to his old man. I guess I've got 12 years to come up with a convincing argument for my son.

Actually we think the problem with our boy will be that he will follow other kids into bad situations. He's never the instigator but he follows along, especially with the kid across the road who is a couple of years older but has no real friends his own age. We reckon our problem will be keeping our son out of his car when he turns 18.

[Ruddigar]

The speed must be a least 100km.

Wongo,
100km is a distance, not a speed.:doh:

I too, was an idiot in my youth. Thankfully I only had mum's Mitsubishi Nimbus to thrash around. :B

[Bodgy]

Wongo,
100km is a distance, not a speed.:doh:

I too, was an idiot in my youth. Thankfully I only had mum's Mitsubishi Nimbus to thrash around. :B...............yet is faster over a quarter mile, than the BM drag car was in 1968

[Pat]

Wong, I promise to drive like Grandma duck, when I drive near you . . .

[Wongo]

Pat,

You can do 50. If I see you go any faster then forget about the DVDs.:cool:

[bitingmidge]

...............yet is faster over a quarter mile, than the BM drag car was in 1968

Come to think of it, my mother's mobility scooter is faster than that car was!

:D :D :D
P

[AlexS]

Come to think of it, my mother's mobility scooter is faster than that car was!

:D :D :D
P

But I presume she's off her Ps:D

[q9]

I assume that it is ok then for me to whinge about the old decrepit drivers that seem unable to break 40kph, never indicate on roundabouts, never pull out at intersections while there are any other cars within 1km from any direction, never touch the brakes or attempt to stop at an orange light (no matter how red it is as they sail through), can't decide on which lane they are driving in, don't indicate when stopping for a reverse park, don't indicate when pulling out of a parking space, don't look when pulling out of a parking space, remain stationary at a green light, take off straight ahead when the arrow goes green for a right but the big red light is still lit...etc

This is just a "normal" drive to work :o