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A Special Day in a Dad's Life


Thunderbroom

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*sings old Alan Jackson song*


:thu:

All three of mine learned with the 5-spd standard stick. It is amusing how many giant football players cannot drive my truck but my (then) teenaged daughter would have to chauffeur them around town.

I learned to drive a stick in a single-axle Ford grain truck turning circles in a wheat field. I was probably around 10 at the time.

Good stuff.

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He sat in the passenger seat and leaned the seat back, and smoked an entire joint to himself. I didn't think I was THAT bad of a driver.
:D



You weren't that bad of a driver, but it would have incredibly "irresponsible" for him to share that joint w/ you. :cop:

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It's so much different over there. "L" plates, all kinds of tests and time, etc.


In the US, if you show up to the DMV sober and you have someone with you that can read, they'll give you a driver's license.
:D
C7

 

Yeah I'm gonna have to go thru a lot of crap. I gotta take a theory test first and when I pass I can get a learners permit and go on the waiting list for the driving test.... it'll probably be up to a year or more. :facepalm:

AND, I won't be able to drive without another qualified driver with me until I get my full license.

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Hey, T-Broom. You know my main hobby is high-performance driving. I've taught lots and lots of people how to drive (in fact, I'm chief instructor with my local chapter of the BMW Club). I hope you accept some friendly advice.

She only has a couple of hours behind the wheel and has never driven something the size of the minivan. It was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating. She did a fine job!

Sign your daughter up for this non-profit program run by the BMW CCA: http://www.streetsurvival.org/ You can bring any car, truck, SUV, minivan, etc. No need for a BMW.

Trust me, what your kids learn in regular driver's ed is nowhere near enough to drive safely on the street. They need to work on some advanced skills to learn how to really control their car when something unexpected happens. Street Survival is a great place to learn in a near-zero-risk environment.

At the risk of sounding preachy, driving is the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do in our lives. The fact that people don't even realize how dangerous it is should tell you how unprepared the vast majority of drivers is.

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Yeah I'm gonna have to go thru a lot of crap. I gotta take a theory test first and when I pass I can get a learners permit and go on the waiting list for the driving test.... it'll probably be up to a year or more.
:facepalm:
AND, I won't be able to drive without another qualified driver with me until I get my full license.



The best part about all this is, everyone in Dublin still drives like an asshole.:D
C7

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The first time my dad let me drive his truck, it was down a winding, 2-lane canyon road with a reputation for accidents (his best friend was actually killed on that road 2 years prior). He sat in the passenger seat and leaned the seat back, and smoked an entire joint to himself. I didn't think I was THAT bad of a driver.
:D
C7



whao dude your old man must have been one chill dude

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Hey, T-Broom. You know my main hobby is high-performance driving. I've taught lots and lots of people how to drive (in fact, I'm chief instructor with my local chapter of the BMW Club). I hope you accept some friendly advice.


Sign your daughter up for this non-profit program run by the BMW CCA:
http://www.streetsurvival.org/
You can bring any car, truck, SUV, minivan, etc. No need for a BMW.


Trust me, what your kids learn in regular driver's ed is nowhere
near
enough to drive safely on the street. They need to work on some advanced skills to learn how to really control their car when something unexpected happens. Street Survival is a great place to learn in a near-zero-risk environment.


At the risk of sounding preachy, driving is the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do in our lives. The fact that people don't even realize how dangerous it is should tell you how unprepared the vast majority of drivers is.



How those of us who didn't take this course aren't dead yet is a mystery. :p

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Hey, T-Broom. You know my main hobby is high-performance driving. I've taught lots and lots of people how to drive (in fact, I'm chief instructor with my local chapter of the BMW Club). I hope you accept some friendly advice.


Sign your daughter up for this non-profit program run by the BMW CCA:
http://www.streetsurvival.org/
You can bring any car, truck, SUV, minivan, etc. No need for a BMW.


Trust me, what your kids learn in regular driver's ed is nowhere
near
enough to drive safely on the street. They need to work on some advanced skills to learn how to really control their car when something unexpected happens. Street Survival is a great place to learn in a near-zero-risk environment.


At the risk of sounding preachy, driving is the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do in our lives. The fact that people don't even realize how dangerous it is should tell you how unprepared the vast majority of drivers is.



Paleface speak good words! :thu:

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Cool!
:cool:


The first car I drove was one of these...



