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The Driving Thread

204467

204467

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
821
0
Philadelphia, PA
Who here has a learner's permit? Getting one? About to take the permit test? The driving test? Ever taken driver's ed? Stick or automatic? I got my permit just over two months ago and had to take thirty hours of driver's ed (insurance break!). Right now, I'm still learning to drive and only know automatic. However, my parents both drive stick, so they're going to teach me stick later. Today, I drove to the Christiana Mall from just outside of Philly, so that was the first time I was on the highway for such a long time. That was fun. Anyway, I just thought it would be cool for people to share their driving stories, learning stories, etc.

P.S. I know this is a rather tame thread considering some of my previous ones, but I just want to lay low about that for a little; I was sick of people saying I'm sick for talking about sex. BTW, if your "driving experiences" include sexual escapades while in a car, I don't want to hear it. Let's keep this thread clean and unlocked, shall we?

EDIT: Ten awesome points for whoever can tell me what my signature is from.
 
rdowns said:
I didn't lose my virginity in a car. :p
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Now how does that help? Now people will think that I want to know about their automotive sex lives (does that make sense?). ;)

Just kidding. That was funny and given the content of my recent threads, I deserved that.
 
I ride a motorbike, Driving is for loser who like to wait in queues:D, Failed the test first time (CBT was easy though).
 
LumbermanSVO said:
I drive a semi, the beds in the back make it much easier to have sex in :)
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Read the text below.

jpmittins said:
P.S. I know this is a rather tame thread considering some of my previous ones, but I just want to lay low about that for a little; I was sick of people saying I'm sick for talking about sex. BTW, if your "driving experiences" include sexual escapades while in a car, I don't want to hear it. Let's keep this thread clean and unlocked, shall we?
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He doesn't want to hear it:mad::D
 
rdowns said:
I didn't lose my virginity in a car. :p
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:LOL: :D I think I was like 16 or 17 when I started (...driving I mean)

Seriously now. I have my license (to drive) and have been driving (a car) since I was 17 when I got my permit.... Rather boring I'd say..
 
jpmittins said:
EDIT: Ten awesome points for whoever can tell me what my signature is from.
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"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Good book, although I think I actually liked the sequels better. I'm surprised nobody got this already - I've noticed it in a few of your other posts I've stumbled across.
 
gonyr said:
"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Good book, although I think I actually liked the sequels better. I'm surprised nobody got this already - I've noticed it in a few of your other posts I've stumbled across.
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We have a winner! I never read any of the sequels, though I really like the first. I love how Ender just changes the entire mindset behind Battle School and they still find something bad to do to him. It's so cool.

akonradi said:
The real fun of driving comes when you start paying for petrol. Who needs a shiny new mac pro when you can have a liter of gasoline?
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I'm going to guess you live in Europe, since you talk about liters. I will agree, European gas is super expensive. Of course, European cars tend to be more fuel efficient, since there are less SUV's than in America (I hate SUV's so much!). Plus, people drive less in Europe; at least, that's what my brother told me when he went to Germany for a month in the beginning of summer.

QCassidy352 said:
wow... even for this site, the speed with which this thread was hijacked is impressive.
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Yeah, I'm really hoping that people will stop doing that. Don't worry, to all those horny members of MacRumors, I will start more raunchy threads than this later. Just wait, and in the meantime, don't hijack this one.
 
jpmittins said:
I'm going to guess you live in Europe, since you talk about liters. I will agree, European gas is super expensive. Of course, European cars tend to be more fuel efficient, since there are less SUV's than in America (I hate SUV's so much!). Plus, people drive less in Europe; at least, that's what my brother told me when he went to Germany for a month in the beginning of summer.
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Actually, I work/live on both sides of the pond. With gas prices, though, I rarely drive. People in western Europe still drive a lot, just not the distances that Americans have to drive. The transportation infrastructure is much better over here. It's not just European gas that's expensive... fuel in the US still costs way too much as well. Oh well, I don't pay for it anymore so I'm getting left out of much of the fun.
 
akonradi said:
Actually, I work/live on both sides of the pond. With gas prices, though, I rarely drive. People in western Europe still drive a lot, just not the distances that Americans have to drive. The transportation infrastructure is much better over here. It's not just European gas that's expensive... fuel in the US still costs way too much as well. Oh well, I don't pay for it anymore so I'm getting left out of much of the fun.
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Well, that's kind of what I meant. I know people still drive in Europe, just not as much or as far as people in America (because we're the country that not only invented lazy, we perfected it!). However, gas in Europe is much more expensive than gas in America. Of course, when I say Europe, I mean Western Europe. BTW, you say pond as a reference to the Atlantic Ocean; is that because you're from the UK or is that a term used all over the continent?
 
I've had a license since I was sixteen -I am now twenty.
I went to driver's ed. and got a waiver; really simple process.
I've only driven roughly five times after I got my license.
There's really no need to drive in Chicago.
 
