Hmm. It was four o'clock in the morning...
What will we do with a drunken sailor?
Early in the morning!

4AM in a busy shipping lane, turn off the automatic ID system and conduct war games. Wonder just who came up with that bright idea.

21-year-old Felix Nilsson had just jumped into his new car, bought only two days earlier, in the parking lot in central Kalix together with his mate, when another car suddenly drove over them. The windshield and parts of the body were pushed in and they were afraid to be mashed.
According to Felix, the car that was driving him had an automatic gearbox and according to the emergency service, the driver pressed the wrong pedal, which was the cause of the accident. Even though the driver's car ended up on Felix's car, the woman managed to get out of the car on her own.

He himself managed to be unharmed, his buddy got some sensations in his neck. Even though he was slightly shocked, he was up and comforted the woman immediately after the accident, and again later in the evening.
"We've lived neighbors when I was a little and when I saw it was she and she was sad, I gave her a hug and said everything is OK."
The woman asked how Felix's friend was doing and when she was told that he was being taken to hospital with an ambulance, she cracked.
"Then she started crying, even if I do not know her, it took me too hard. It's clear that you are saddened for such a thing.
Me and my friend gave her a flower telling her that everything is alright"

It's an easy mistake to make. I learned to drive in manual-shift cars, and I've always preferred to drive that way. But shortly after I learned to drive, my parents bought an automatic car.

Driving one day with my mother as passenger, I needed to drive dead slow down a rutted farm track. I took my foot off the gas, and - instinctively - moved that foot onto the clutch pedal. Pressed, and it resisted: pressed harder, and it still resisted.

My foot had, of course, encountered the brake pedal, and we came to a very sudden, very sharp, dead stop. Under the circumstances, it was a much cheaper and safer way to learn the same lesson as the lady in your story, but it still embarrasses me (nearly 50 years later) when I think about it.

Volvo attacks Audi, extra extra...

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Volvo attacks Audi, extra extra...

Attacks? I thought it was trying to mate with it :-)

It's an easy mistake to make. I learned to drive in manual-shift cars, and I've always preferred to drive that way. But shortly after I learned to drive, my parents bought an automatic car.

Driving one day with my mother as passenger, I needed to drive dead slow down a rutted farm track. I took my foot off the gas, and - instinctively - moved that foot onto the clutch pedal. Pressed, and it resisted: pressed harder, and it still resisted.

My foot had, of course, encountered the brake pedal, and we came to a very sudden, very sharp, dead stop. Under the circumstances, it was a much cheaper and safer way to learn the same lesson as the lady in your story, but it still embarrasses me (nearly 50 years later) when I think about it.

I have always driven manual transitions and on several occasions while driving an auto I've done that. It has been many years since the last time.

---

Can't say I've done it myself, but when I learnt to drive it was in both an Automatic and a Manual. I was basically taught that my left foot was for the clutch & the clutch only (well, and the high beam/low beam switch*, but no other pedals), right foot for the brake & accelerator. The right foot should only be on the accelerator when driving, or about to drive off. The rest of the time it should be on the brake.
I recently drove a newer car and found it necessary for it to be in park (not just neutral), handbrake/emergency brake on & foot on the brake pedal just to get the engine to start...


Most embarrassing driving moment would have been a few years ago when visiting Mum & Dad at a family get together. With so many people there they had hired a small van to cart people around in. We were giving Dad heaps because every time he went to drive off it just surged forward. His response was "Why don't you have a go?" So I did- and immediately jerked forward like I was starting off at a race.
There must have been something wrong with the linkage- almost every vehicle I've driven there must have been at least 2.5" travel of the accelerator between idle & wide open. On this van it would have been about a 1/2", if that. A smooth take off was possible, but it took some time to achieve.



*Many years ago & friend turned up with their new car, lights on high beam. We told them to they were blinding us, put them on low. "I can't!" she said. "I can't find the switch." We spent several minutes looking on the floor & the dashboard for the Hi/Lo beam switch. In the end we had to look at the owner's manual to find out where they had stuck it.

---

Grant
Darwin NT

Something is lost in the transmission from Auto to Manual.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Something is lost in the transmission from Auto to Manual.

Yes it is called fun, as for performance most fast race cars use automagics.

---

Most racing gearboxes are a form of sequential gearbox.

---

Grant
Darwin NT

Some people never learn.

If true, that's his license gone

Most racing gearboxes are a form of sequential gearbox.

True but you don't use your left foot to engage the clutch AFAIK

---

*Many years ago & friend turned up with their new car, lights on high beam. We told them to they were blinding us, put them on low. "I can't!" she said. "I can't find the switch." We spent several minutes looking on the floor & the dashboard for the Hi/Lo beam switch. In the end we had to look at the owner's manual to find out where they had stuck it.

We get the same problem with "hire" lorries, ignition systems, gear selection, hand brakes and exhaust brakes can be hidden by some manufacturers if you haven't driven that particular model before:-)

---

Kevin

Some light relief. :-)

600 turkeys agree: stuff Xmas

Hmm, 3 good flights but on 4th, aircraft does opposite of commands?
AAIB orders safety checks on aircraft of similar design.

AAIB continuing the investigation

Hmm, 3 good flights but on 4th, aircraft does opposite of commands?
AAIB orders safety checks on aircraft of similar design.

AAIB continuing the investigation

Yep. Tail rotor failure. The why is the only question.

After watching cars hit a pothole for months, this North Texas woman planted a solution


Residents decorated a tree that resident Ashley Wiley planted inside a pothole in Decatur.

After watching people complain in a Facebook group about a pothole for months, a Decatur woman decided to fix the problem her own way.

“It’s a pothole.” Ashley Wiley said, “So why not put a pot in it?”

The pothole, which is about 3 feet across and deep enough that cars have lost their bumpers driving through it, has been a problem for years, Wiley said.

On Wednesday, she planted a potted shrub in the hole. She took a video of herself getting out of her car, walking into the street carrying a bag of potting soil and a small tree and planting the shrub into the hole.

“I will say, not one person has hit that crater since my tree was planted,” she said.

---

Another complacent driver.

The bus that jumped

Standard height of a double decker 14'4"
Bridge height 12'0"

hmm....

Will they never learn.
The steam engine might be over a 100 years old but your newish merc is always gonna lose.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-46249122