{"id":5489,"date":"2011-03-23T21:57:14","date_gmt":"2011-03-23T21:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=5489"},"modified":"2011-03-23T21:57:14","modified_gmt":"2011-03-23T21:57:14","slug":"learn-in-a-merc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=5489","title":{"rendered":"Learn to Drive in a Merc… Stateside"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a worrying story – reported in both DriveOn<\/a> and MotorTrend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mercedes-Benz is opening a driving school in the US for teenagers, so that they can learn to drive in a Mercedes. DriveOn sets the scene:<\/p>\n

Already, we take pity on some of the world’s most admired cars — the hard braking, the skidding tires, the reckless disregard they will endure from gum-snapping teens. They are sure to text every detail about how they gave their instructors whiplash with sudden stops or jolted them by driving over curbs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does that sound like it fits in with the current American concerns over distracted driving<\/a>? It simply glorifies reckless behaviour. DriveOn also mentions the likely prohibitive pricing, meaning that only those who can afford it will be able to take advantage. Indeed, the same story covered in Edmunds Inside Line reveals what could be a cynical tie-in with this problem:<\/p>\n

The German automaker told Inside Line that a key component of the program will be to reduce driver distraction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, right! Like Mercedes-Benz hasn’t been planning this from way <\/em>before the time when the distracted driving issue\u00a0hit the American media. Prices are likely to be anywhere from $500 for a single day up to more than $3,000 for a three-day course. It’s hard to find out what American driving instructors charge, but everything points to it having several fewer zeroes at the end than this! MotorTrend makes it clear what it’s really about:<\/p>\n

In news that\u2019s sure to excite teens and parents from the Hamptons to Beverly Hills, and wealthy suburbs from coast-to-coast…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It also points out that a similar “academy” already exists in the UK. Does this mean, therefore, that the UK version doesn’t <\/em>deal with distracted driving? After all, the UK one was set up over a year ago – also well\u00a0before America started identifying distraction as a real problem for them<\/p>\n

MotorTrend also reports the\u00a0idiotic claim that this UK\u00a0“academy” raised the first-time pass rate from 43% to 79%. It did no such thing! Automobile Magazine also reports this complete and utter nonsense:<\/p>\n

A similar program in the UK has been offered for several years, and proved effective in increasing the first-time license exam pass rate from 43 to 79 percent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Raised it in relation to what? In relation to whom? My <\/em>first time pass rate over the last 20 tests is above 80%, yet it is clear that the “academy” is deliberately hinting that only it <\/em>can do it, and that its <\/em>course is directly responsible.<\/p>\n

Such schools are elitist. Only the wealthy can afford them – the Americans are clear on that even before it starts trading. There’s nothing wrong with this of course – but just come clean and admit it. Don’t start making stupid claims about\u00a0philanthropic ideals.<\/p>\n

It is a business aimed at the wealthy. Nothing it teaches is missing from the syllabus any other driving instructor has at their disposal.\u00a0Nothing it does is better than the what the typical good instructor teaches. That’s all there is to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a worrying story – reported in both DriveOn and MotorTrend. Mercedes-Benz is opening a driving school in the US for teenagers, so that they can learn to drive in a Mercedes. DriveOn sets the scene: Already, we take pity on some of the world’s most admired cars — the hard braking, the skidding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80,101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adi-related","category-world-related"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t