OT: Mature driver review

That would be challenging driving down to Broadbottom, or other places where second gear is needed, but not immediately.

Do road trains ever reverse?

Thanks. I'm thinking along the same lines myself.

Yes they do

Don't know whether they class a "B double" as a road train?

Surprised I managed to re-find this video I watched years ago, lots of aussie ones on youtube too ...

A silent /and/ completely invisible video? ;-)

oops

for others just search for B double reverse, though a lot seem to be from a truck driving simulator (with ATS in the title)

Andy Burns snipped-for-privacy@andyburns.uk wrote

No we don't

But even with triples and quads, you still have to back up to the loading ramp, particularly with cattle and horses

Jeff Layman snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid wrote

Yep Take a look at this video, 'road train reverse for loading cattle' https://share.google/QR7MSGVybxxw589J3

Oh yes, & way beyond my capability.

Except, a vehicle with its left hand indicator on is not expected to suddenly veer to the right. Anyone (like a motor cyclist) overtaking would have a nasty fright.

It's a long time ago, but in 1975, driving from London to Liverpool via Western Avenue one evening, the car's clutch cable snapped at the Brewmaster traffic lights. My companions headed for the pub while I rang the AA. The patrolman turned up, confirmed the broken cable and immediately fitted a new one, with the parts costing me about £3.50. I gave him a fiver and we were soon on our way.

The car was a Mk1 Escort 1100, 1973 L-reg.

I didn't fancy driving north through Oxfordshire and Warwickshire having to double declutch.

Having never driven a car (the oldest was my mum's 1975 Renault 6) which had dodgy/no synchromesh on any forward gear, I've never been taught how to double declutch and so I've never built up the muscle memory to blip the throttle to exactly the right speed during the brief clutch-up phase between the two clutch-down movements, such that the gear will engage.

I can do clutchless gearchanges - more easily on my old Peugeot than on my wife's newer Honda - in which you come off the power, push the gear lever into neutral and let the engine revs increase or decrease until gentle pressure on the gear lever allows it to slip into the new gear. But that is different: you have instant feedback as to when it works, rather than having to do it "offline" and get it right first time rather than being able to gradually change the revs until the gear engages.

I would have thought that the harder part of driving any distance without being able to disengage the clutch is how handle coming to a complete halt: you need to go into neutral just before the car stops, to avoid stalling in gear, and then hope that you can get it into first with the engine off, and then start the car in-gear. Or else hope that you can manage without ever coming to a complete halt...