I can't believe I forgot to say this. While in the 30 hours of driver's ed, I nearly fell asleep many times and felt that a week of my life had been wasted. Not fun. I was so glad to get that over with, because at the end of the class, me and my brother went to see Pineapple Express, which was hilarious and then we sneaked into Iron Man (which I had already seen but my brother had not).
 
akonradi said:
Actually, I work/live on both sides of the pond. With gas prices, though, I rarely drive. People in western Europe still drive a lot, just not the distances that Americans have to drive. The transportation infrastructure is much better over here. It's not just European gas that's expensive... fuel in the US still costs way too much as well. Oh well, I don't pay for it anymore so I'm getting left out of much of the fun.

jpmittins said:
Well, that's kind of what I meant. I know people still drive in Europe, just not as much or as far as people in America (because we're the country that not only invented lazy, we perfected it!). However, gas in Europe is much more expensive than gas in America. Of course, when I say Europe, I mean Western Europe. BTW, you say pond as a reference to the Atlantic Ocean; is that because you're from the UK or is that a term used all over the continent?
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jpmittins you basically copied akonradi's post LoL

jpmittins said:
Of course, when I say Europe, I mean Western Europe.
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Why just western Europe, You do know since the cold war is over it is One Europe no east or west. Eastern Europe is just as good as Western Europe, Stop being Countryist:mad::D.

jpmittins said:
BTW, you say pond as a reference to the Atlantic Ocean; is that because you're from the UK or is that a term used all over the continent?
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"Across The Pond" was an English phase that is now used on both sides of the atlantic (Not sure about it's use in Mainland Europe though).
 
jpmittins;6144380 I'm going to guess you live in Europe said:
The price of European gas is just one aspect (Governments tend to take a healthy slice of the price in various forms of taxation, which they will be able to justify increasingly given environmental concerns.) Another tends to be the fact that mainland Europe simply has very good public transport - especially in the cities - and that the infrastructure works. People don't use their cars much in the cities.

northy124 said:
Why just western Europe, You do know since the cold war is over it is One Europe no east or west. Eastern Europe is just as good as Western Europe, Stop being Countryist:mad::D.

"Across The Pond" was an English phase that is now used on both sides of the atlantic (Not sure about it's use in Mainland Europe though).
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These days, it is one Europe; I'm not sure that it is a case of one being "better" than the other, but rather, different historical and cultural experiences have led to some distinctions between them.

Agree with northy re "across the pond"; it's originally English, and it is one of those exquisitely understated expressions that the Brits are so good at coining. We use it too; not so sure about the Continent. My favourite of these was the report in a British paper in the late 1930s about fog on the English Channel. "Fog On Channel" it announced "Continent Cut Off".

Re jpmitten's original post, (yes, an unusual thread title, entirely lacking in controversy), I don't actually drive. When I have worked abroad, or in Dublin, I always lived in the city centre - I like the feel of asphalt beneath my feet, and pavement coffee-shops close by; thus, I always used to walk to work (these days, a lot of work is from my study at home, and I'm still in the city). When I don't walk, I take public transport, or taxis, or cadge lifts.
Cheers
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I've been driving for about 2 years now. I'm going to go for my probationary license on Friday.

For those who don't know the licensing system for Victoria, Australia, you can get your learners permit at 16, which allows you to drive any car as long as you have a fully licensed driver sitting next to you. When you've done about 120 hours and you've turned 18, you go for a driving test with an assessor sitting in the back seat.

If you pass that (which about half fail to do), you get your P plates. You can't drive any car with over 125kW to the tonne, any charged engine (no turbos or supers), any engine with more than 6 cylinders, and you can't tow anything or have any alcohol in your blood. Another restriction which has been brought in recently is a passenger restriction for the first year on P plates; you can't carry more than one passenger aged between 16 and 21 who isn't family. This means I can't drive my two 18 year old mates around. I reckon it's a load of bollocks, but the government seems to think it works...

You are subject to these restrictions for 3 or 4 years, at which time you can go for your full license which has no restrictions (other than the standard road ones, of course).


As for the whole expensive petrol thing, I'd love to get myself a Tesla Roadster. It's got all the fun of driving a supercar (0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds!), but without the guilt for burning all the oil in the world :D
 
I know several folks who are really into BOT and keep insisting I try them myself (Dad included)... I tried them - but every time I hear someone speaking at length it makes me too sleepy. The best music I find is something a bit heavier. The longer the trip the more I go to either extreme (mellower vs heavier)

The Fuel Issue: My little car (a cheap little thing but who cares) gets about 35 MPG, so I can't complain. I always laugh when you see BIG honkin' SUVs crawling along at 45 mph because they're trying to save fuel. :D
 
Scarlet Fever said:
For those who don't know the licensing system for Victoria, Australia, you can get your learners permit at 16, which allows you to drive any car as long as you have a fully licensed driver sitting next to you. When you've done about 120 hours and you've turned 18, you go for a driving test with an assessor sitting in the back seat.

If you pass that (which about half fail to do), you get your P plates. You can't drive any car with over 125kW to the tonne, any charged engine (no turbos or supers), any engine with more than 6 cylinders, and you can't tow anything or have any alcohol in your blood. Another restriction which has been brought in recently is a passenger restriction for the first year on P plates; you can't carry more than one passenger aged between 16 and 21 who isn't family. This means I can't drive my two 18 year old mates around. I reckon it's a load of bollocks, but the government seems to think it works...
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Bloomin' heck. That's a long time before you are allowed out on the road alone. I am just learning to drive at the moment. If it takes me 120 hours to get my license I'm not going to be happy. I'm actually learning in a car that has a turbo as well, seems odd you wouldn't be allowed in one.

I am slightly late to the driving game being 23.
 
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