Comment by AdieuToLogic 5 days ago
> I want to learn driving.
Two low-risk and cheap ways to develop relevant driving skills are bumper cars[0] and go-karts[1]. This may appear to be silly at first, but both involve the same hand-eye coordination and decision skills of vehicular driving (though the latter is no where nearly as fun as the others).
The biggest pro of a bike is it teaches you to read the road and traffic ahead for energy conservation (and defensive driving).
On a bike, this mostly reduces pedaling; in a car this can reduce unnecessary braking, safer driving distances, which make you a more predictable driver.
It also gives you a lifelong respect for people so if you do drive you won't treat humans like annoying obstacles that might ruin your paintwork if you hit them.
I believe 100% that nobody should be allowed behind the wheel of a motor vehicle before obtaining cycling proficiency.
Honestly I found it the other way around, learning to drive made me a significantly better and safer cyclist as I realised what drivers are expecting to happen, and actually had to learn the rules of the road. Before I learned to drive I didn't really know what was expected or legal in a lot of situations in the city especially.
It should be taught really, but unfortunately car-centric society means road=car for a lot of people. Cycling is more advanced because road positioning is much more important, plus you have to deal with cars. So it's kinda ridiculous we don't teach it in schools. Apparently they used to back in my parents' day (it was called cycling proficiency).
> This is a curious suggestion. Higher end go-karts I can't contest, but I've never found bumper cars to be anything like operating a car.
A unique simulation bumper cars can provide is in collision avoidance and real-time steering/acceleration/braking skills. The value of this is relative and dependent upon a person using time in a bumper car with intent to hone driving skills.
I've been driving for about a year (with my first car too) when I drove a bunch of friends to an out-of-town amusement park. It's some kind of car-warming thing for me. It's about an hour-long drive without traffic.
In the park, I made it a hard point not to ride the bumper cars because I thought it would mess with my muscle-memory as the designated driver. If not for that, I really love bumper cars. However, I've found that responsiveness of bumper cars vary a lot per park; it either depends on the maintenance or the maker of the rides. And IME, none of them are really comparable to even the shittiest cars I've driven (e.g., the ones from the driving school, the assigned car for my license test).
But my bigger concern that day was the fact that the bumper car mindset is not the roadcar driver mindset. For learners, the free-for-all chaotic nature of the track is not even a good simulation! Not even if you're driving somewhere like India or China.
Speaking of simulation, I really want an affordable but legit way to practice dealing with outlier driving scenarios. Like, what if my brake fails in the highway, what if I get a flat while doing 100KPH---stuff even the safest, most defensive drivers can't entirely rule out. Anyone know of games that might fit the bill?
The real way is just to ride a bike. You can ride it on the road so you'll learn how the road works as well as how to operate a vehicle. When I got in a car the only things that took time to learn were operating the clutch and manoeuvres in tight spaces (you need to develop spacial awareness that you won't get from cycling). If I had learnt to drive an auto it would have been trivially easy after years of cycling.