A mid 80's Opel Ascona.
:facepalm:
I forgot where the break was...
:lol:

I still haven't gotten round to getting my license yet, it's on my list of things to do this year.
:o



I learned on a 67 International Travellall

1973travellall_lede.jpg

Complete with granny gear. :D

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BTW, I was just making a joke.
:p

Yeah, I know. I'm just pretty sensitive about this stuff: I've lost lots of friends to motor vehicle accidents. It's one of the reasons I got very serious about driving, which eventually lead to racing and stuff.

I think you have to be nuts to put your 16-year-old daughter in a car and set her loose with only the skills she's learned in driver's ed plus a few months coaching from dear old dad. It's just not enough.

I know the skills I've learned on the track have saved my bacon on the street a few times. There are 3 or 4 incidents I can think of off the top of my head where I know for certain I would have wrecked if it weren't for the things I picked up with the BMW Club.

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I remember when my old man taught me how to drive. It was in his Chevy 1500. He got in the passenger side and stuck half of his body out the window and kept screaming, "you're too close to the curb!" repeatedly. I knew other wise.
:rolleyes:
It was the worst half hour ever.



The first time I drove, my father kept saying "You can go faster you know, that pedal's the gas"...Ah, a Michigan childhood :D


Driver's Ed was my 15th birthday present, and from the moment I had my permit, I became my dad's chauffeur. Everywhere he went, I drove him (if I was around to drive)...

By a conservative estimate, I had probably drive 6-7,000 miles before I got my license 8 months later. I had made almost a dozen trips up North, in everything from snow to sleet to pouring rain, driven all around town at all times of day in all kinds of weather...

When I was finally on my own, I was so much more confident and careful than my friends, most of whose parents often didn't let them drive with their permit (it was like a privilege they needed to earn and with which they got rewarded...stupid. My parents treated the License as the privilege and the pre-license driving as how I earned it).

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Yeah, I know. I'm just pretty sensitive about this stuff: I've lost lots of friends to motor vehicle accidents. It's one of the reasons I got very serious about driving, which eventually lead to racing and stuff.


I think you have to be nuts to put your 16-year-old daughter in a car and set her loose with only the skills she's learned in driver's ed plus a few months coaching from dear old dad. It's just not enough.


I know the skills I've learned on the track have saved my bacon on the street a few times. There are 3 or 4 incidents I can think of off the top of my head where I know for certain I would have wrecked if it weren't for the things I picked up with the BMW Club.



I think that for just $60 that course, if it's good, is a "no-brainer".

No course will be as valuable as having a good head on your shoulders and being an alert and thoughtful driver.

Now, I've stomped all over TB's feel good thread enough. :D

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In the US, if you show up to the DMV sober and you have someone with you that can read, they'll give you a driver's license.
:D
C7



Not in MN. When I went to get my MN license I had to re-take the written test because my old license was from South Dakota, and they require a written text for all out of state renewals. I passed the test on my first attempt. My conservative estimate is that, of the 50 or so people there taking the test at the same time as me, about 10 others passed the written test. I was prepared for them to try and trick me, but apparently they weren't. The MN written test is ridiculously complicated and loaded with trick questions.

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I know the skills I've learned on the track have saved my bacon on the street a few times. There are 3 or 4 incidents I can think of off the top of my head where I know for certain I would have wrecked if it weren't for the things I picked up with the BMW Club.

 

 

Huh. I have been driving over 20 years, never took any such class and can't think of a single time that high performance training would have come into play. Maybe I am just lucky...

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Huh. I have been driving over 20 years, never took any such class and can't think of a single time that high performance training would have come into play. Maybe I am just lucky...



You live in Wisconsin. You probably only see another car every three days. Maybe a class on high speed deer evasion would be handy. ;)

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It's so much different over there. "L" plates, all kinds of tests and time, etc.


In the US, if you show up to the DMV sober and you have someone with you that can read, they'll give you a driver's license.
:D
C7



If I was in the US, I'd have my license already. :mad:

I started driving with my dad last year, but haven't driven much lately. The license here will cost me around $3500, which I can't afford yet anyway, so... :cry:

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My daughter, who turned 16 a week ago, drove me home from work today.





You've taken the first step toward the beginning of the end. First comes the permit, then comes the license and then comes "daddy, I want a car". Then after she's got the car you'll rarely see her anymore. It's an inevitable progression that begins with that seemingly harmless first step. It's natural for kids to grow up, sprout wings and gain their independence. But what's going to astound you from here on is how damned fast it all happens. ;)

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