Modern cars and current driving standards.

[Geordie Oldie]

Watching on episode of " Bangers and Cash" , they had a Granada from the 1980s up for sale. Back then this would have been a big car. Not so big now if you stick it next to a modern car.

 

My wife mentioned how narrow the screen window pillars are, I think they are the " A" pillars?

 

Which got me thinking, our Skoda yeti has pillars about 5 inches across, it leaves a huge blind spot which is even worse the closer you are to the pillar.  You need to look round the pillar to make sure your path is clear. Obvs. many people don't. I imagine this thickness makes the user of the car safer in a crash.

 

Add in people fannying about with their phones or who have their phones set up IN THEIR EYE LINE so they can pretend they are flying a fighter jet, I see this loads.

 

Not saying everything was perfect back in the day, drink driving was common, but at least there were dedicated traffic cops back then.

[manxie49]

We had a Skoda Yeti at work for a time, and what you say about the "A Posts" causing a significant blind spot is absolutely spot on.  It was one of the things I often complained about when driving it.  For me it was most noticeable when making a right turn at a T junction.  I would always have to lean all the way forward to see around the A Post.  I often wonder was it just a dangerous design fault, but I've been in other cars recently with the same issue.

[Simon Davey]

At least we have decent handling these days, I remember the two Mk3 Cortinas I had, went in and out of corners like a sailing dinghy on choppy water. 

I agree though, those were days we had to "drive", we had to use our judgement and skill, instead of the "point and shoot" type driving we get away with these days. 

[RideWithStyles]

Yes correct as up to date we regularly have bangers (old cars) and newer stuff.

The hot hatch 2005 fiat stilo was a decent size hot hatch with safety in mind, really bigger 18in wheels, bigg pillars in every way yet smaller for the occupants. 
a 90s e36 bmw 325 with 15inch wheels was considered quite big car back in the day and it was brilliant even with the auto box. Use less space outside yet in side and the boot was massive!

The fiat panda 2014, small dinky car in today’s standards but outside was bigger or near as dammit as the stilo that was considered a bigger car back in the day. In side was mixed bag but id definitely say smaller than the 3door stilo.

now the bigger pillars A,Band C are purely for safety and its not a trend but a necessity to pass the crash tests. You want a higher chance to live after a crash without spending a fortune on a carbon tub- tuff.

Same with air bags, curtains, seats and so forth take up space no matter what plus the ridgity of the shell and weight has to be more again, double impacting the problem plus that all the way around the car while trying to keep the cost within reasonable plus again the kinetic forces with the added weight it goes on…..

So it goes to say if you (or crash safety legislation) want safe and safer than before it has to be bigger, stronger, come with more gubbins, weigh more, etc. 

a lot of new cars read the road and if it thinks your pulling out of a junction into a cars path it can apply the brakes avoiding the accident so argument is it’s a active safety net for a passive one needed for a operator that is always a questionable variable foresight.

Im one for not relying on tech but mistakes are made and questionable drivers always but if it works for cars ,bikes, cyclists and pedestrians then so be it.

Though does bring a choice of how much should tech rule over the drivers capabilities?

 

only the other week a elderly gentleman almost ran me other by reversing his small modern car in daylight while no other cars blocked his sight, yet i needed to speed up and jump Out of the way to being ran over, then he toddled down the road without knowing what he’d done wrong or if I was even there, kids also play in the area so no doubt would have had a young un.
A different elderly gentleman but the same area, damaged into around 6 cars that where parked up in the same two lane block parking area in a 20mph zone. but if the tech was on it to stop (if it worked) that he would have carried on driving relying on the tech to sort it out for him (always fallible) while their capabilities for driving got worst…

 

all the user tech (phone and nav’s) is customer lead and driven.They dont have to put on or used it, so really you have to blame the user for choosing that and arguably deciding on interaction with it at any point in time.

Not condoning drink driving but it’s no better than if you not looking or distracted by poking at a phone or car infotainment now they are touch screen (and cars) so memory of just reaching out is long gone..

a lot of people don’t cope well trying to mental manage doing two things at once let alone at any given speed.

Edited October 30, 2024 by RideWithStyles
Auto correct

[Mickly]

1 hour ago, Geordie Oldie said:

Watching on episode of " Bangers and Cash" , they had a Granada from the 1980s up for sale. Back then this would have been a big car. Not so big now if you stick it next to a modern car.

 

My wife mentioned how narrow the screen window pillars are, I think they are the " A" pillars?

 

Which got me thinking, our Skoda yeti has pillars about 5 inches across, it leaves a huge blind spot which is even worse the closer you are to the pillar.  You need to look round the pillar to make sure your path is clear. Obvs. many people don't. I imagine this thickness makes the user of the car safer in a crash.

 

Add in people fannying about with their phones or who have their phones set up IN THEIR EYE LINE so they can pretend they are flying a fighter jet, I see this loads.

 

Not saying everything was perfect back in the day, drink driving was common, but at least there were dedicated traffic cops back then.

Of course there where no distractions back in the day, no one ever used a plug in ciggy lighter and ended up with a hot ember in their lap causing them to panic & lose control, or operate a push button tape player

[Geordie Oldie]

1 hour ago, Mickly said:

Of course there where no distractions back in the day, no one ever used a plug in ciggy lighter and ended up with a hot ember in their lap causing them to panic & lose control, or operate a push button tape player

People are still smoking now, often not just tobacco either.

