Millennial drivers are highway hazards, survey shows

[Sprintey]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

I reckon if the driving test had to be done in a supplied xa falcon or hq kingswood with the base motor, column shift manual and no boosted brakes, there would be many less incompetent people on the road.

Hey that's exactly how I started! HJ Belmont, column manual, 173 all drum brakes. Made me a good country driver, you had to anticipate everything well in advance, spirited it wasn't!

In some ways I wish I had an underpowered column shifter to show my learning young one how to drive this flavour of car.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Hey that's exactly how I started! HJ Belmont, column manual, 173 all drum brakes. Made me a good country driver, you had to anticipate everything well in advance, spirited it wasn't!

In some ways I wish I had an underpowered column shifter to show my learning young one how to drive this flavour of car.

Thats when driving could at times be hard work. The first car I drove (I was only 12 so it seemed alot harder then it probably is) was a 78 uc torana hatch with no power steering, crap brakes and a stuffed trimatic. Exterior mods were pronounced rust accents on most panels. I use the term loosely, but crap cars teach a lot more in a short time then good handling things where stuff like cornering or stopping, or even going aren't a gamble at all. Having experience driving a car you have to drive and be aware of all the pit falls doing it makes the driver do the same in a car that doesn't have the pit falls at all.

[Sprintey]

As a disclaimer I generally cringe at generational marketing, but we can notice differences between shared experiences of groups of people growing in different times.

Kids in my immediate knowledge, one is on the Y/Z cusp and is fully into tech, no interest in cars or driving; the other is definite Z - as noticed by being more hands on, less connected; more 'call a spade a spade' (you know, the old harshness of growing up in Oz), less 'everyone gets a trophy'; more 'build it with my hands' less 'download the app' - wants to drive yesterday.

I also notice that each new level in driver aids and assistance, removes our personal responsibility that one step further. Eg, with the autonomous braking, you can be texting away, head down, and you will not hit the car in traffic in front of you. These days I watch faces in traffic so much more, to see whose eyes are up.

It will evolve to the point where you can, safely, watch Harry Potter in your commute. I think that will suit the tech/connected generation.

[.:4:.]

Try finding a 1st year apprentice that doesn't have a too hard basket the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

[Sprintey]

There are also excellent apprentices out there, one local chippy in particular, fantastic worker and great influence for younger kids.

I was quietly chuffed when I could diagnose a carby on a 383 put into a boat quicker than my nephew, who is an excellent mechanic, but was trained in the computer age...

Martha! It's gonna rain, my arthritis is cranking up again ;)

Off topic: if any of you are familiar with the work of James Howard Kunstler, he predicts that falling EROEI within the oil sector will see a reduction in societal complexity, and technology used - and much more not all of it nice. Old mechanical tech, hand tools, physical labour, food and arable land will be at a premium... hang onto Grandad's tools and those $5 Bendix Stromberg carbies.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by XWGT

Because Gen Y are not Millennials?
Just as Gen X are not Gen Y?

So we're now calling Gen Y Millennials, because they're not?
Ok...

So, should I now refer to myself as Gen Y? Because I'm not?

Or can I just call myself an astronaut, because I'm not that either?