Parent-Teen Manual for Learning To Drive
Practice Driving Lessons for the Family Car
By: Warren P. Quensel ('Former Teacher and State Supervisor'). Published by: Safety Enterprises, of Bloomington, Illinois; 1994. ISBN: 0-9636134-0-5. $9.50.
Reviewer: Eddie Wren
All contents copyright ©, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., 2003, unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved.
IMPORTANT: click here to read the DISCLAIMER |
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This book is in some ways an improvement on the information contained in state drivers' manuals but -- with no disrespect to Mr. Quensel -- it has to be said that it still leaves a very great deal to be desired. One's confidence is also shaken by the grammatical and factual errors that appear too often, which is somewhat surprising when they emanate from a former teacher. For example, as early as page two we are told that 'on older cars there may be a need to set the automatic choke.' [Reviewer's italics.]
On a more practical point, it should be noted that the 'hand-over-hand' method of steering, illustrated on page nine, never has been the safest or most accurate method of steering, but since the advent of drivers' airbags it has become a very risky technique. The incidence of serious arm and facial injuries which result from drivers having their arms crossed in this manner when an airbag fires is shocking. This is certainly not a criticism of Mr. Quensel; he was merely repeating an out-of-date but standardized technique, as used throughout the USA. This assertion of poor technique, however, applies equally to the reference on the next page to allowing the steering wheel 'to slip through your fingers back to center steer.' Allowing the wheel to slide in this manner removes accurate control from the driver and is simply lazy. In addition, the instructions on that same page about mirror usage are wholly inadequate.
On page 13, it is recommended that 'with the selector lever in park and the motor idling [the parent/instructor should] have the student demonstrate the hand-over-hand method for turning.' Yet turning the wheels while the car is stationary (known as 'dry steering') is very damaging -- not only to the tires, which are 'scrubbed' against the pavement, but also to the steering mechanism, which is subjected to undue strain. Creating or adding to the possibility of a high-speed tire blowout or the risk of a subsequent steering failure can never be acceptable. A vehicle must always be in motion -- no matter how slowly -- whenever the steering wheel is turned, otherwise damage will occur.
And so it goes on. This reviewer identified several grammatical and spelling errors that serve only to amuse or confuse. For example, on pages 40/41 we find: 'Spillage from trucks and dead animals could become a problem' (sic). And: '...[the] signal light is stale green.' Should that perhaps have read 'still green'?
On page 56, however, Mr. Quensel states something which is patently ridiculous: 'Drivers should time such actions as checking the mirrors, downshifting,...and scenic viewing.' Scenic viewing? While driving? Does it really need to be said that these two activities are entirely incompatible unless people's lives are of no consequence? This was just one of around twenty tips or techniques Mr. Quensel listed in the book which this reviewer would vigorously oppose because, to varying degrees, they are actually dangerous.
Much earlier in the book, Mr. Quensel writes: 'In a moving vehicle with lives at stake, we will need to have habits and skills that pay off. The test of an expert driver comes in that split second when a problem situation comes up...' No, Mr. Quensel, I'm sorry but that is by no means the test of an expert driver. Nobody who has done nothing more than pass their basic driving test could ever be described as an expert driver. A true expert driver (apart from having had significant extra, public-road driver-training) will, under almost all conceivable circumstances, have considered the potential for a problem and will thereby avoid such. The 'Parent-Teen Manual for Learning to Drive' doesn't get within a light-year of anything to do with expert driving (even though, rather bizarrely, it advocates 'commentary driving' for student drivers) and, regrettably, it has too many dangerous flaws for it to be considered sound advice.
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