[RideWithStyles]

Also add People still drink, eat, struggle to plan, road read, apply makeup, shout at the other occupants and people while driving.

the only thing gone or less likly now is not fiddling with tapes and cds , if how far tech has come.

[Bender]

I don't get the comparison my early cars were 3ltr rover an xj6 lwb a range rover non of them were particularly small you just drove the wrong cars  

[Mawsley]

People today can't drive for shit. No lane discipline, no idea what an indicator does, no idea about braking distances and safe gaps. We noticed it deteriorating every time we popped home when living abroad. I'm tutting at people everyday.

[Capt Sisko]

I also think that certain safety systems have reduce driving standards. It was a well proven fact that when seatbelts were made compulsory people amended their driving style as they believed they were safer. The modern equivalents are multiple airbags and 5star NCAP ratings that again make people feel 'safe'. Don’t get me wrong, these safety systems have saved thousands of lives over the years, but they could have saved even more if the nut behind the wheel hadn’t have interfered.

Then there are the modern  driving aids, the likes of automatic headlight on / off / dimming that just isn't aren't good enough, brakes linked to a radar, blind spot detectors to name just a few. They are sold under the name of driver convenience or safety aids. The truth is they make many driver think, right it's not my job to look properly or concentrate as much as I should because the car is doing it for me. They believe it absolves their responsibility and will claim, 'but the car . . . .'  just as they say the car wouldn't stop rather than they were going to fast for the conditions or not leaving enough of a gap.

Lastly I believe there is now a very large feeling of entitlement that drivers have nowadays. There has always been this with the 'I've paid my road tax get out of my way' brigade, but there now seems to be a generation brought up on cheap finance who think they have a 'right' to drive. Combine that with decades of schooling of there's no wrong answers and we have a generation (or two) that believe it always someone else's fault and don't like being told they are in the wrong.

Rant over.

[AstronautNinja]

Doesn't help the average person is an absolute spactard these days 

[S-Westerly]

I don't know. I can remember 30 years ago being tail gated by some f**kwit in a Sierra Cosworth about 6 feet off my rear bumper and flashing his lights. I was in a queue of at least 10 cars. There were just as many idiots around then imo.

[RideWithStyles]

8 hours ago, Bender said:

I don't get the comparison my early cars were 3ltr rover an xj6 lwb a range rover non of them were particularly small you just drove the wrong cars  

Glad you just said wrong cars which is questionable and not with “good and reliable”

 

 

Edited October 30, 2024 by RideWithStyles

[RideWithStyles]

3 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

some f**kwit in a Sierra Cosworth There were just as many idiots around then imo.

Called a “cozza” for short and they were all ford fwits of high calibre .

[bud]

My dad had a mk1 and 2 Granada. Great cars with a lovely V6 engine. They are small now. But even the new flat 500 is bigger than an original range rover.

There was also a thing a while ago about the coaches with rabbit ear mirrors that create a massive blind spot at junctions.

[onesea]

I had an experience afew years back I was driving a Triumph Vitesse

Mums old classic car,  a simple set of bends I had driven 100’s of times.  
 

Mildly moist should we say roads,  nothing that would stretch a modern car.  Next thing I know I am slip sliding away, the car in front no issues the car behind no issues.  Car was well setup for its era however they just didn’t compare to modern standards.  I got round the bend and the car behind stopped pushing, no harm no foul.

Old cars you had to drive to the conditions, now days unless the weather or road is diabolical your speed is limited by your vision not grip. Other than the ability to stop before the hazard.

Pillars and vision on modern cars is an issue my present estate is a nightmare for blind spots when reversing.   I drove a friends car that I missed a  whole HGV  behind the front A frame.  There is an issue there.

 

Then there are seatbelts in town they are a PITA people sit back and no longer look forward to see further at junctions or around the pillars.  The whole seating design seems designed to keep you put.

[RideWithStyles]

Arguably buses and hgv still have the same if not worse problem than the majority of car drivers, and they seem to manage better? 

so does that mean that more car drivers are lazy, lack attention, lack skills/knowledge or just….

Edited October 31, 2024 by RideWithStyles
Autocorrect

[RideWithStyles]

7 hours ago, bud said:

There was also a thing a while ago about the coaches with rabbit ear mirrors that create a massive blind spot at junctions.

Arguably buses and hgv still have the same if not worse problem than the majority of car drivers, and they seem to manage better.

so does that mean that more car drivers are lazy, lack attention, lack skills/knowledge or just….

[V650]

More Modern cars are much quicker off the mark than the good old days 

I remember on my Suzuki GSX 30+ years ago I would be nearly at the next set of lights before the cars got away 

Now they are 2" from your number plate from the get go

 

Unfortunately the standard of driving here in Ireland is in free fall 

Fools that can't drive in a straight line without crashing

People banging in to each other like the bumper cars at the fairground & a huge amount of the have no insurance 

Lots of L drivers on the roads unaccompanied

 

My drive to work is about 30km of pretty straight dual carriageway and there was a crash every day causing huge delays of at least 2hrs   

 

I nearly got taken out by a young girl who left it too late to go from the outside lane in to the slip road for a turn off

she could have not been any older than 16 absolutely did not give a fook 

just a case of im going that way and you can all feck off 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2024 by V650