By Lee Nian Tjoe
Do driver training programmes make better drivers?
She says it won't, he says it may...
Lee Nian Tjoe: Yes
I don't believe that there's such a thing as a "born" driver. To date no babies were delivered with his hands holding the wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions, knees slightly bent, constantly looking ahead and sitting upright, with wrists over the rim of a wheel, right?
Torque's editor, Lee Nian Tjoe.
The thing is, not attending such courses at all will mean having no opportunity to learn from the good drivers of the world. It's a bit like being admitted to a university said to have the best brains in the world - it doesn't guarantee you'll come out of it a Nobel Prize winner, but there's a good chance some of that cleverness will rub off on you.
If you are in the correct frame of mind - whether it's to solve a quadratic equation or attack Turn 7 at Sepang - you'll learn. And not unlike mastering algebra, practice makes perfect (or at least it inches you toward the said definition of perfection).
When you are out to learn and master, making concerted efforts to hit the tracks will definitely help create new habits behind the wheel. Maybe it's due to the lack of practice that I can't seem to see why Ax2 + Bx + C = 0. But I am trying to hit the tracks as often as I can.
At the end of the day, it comes down to this: Drivers who come away from such course and bully others on the road, would be bullies even if they didn't go for training in the first place.
But for the rest of us, receiving that training will at least help us be better equipped to avoid suffering from their recklessness.
Lynn Tan: No
Most driver training programmes are structured around defensive driving techniques that aim to make us better drivers. Theoretically, yes, we are supposed to become better drivers after attending such programmes.
Being so involved in motorsports,
you would have expected Lynn to
be supportive of drivers' training
on the track.
In reality, we don't. They just make us assume we are better driver. And I think we all agree that motorists who think they are driving demigods are nightmares on wheels for other drivers.
Like genetically enhanced laboratory mice Pinky and the Brain from Animaniacs,who think they can take over the world, these driver training programme graduates think they can conquer roads just because they have taken a lesson in proper driving position, emergency braking, obstacle avoidance and overcoming understeer and oversteer.
They come away from these programmes with a false sense of confidence, which can transform them into road bullies. And just because they have driven a lap or two around the track where the training was conducted, they think they are Michael Schumachers.
The truth is, old habits die hard and we cannot hope to master all of the techniques overnight. Worse, most participants probably end up leaving everything they've learnt at the circuit. So, at best, such programmes are but a long shot towards making better drivers.
I believe that good drivers are born, not made. It is possible to make a naturally competent driver good or better, but it is futile to try and improve a hopeless driver. You will just be driving yourself up the wall (no pun intended).
Key lessons
All driver training, whether held at a race track, a frozen lake or even the Kallang stadium car parks, place emphasis on the "right" driving position.
1. Knees should be slightly bent to enable maximum pressure when braking.
2. Elbows should be slightly bent to allow a full range of motion over the steering wheel, without the shouldrers leaving the chairs.
3. The seat should be set low (for better feel of the car) but still high enough for the driver to see ahead - not in front of the bonnet but a fair distance beyond to target apexes, braking points, etc.
The writer is the editor of SPH's motoring magazine, Torque.
Torque, published by SPH magazines, is available at all newsstands.Check out more stories at Torque Online, www.torque.com.sg.
