Vehicles

Driving Auto gives one more time to anticipate and avoid hazards, and they come too quickly. The car automatically selects the correct gear, and there is no hesitation as you accelerate away. Once regarded as fuel inefficient, the auto gearbox now gives very good fuel economy.

Silver manual

Are bored with just steering and braking, and looking for a challenge, try manual
Listening to the sound of the motor, ’feeling’ thru the gears, is all part of the manual picture
Gearing down, feel that extra braking, enjoying accelerating out of corners, up hills enjoy driving manual

My two Corolla’s have an ANCAP (Australian New Car Assessment Program) rating of 5, the maximum rating available

This ANCAP program assesses a car against 4 criteria

1.Adult Occupant Protection (AOP) Is the adult passenger or driver kept safe within the cabin, seatbelts and physical danger points.

2.Child Occupant Protection (COP) Is the child passenger kept safe within the car, are seat belt mounting points correctly positioned for child seats, can the child open the door while the car is moving, etc.

3.Vulnerable Road User Protection. (VRU) If a pedestrian is hit by a car is the car’s body been moulded /rounded to make the pedestrian less inclined to serious injury. Would they be thrown over the car rather than underl’.

4.Safety Assist (SA) What safety features are in the car to help reduce or avoid a crash, and protect the passengers.

The wearing of Seat belts became compulsory in 1970. This resulted in a dramatic reduction in death rates.

The original belts were lap only with a cumbersome adjustment. All belts are now lap/sash and are self -tightening in the event of a crash.

ABS (Anti-locking Brake System) was the next major improvement, Restricting front brakes from locking up and sliding, especially on wet roads
ESC (Electronic Stability Control) enables the driver to still control the car even if 2 wheels are braking on a very poor surface.

Safety Cell, Providing a safer ’cabin’ for the driver and passengers.

Car designers are continually make improvements in car and occupant safety.

Mirrors Most Instructors use a small ’stick on’ mirror. I prefer to mount a full size mirror in the roof of the cabin which gives me a far better view of following traffic. I have attached a large curved mirror to the left mirror. Both my client and me have a good view of the kerb, very useful when reverse parking and for confirming the blind spot which is found by looking over the relevant shoulder.