"Terry D" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I think I was brought up in unususal circumstances, but it all seemed
normal to
Quoted message said:me at the time so I really don't know for sure. As a child in the East
Midlands
Quoted message said:in the 50's I lived in a house that only had gas, there was no family car
and
Quoted message said:very few people I knew had access to one (Although most of my friends had
eletrickery in their houses). There is a point to all this, bear with me.
A nice story Terry and although having similarities to mine is also at
variance.
Born in '53 and brought up in a post-war (just) East Mids suburb cars were
rarer than today but reasonably common, obviously not to the point of today
where they clog arteries and litter streets when parked.
Dad learned to drive before he joined up and after touring France, Belgium,
Holland and Germany in 1944-1947 driving company vehicles supplied by his
employer, REME, aspired to a car once de-mobbed and except for a couple of
lean years always owned one. During the lean years he motorcycled and
cycled.
(The Army had taught him to drive a variety of vehicles in a precise manner
which was passed on to me when he taught me to cycle as a bona-fide road
user, not that he or I was, nor are, perfect).
So to me cars were a fact of life and indeed as soon as I reached 17 took
lessons, passed test and obtained car...a Morris Minor!
(In fact maybe I should add our family is large and Dads cars, although of a
decent size, were always overloaded with offspring of all ages, and of
course there were no modern safety systems, it wouldn't be allowed
nowadays).
When I drove the Minor it never entered my head that the steering was
imprecise, brakes [censored], no seatbelts, the column could pierce my chest etc
because that was the standard pertaining and anyway I wasn't going to have
an accident.
It took me all of 3 months to roll it over and write it off, from which I
walked away!
Next 2 vehicles were a Hillman Imp van followed by a Mini van, again they
measured up to the yardstick of their era and no concessions were made to
their poor occupant protection.
In these vehicles I drove all over England, believe me after driving from
Leicester to Newcastle and back home in a single day in the Mini ears were
buzzing and back was aching :-(
My current car is a current model, quite large, very comfortable and has a
whole collection of acronyms for various "safety features".
None of the these features influenced my decision for obtaining it, size per
GBP was the main criteria but I'm not about to disable them to prevent me
falling foul of risk compensation ;-)
I do take the point that modern cars isolate drivers far more, but they also
have wipers and demisters that actually work and ABS that compensates for
mistakes, and because they are easier to drive the driver should be able to
concentrate more on the road, unfortunately it doesn't mean they do and also
there may be more demands created by the environment.
Risk compensation is a funny thing, I'm certain it exists but also know some
people enjoy risk.
An example of this is the born again bikers who presumably have been driving
family cars then buy a powerful bike, the bike must feel terrifying after
tootling along cocooned in the family car yet it doesn't put them off riding
fast, rather it seems to encourage it.
My previous car was a Mondieu (Yes, I know) and at the same time SWMBO had
an ancient Capri (Yeah, alright, there was sound financial reason for it),
there was no comparison in the driving experience, roads that the Mondieu
would glide along were a task in the Capri but I honestly believe that if
things were to go pear-shaped the occupants and others involved would fare
better with the Mondieu than Capri.
Regards,
Pete
