So I had an accident...

what... You mean in Germany? No. A trained monkey could pass them.


Yah... it took me about 20 minutes to learn all that stupid questions by heart and the exam was done in like 3 minutes...
 
Driving schools are quoting me between 1500 and 1800... I feel like being screwed sideways
Ouch, it seems inflation hit hard here. I did pay about ?1,150 - but that was 11 years ago.

The theoretical part of the exams are pretty hardcore, I am told.
That exam was the easiest one I've taken ever... granted, it was the first one I studied for properly. :p Last weekend - meaning 11 years after I studied for it - I passed without error when someone had brought such exams for fun.
Attend the lessons, do your studying, and the test won't be much of a problem.

Even with brake failure, you could always put it in 1st gear. Did the handbrake not work?
First, I don't believe it was brake failure until there's actual evidence for that. Second, do you know what you are talking about? Putting a manual in 1st gear is actually rather difficult at speed, let alone while panicking because you are in the process of going off the road and heading for some trees. And handbrake? Yeah sure, because going into the trees sideways is more fun. Besides, that would require taking a hand off the steering wheel.
Even if these proposals were practical, you can't expect a 19-year-old inexperienced non-racing-driver to be able to pull off something like that, let alone in the one second he has to react to a very nasty surprise.
 
Seitenstreifen :)

Ah no, we weren't on it. The place where we crashed, has tiny ribs painted into the shoulder, sort of like a rumble strip. we ploughed straight through the middle of the road.

Also Alex, I am talking about the ADAC trainings, where every punk can turn up with his passat :)
 
a) Proof of theory that satnav-focused drivers are a menace to society, see people driving into rivers, forests and off bridges "because the satnav said so".

Yeah seriously, there should be a law that anyone who tells the police it was the satnavs fault after an accident, should have their license suspended forever.
 
Crashed because the Satnav said "straight ahead".. oh my.
 
Also Alex, I am talking about the ADAC trainings, where every punk can turn up with his passat :)

You mean those? :p

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lCT13-A_AE[/YOUTUBE]
 
First, I don't believe it was brake failure until there's actual evidence for that.

Precisely, thats why I requested a proper detailing of the car and the shit surrounding the incident. The way I see it, we did brake late, but just as why the braking had almost no effect, is what intrigues me. It was indeed driver error, he shouldn't have blindly listened to me when he asked me which way to go and I told him turn right in 1.2km or so.
 
Also Alex, I am talking about the ADAC trainings, where every punk can turn up with his passat :)
those are awesome... Because the quality of the drivers is so extremely low, that when I did one not so long ago I felt like I was the Stig, Michael Schumacher, and Manuel Fangio all in one. :mrgreen:
 
A few month ago i nearly drifted off in that corner
http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&sour...56843,8.648944&spn=0.004284,0.011362&t=h&z=17 (exit from the A3 from west to east... where the exit goes from the small straight part into the roundabout).

I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo surprised when it happened... At first i couldn't see it as a mistake of me. I thought something was wrong with the car.. but... yah... even 70 was too fast in that corner in that corner at this night. After driving for 160km at about 150km/h u really loose the feeling for the speed.
Well i drifted off my lane.. into the other.. but luckily no one was there and i was able to shift down and catch the car back.

It might have been a similar situation to yours.. just a sudden turn and car starts understeering. At first i hit the brakes, but that just made the situation worse. Shifting down and full throttle showed a much better result
 
You mean those? :p

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lCT13-A_AE[/YOUTUBE]

No, that's the driver safety training, if I am not wrong. There is an advanced driver training thing they do at N'ring FSZs and Hockenheimring.
 
Well this one teaches you how to brake on dry, wet, mixed and icy surfaces, you might recommend your friend the basic one instead of the pro ones. :p
 
Well this one teaches you how to brake on dry, wet, mixed and icy surfaces, you might recommend your friend the basic one instead of the pro ones. :p

I did :)

On a side note, this auto update feature rocks.
 
I hate satnav but I am often dependant on it as I drive alone most of the time and my sense of direction leaves a lot to be desired. Used it on Friday night, it tried to send me into the wrong right turn, but I realised and fixed it myself. This is why I often disable the screen and just wait for the voice commands (but eventhen, my depth perception is hopeless too!)
have to use it today in an area it hasn't got updated maps for, more funny than anything as I know how to navigate that bit- I just need it to get there and to the other place I'm going and back.
 
When i go somewhere with a satnav i always check my route before i go and drive according to the roadsigns... Well the only purpose of the satnav is notifying me if i did a wrong turn
 
Yeah seriously, there should be a law that anyone who tells the police it was the satnavs fault after an accident, should have their license suspended forever.

"Aviate, communicate, navigate" - a pilot's responsibility heirarchy. Fly the plane first, and only if you're in positive control, talk to ATC, and then make sure you're pointed in the right direction.

The same principles apply on the ground. Driving the car is priority 1, and your navigation equipment is irrelevant to that task.
 
More commonly ground-based speed patrols, I'm yet to see an airborne-enforced state that can afford to fly planes around (though I'm guessing Texas can and does).

California, despite having no money, is still running air patrols in the desert.

What exactly is a shoulder? I checked the road along with two policemen right after the wreck. It was clean tarmac with no unusual amount of crap on it than normal.

In your own pic:

8117_151073616742_508526742_3286655_6950875_n.jpg


The shoulders would be the areas marked by the white lines to each side of the roadway.
 
When i go somewhere with a satnav i always check my route before i go and drive according to the roadsigns... Well the only purpose of the satnav is notifying me if i did a wrong turn

the way I use sat-nav is, when in doubt, turn it off and use road signs. Around here, you are lucky because there is normally 2/3 ways to get somewhere and you can correct mistakes pretty easily. But this story will definitely make me more aware of how reliant I get on it :S
 
A satnav is good for long distance driving, because they generally do get the highways right. It?s also good for finding your way to wherever you are going on the last couple of kilometers, because there are generally no signs saying something like "this way to Bob?s apartment". But if you don?t at least roughly know where you?re going, then you?re just one more driver (of many) who has given control to a machine hoping it can get the job done better than you.
 
First of all thanks for the detailed explanation and pictures aswell as the illustration,

AttentionWhore.jpg



The navigation suddenly snapped into the real location and told us a roundabout was imminent. My friend stood on the brakes and nothing happened. I am thinking something failed at the ABS.

You shouldn't be blind if you intend to drive a car, also don't believe everything the satnav women tells you, I take it you don't stop for red lights either if the satnav tells you take the next exit in 2km?

I don't think the ABS failed, I think you failed.

Blaming the satnav or the c-max is just ridiculous.

Also;
In the morning, Hertz sent a taxi to pick us up from Metz, which was the next closest city. They had a replacement car waiting for us there, a new Opel Corsa 1.2. Nice car, and you can rev the nuts off it on the motorway.

Good to know that you treat the Corsa just as good as the C-Max, if I were Hertz, I would certainly NOT rent out another car to this incompetent driver.
 
Last edited:
California, despite having no money, is still running air patrols in the desert.
I figured as much, because CHP hates you and loves your money. I do periodically check the skies out there. I'm yet to see anything, though.
 
Top