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Magazine Contributors Frans Hertoghs Kiwikorrels: Driving lesson - coaching
Magazine Contributors Frans Hertoghs Kiwikorrels: Driving lesson - coaching
| Kiwikorrels: Driving lesson - coaching |
 In this country fifteen year old children may drive a car already and obtain a (provisional) drivers license. After a little while they are allowed to drive on the freeway with that license. It seems shocking to a Dutchman, children behind the wheel, their little heads just popping out above the dashboard. However, the reason behind it is understandable. Many children live in the outback and need a car to go to school. The parents cannot always take them. Hence the young drivers license age.By Frans Hertoghs Often something goes wrong, though. In 2005, no less than 142 young people between 15 and 24 were involved in a fatal accident. That is quite a lot on a population of four million. The university of Waikato has figured out why the accident rate is so high amongst young people. It is caused by their poor 'situational awareness', the way they are aware of their surroundings. They don't have a database in their brain that warns them of the risks they are taking. We would say: children see no danger. And that proves to be correct. Until the age of twenty-five that database is built slowly but surely from experiences with avoidable situations. Reality is a hard taskmaster. Who does not learn to see the dangers in time, could perhaps not survive. The research workers try to speed up that database by showing the students where the danger will occur. They have determined where that part of the brain is situated, in the front lobes of the brain. A group of thirty-six teenagers sacrifices a holiday by acting as guinea pigs. They drive with a helmet on that registers all kinds of data, such as brain activities, the eyes and steering wheel movements and all movements of the car too. Researchers hope to achieve a quicker awareness by giving small electrical surges at the correct place in the brain, especially in the area of risk estimation. As far as I am concerned they should make this compulsory for adults. A recent study showed that the driving behaviour of the Kiwi is not up to standard. Many a friendly Kiwi changes into a monster when he starts his car. Macho behaviour, road rage and harassment are very common. Accelerating when someone is overtaking happens too often. Many Kiwis would not notice for months if their rear-view mirror was removed. For example; a law dictates that it is compulsory for someone driving slower than someone behind him to allow him to overtake as soon as possible. Nevertheless, it takes a while before that happens and one gladly let you miss a few opportunities to emphasize that you have to wait. This behaviour could be blamed by the fact that it is - except near Auckland - absolutely not busy on the narrow roads and no police to be seen. Often reckless driving is not punished, no fines and no accidents either. And that is exactly what Kiwis have not been taught when they obtained their drivers license. As a result, their situational awareness has not been developed. Overtaking in a bend you can't oversee, in general there is no oncoming traffic. You get used to the fact that nothing happens in dangerous situations. These drivers could do with a helmet with electric pulses, it would be a life saving solution. A thinly populated country with empty roads could perhaps be paradise for a Dutchman, it can be highly dangerous too! The Dutch version of this article is published in the November/December 2006 edition of Holland Focus. Ask your News Agent or take out a subscription.
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