If you were that good at "making progress" then you wouldn't need to indicate and change gear at the same time.
You could also argue that you shoudln't be "making progress" if you need to indicate to other road users.
I've only been driving for 3 years and of the cars I driven with left and right hand indicator stalks, I've never had a problem "making progress". And I do like to "make progress".
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">then you wouldn't need to indicate and change gear at the same time.<" Ah, so you don't drive in London then.
">I've only been driving for 3 years<" Still learning? ;-)
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>>Still learning? ;-)<,
Ohhh yes!
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I have driven in and around London for 30 years. Indicators there have no meaning other than to highlight a "out of towner"
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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">Indicators there have no meaning other than to highlight a "out of towner"<" For you van drivers perhaps .... we car drivers do try and maintain standards.
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I have driven in and around London for 30 years. Indicators there have no meaning other than to highlight a "out of towner" ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Excellent, kill two birds with one stone here. As I think that all people who don't use indicators should be rounded up and shot, from what you're saying we'll also be decimating the population of London so it might be a nicer place to move around in as a result :)
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Changing gear and operating the indicator stalk simultaneously with the left hand? The mind boggles .....
Mirror, signal, manoeuvre.
ie, once the mirror business is out the way, first you signal, then manoeuvre to change gear ;o)
On a more serious note though, how long does it take to move your hand from the gear stick to the indicator stalk? No time at all. Hardy rocket science, and if people cannot manage the simplest task of changing gear and indicating within ½ a second from each other, then perhaps they shouldn't be driving in the first place.
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>.and if people cannot manage the simplest task of changing gear and indicating within ½ a second from each other, then perhaps they shouldn't be driving in the first place.<<
Much as I don't like to be seen agreeing with you, exactly.
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If you are making proper progress you never need to signal. You whisk past people and the next moment you're over the horizon. They don't even know that you were ever there.
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>.and if people cannot manage the simplest task of changing gear and indicating within ½ a second from each other, then perhaps they shouldn't be driving in the first place.<< Much as I don't like to be seen agreeing with you, exactly.
Of course, if the cars were built properly this wouldn't be an issue.
It always amuses me that people will spend thousands on electrical toys for "safety" reasons, most of which are utterly unnecessary (things to tell you you are veering out of lane, parking sensors, heads-up displays) and yet will happily dismiss the admittedly minor problems caused by RUBBISH DESIGN.
It's like cars that have volume controls on the steering wheel, then put the headlight switch out of view to the lower-right of the steering wheel. Rubbish design and bad practice again. Or cars that use the wheel-arch as a footrest, forgetting of course that on RHD cars this doesn't work, leading to pedals cramped towards the left and no footrest at all. Or models that have plush, soft-touch plastics throughout the interior, then make the door's check-strap out of thin plastic instead of metal. Or those cars with incredibly expensive (and high quality) switchgear, but forget to wire up the foglight switch to the headlight buzzer, resulting in hundreds of thousands of meatheads forgetting to switch their fogs off.
Hyundai's not immune to this though. The position of the rear wash/wipe controls is stupid -- exactly the position where many similarly badly-designed cars have the headlight switch, to the lower-right of the steering wheel. While this is not quite as daft as some of the others (this control is rarely used), surely it can't have been that difficult to add the controls to the wiper stalk?
This thread, to my eyes, is all about lazy design on the part of the manufacturers. Is it *that* unreasonable to EXPECT manufacturers to get the fundamentals right, before they start on the far less important plastic padding? The unfortunate truth is that the Gallic designers seem to be the ones most likely to throw their hands up and drink a bottle of wine rather than getting their fingers out their asses and doing the job properly. For that reason I will never buy a French car. But they aren't the only ones.
If AE concentrated more on genuine bad design we may get somewhere.
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">once the mirror business is out the way, first you signal, then manoeuvre to change gear <" So you don't drive in London then Dave?
1/2 second? That's a bit slow. Are you a mimser Dave? Or perhaps a dawdler?
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So you don't drive in London then Dave?
Have done many a time.
1/2 second? That's a bit slow. Are you a mimser Dave?
Not at all. I said a within ½ a second. Anyway, driving an auto, I don't have to bother changing gear in the first place.
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">Anyway, driving an auto,<"
Ah, a mimser then ;-) Is it actually possible to drive an auto, as in the true meaning of the word "drive"? Just a thought!
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Ah, a mimser then ;-) Is it actually possible to drive an auto, as in the true meaning of the word "drive"? Just a thought!
Well that's allegedly what the "D" stands for on the gear selector.
Looking at recent comments I agree about French cars and awful pedal layouts - anyone driven a Citroen AX or Pug106 and not needed a chiropractor afterwards?! It's not all European manufacturers though - I regularly drive a Seat Inca van (based on the Ibiza), and it's got a proper footrest, and pedals in line with the drivers seat. If VAG can do it, why can't PSA?
I also agree with the headlight-switch comment. On my Almera, the headlight and foglight switches are both on the indicator stalk. When the headlights are turned off, there is a mechanical link to the fog switch, which turns them off too. IMO that's slightly better than having a headlight switch somewhere to the right of the dashboard and a separate foglight button that can stay switched on.
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">Well that's allegedly what the "D" stands for on the gear selector.<"
I think it really means: I am mechanically incompetent, therefore I must hand over a crucial part of the driving experience to a piece of machinery. No thank you, not now and not ever ;-) Although the effortless accel of a big auto is something to be enjoyed, a V12 Jag auto must have been exhilarating in the 1970s.
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Is it actually possible to drive an auto, as in the true meaning of the word "drive"? Just a thought!
Ah, someone who is still stuck in yesteryear and hasn't realised autogearbox technology has moved on in leaps and bounds ;o)
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">Ah, someone who is still stuck in yesteryear and hasn't realised autogearbox technology has moved on in leaps and bounds ;o)<"
But that's the point, auto = "I prefer to be controlled be a machine".
When I'm elected, I shall immediately ban all autos. After a short consultation period (2 days?), I shall ban power assisted steering, servo assisted brakes and synchro on any gears except 1st and reverse. I might even insist upon manual control of ignition timing and mixture. In a stroke, the mimsers, dawdlers and incompetents will be removed from the Queen's Highway and motoring's halcyon days will return!
I might even require the ignition timing and mixture to be controlled by brass levers mounted on the dashboard at knee height, so we could then discuss if the ignition timing should be controlled by the left or the right knee ;-0
Exhaust pollution would become insignificant, road deaths would be minimal and the health of the general population would increase immeasurably due to that all that walking activity the minions would have to endure.
But most importantly, the road ahead would be clear for me!
I'll go and lie down now.
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Dont step out in the road then Mickey, you will end up as a claret stain, me not being used to non power steering, non servo brakes, no ABS etc.......
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Go away, I'm having a lie down in preparation for leadership.
Vote for motoring sanity, vote for me.
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Lying down huh? would that be the left or the right side of the bed?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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