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You are here: Home / Archives for automatic cars

Driving an Automatic Car, safer than a Manual?

15th June 2020 by Mark Lanario

automatic car

 

Driving an automatic car is safer than a car with manual transmission and visa versa argument……… always a controversial argument!!

This article goes back a bit and we have only just spotted it, so apologies.   https://www.safermotoring.co.uk/automatic-manual-cars-which-safer.html

In terms of safety, the conclusion is that neither type of transmission has a distinct advantage over the other.

Both camps have useful arguments as to type of vehicle that is safer to drive.

The article tells us that “veteran” manual transmission protagonists insist that manual offers greater safety, as the driver has more control?

Hold on though, with a manual transmission some degree of coasting is inevitable when changing gear, right?

At that point that the clutch goes down whilst changing gear there must be a loss in traction, which is a loss of control. In addition, as a drivers hands are off of the wheel more often with a manual, how does that provide more control??

Against driving an automatic car, the article says that some drivers argue that as there is less to do in- car when driving an automatic vehicle, attention levels drop and there is an inclination towards paying less attention to the road environment.

Well surely the countervailing argument to this is that as there is less to do, more finite brain power is available to deal with the road, as there is less multi tasking going on?

One thing is for certain, people cause collisions.

We tend to call them accidents as a means of shifting blame.

European efforts to reduce road Death

A pan European study into the causes of collisions found that one of the major contributing factors to collisions was the context of the each journey, the motives behind it.

In other words how the planning, time pressure and other elements influenced the human factors that could compromise safety.

So take the van delivery driver, new to a job that he wants to keep.

The boss gives him a tight schedule that is unrealistic as the driver is unfamiliar with the routes and rest points. He has no time for a proper break, to drink or get a bite to eat. He is going to feel pressure and we all know how this affects performance when doing any task.

There is no doubt that the context of this journey, could cause safety to be compromised.

As someone with a few Advanced Driving Qualifications, able to drive either a manual or automatic transmission vehicle, which do I feel is the safer vehicle to drive?

Well, all things being equal, same driver, same context for the journey, road and traffic conditions……….then probably an automatic car.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: advanced driving qualifications, automatic car, automatic cars, learning to drive in an automatic

Pro Coach Automatic Driving Lessons

28th April 2020 by Mark Lanario

Pro Coach Automatic Driving Lessons

 

Pro Coach has now made the transition and is now only offering Automatic Driving Lessons for learner drivers.

We have and it was easier than we thought!

At first, we were not sure what sort of business levels we would see-it was into the unknown for us.

You have surprised us, we are flat out giving learner driving lessons in the auto and have given up the manual car completely. It seems that many learner drivers are skipping the manual phase.

It is course easier for you to learn in an auto, more fun and a good deal safer.

Why would you want make life hard for yourself?

It’s like buying an old mangle to do you washing, rather than an automatic machine!

Would you do that?

You all know that in United States, the mast majority of people drive automatic cars and have done for decades.

The Americans don’t bother with a manual driving test generally. Those people that do tend to be classic cars enthusiasts or in the motor industry.

Manual drivers, when they switch to auto, invariably don’t switch back because they find them far easier to drive in traffic, which is the reality of modern day life .

As you know, we are almost in the electric age, or so the Government keeps telling us and of course, they are classed as…..auto.

So, if you want to get through quickly, enjoy the process and end up driving a car that makes life easier, you know what to do.

Pro Coach automatic car Driving Lessons, for learners or those wishing to convert from manual in the Eastbourne, Bexhill, Battle and Hastings area of East Sussex.

Call 07500 771127 to find out more

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: automatic cars, automatic driving lessons, automatic driving test, east sussex, eastbourne, pass the diving test, Pro Coach Automatic Driving Lessons

Automatic Cars

10th November 2017 by Mark Lanario

automatic cars

 

 

25 Years ago, in Britain and Europe, the driving of automatic cars was quite rare.

Even rarer, were people choosing to learn to drive in an Automatic Car and take an automatic Driving Test. Well times are changing with many learner drivers, are simply opting to take an Automatic Driving Test.

Most people within 7 years of passing a manual Driving Test, opt to drive an automatic car anyway, as they are so much more relaxing to drive. Less foot stress and less mental stress in traffic; what could be wrong with that? Automatic Cars are safer, easier to drive and in many cases cheaper to maintain and run.

The Automatic Gearbox

Lets take a look at how automatic gearbox vehicles work, in a little more detail.

Firstly though, there are many different types of automatic gearboxes out there, some allowing manual selection of gears etc. So, firstly lets define what makes a car an “automatic”?

Well the answer is where the driver does not physically operate a clutch.

How does the Automatic Gearbox Work?

Most automatic gearboxes have a selector lever, that will let the driver select between ‘D’ (drive) ‘P’ (for park), ‘R’ (reverse), ‘N’ (neutral)

Select Park( P) only when the car is fully stopped and…….well when you are parked!

Simple. This position ‘locks’ the gearbox, so the car can go nowhere. The driver will still be able to operate a handbrake in some way, so double safety. How many drivers park a manual car on a hill and don’t leave it in gear, relying on a handbrake, so to find their pride and job is not where they left it on returning to the car?

Select ( R) reverse, the clue is in the name. This does the same as a manual car and the reversing light is automatically illuminated.

Selecting (N) Neutral does the same job as a manual car, breaking the link between the engine and road wheels. It is used for the same purpose as neutral in the manual.

So, imagine that you are driving an automatic car, waiting at a set of traffic lights and are the lead car.

You could simply leave the car in drive, with your foot on the footbrake, unless there were pedestrians close to the front of the vehicle.

If you are 4 cars back, you could put the automatic gearbox in neutral.

Rule 114 of the Highway Code States, You MUST NOT

  • use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.

At night, rather than blinding the driver of the vehicle behind when sitting at traffic lights, using Neutral and putting the handbrake on, can avoid the problem.

Selecting (D)” or Drive will allow the car to move forwards and select its own gear according to the speed and load requirements. So as the car goes faster, the mass of the vehicle becomes less, the gearbox senses that less power is required and the auto gearbox changes up.

Some older automatic cars have gearboxes which can get confused as a car goes down hill, changing up because the gearbox senses that the mass of the vehicle had decreased as the load is lifted.

This can sometimes cause the vehicle to increase speed at an undesirable time.

However, most of these automatics allow the driver to manually select a lower gear, to hold the speed of the car back with engine compression, rather than overheating the brakes, potentially causing loss of braking ( brake fade).

In snow or icy conditions, many auto gearboxes have a button that can be pressed for “ winter mode”.

This mode can work in various ways, but in effect applies less torque to the road wheels, avoiding wheel spin.

Automatic car drivers can usually manually select second gear, which would do the same job on snow and ice.

In Summary

A car is defined as ” automatic”, if the driver does not physically operate a clutch, however the auto gearboxes themselves are infinite in the way that they deliver the engines power to the road.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: automatic cars, automatic driving test, Automatic Gearbox, learning to drive in an automatic

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From the blog

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