Welcome to the board Phillip .
While I think that the basic drivers education in America is not as extensive as in other countries, I guess that a larger portion of those people who own real sportscars seem attends to performance driving schools and/or go to autoX and/or the track.
Not too many people do that in Germany.
What is called "rice" scene in America can be found in Germany too - despite the fact that you have to be 18 to get your license. Young people tend to mod their VW Golfs, Polos and other cheapo German makes here instead of import cars.
By the way, my first car had 286hp and I've never been involved in any accident yet.

 

I love the guy on the far right. I'd forgotten about him. Every frat needs a few of those to keep it off academic probation...

 

Tell you the truth I know some 16-112 year olds I don't want driving at all. Driving is a privlege not a right. Most people have it backwords in the US. Personally I started with a 73 superbeetle that I bought for 400$. Drove the snot out of that thing, having no power to get out of the way was a big problem. I would have been safer in a faster car due to this problem.

I am 20 I drive a S2000 and a modified 914. Personaaly these are some of the slowest cars that I have owned. The fastest being a heavly modified 67 k code mustang. I can handle these cars as can most responsable well informed drivers. Most S2000 drivers are a diferent bread they appretiate the handling abillity of the car over the high speed rush that the more commen citizens love. We can drive, most if not all of us paid for our cars ourselfs and have worked hard to do such a thing.

If you want to go see a horrible display of owners go look at some of the other modified honda clubs as they really have some off beat members.

Personally I would like to see a staged system of licances similar to the motorcyle classes in Europe. No jumping of a cbr929 as your first bike. Same here no going out and buying a 911 as your first car. Staging is the only way we will ever control this problems with each stage becoming harder and harder and more expensive. Get a civic then a v6 accord then a s2000 and then if you can pass the test legal modifications allowed by the state. Never going to happen but maybe in my dreams.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tanqueray
[B]quote:
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Originally posted by Colombino

 

I grew up in Australia where I think life was much simpler in comparison to the US. Everybody rode their bicycles to school, since the age to obtain a permit was 17 or 18. I don't think anybody drove cars to school at all. You also had to get a separate license for a manual (stick shift) and an automatic - which seems to make perfect sense to me.

Oh yeah, high school didn't start at 7:20am in Oz either...more like 9:10am....what a shocker

 

Dude,

How can you not remember lines from that film, it was a classic. The frat I was in made us watch that thing over and over.

 

Satire is fine when it works, I wonder if animal house was big in Germany, since after all this thread was started by a German fellow.

 

ha! the reason that we Americans are allowed the privilege of driving at 16 years of age with minimal training is not because we are more conscious or better drivers. it's because of the high priority American society places on liberty, freedom, and the mobility that facilitates it. most people here consider driving to be a right, not a privilege. automobiles are woven into the fabric of our nation's infant culture.

we just have a misguided value system in America. people will get incredibly angry if you take away their freedom to injure & kill others with their lack of discipline and training.

 

Having been raised in the US midwest corn belt, I tend toward libertarian/republican politics valuing individual freedom and personal responsibility. Now that I've spent enough time in a big city with liberal politics and babysitting control-freak governments I have a healthy distrust of Big Brother. However, seeing so many kids die on high performance motorcycles I've come to realize that tiered licensing based on both the car and the driver would be a good thing.

Presently we allow the insurance companies to do the tiering for us, since insurance rates for 16-25 yr olds with sports cars is usually prohibitively expensive. It works for me now that I'm an old married fart ($800/yr full+comp for S2k), but I see the injustice for skilled experienced drivers.

Perhaps some sort of formula involving tiers based on lbs/bhp with the potential impact of hugely massive vehicles (killer SUVs) also taken into account? I could see something like 3 tiers: basic (20+lb/hp), intermediate (15-20 lb/hp), and advanced (<15 lb/hp) with special licensing required for vehicles over 4000lb GVWR. Advancing from one level to the next would require something like 2 years at a level plus a comprehensive skills & knowledge test.

<sigh> Does it really have to come to this, though?

Comments?

 

So everyone with more experience than 6 months is above average? How does that work? Like the saying goes, everyone believes that they are an excellent driver.

I knew a few. One of them totalled two Preludes before he finished high school. I knew another guy who was smart, but his dad rented him a Mustang GT for the prom. Instant dumbass!

There are a lot of adult drivers of the S2000 who are caught by surprise by how quickly and unexpectedly it can get out of control. You expect someone who has just learned how to make a car go down the road in between the lines to have an appreciation for that? Better to develop one's skills in a car that lets you know its limits well before you've exceeded them.

Nachtmeister, not many people who own sportscars in America go to performance driving schools or participate in track or autocross events either. The people who participate in those activities are more likely to own sportscars, but they make up a tiny fraction of the sportscar owners.