Driving Changes Your Brain And Other Little Known Auto Facts |
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Scooter Davis
7 January 2013
Driving Milestones - The first road trip in history took place in Germany in 1888. The trip involved the wife of an automobile inventor, without his consent. She was driving for a dual purpose- to visit her Mother, and secretly, to generate publicicty for her husband's car sales. She took her two young sons on the 106 mile trip. Her publicity stunt was successful as sales of her husband's cars took off shortly thereafter and have never stopped. The car company is still well known today and the brand is widely hailed the world over as popular and well built.
Also in the beginning... A few years later, in the United States, a steam powered car was driven about seven miles in a demonstration to prove the car was worthy of more attention and to generate sales. The steam car took over two hours to travel seven miles and included stops to add more water to make steam.The car did not catch on as a consumer item.
More about handling an automobile - Driving skills are needed in order to operate a motor vehicle. The knowledge and understanding necessary to operate a car can be acquired through training and education. Some of the requirements for knowing how to drive include, starting the engine, putting the car in gear or drive mode, using the foot pedals properly to achieve acceleration and stopping, steering the car in the selected direction, handling the important signals on the car such as lights, turn signals, brakes, and emergency flashers. An educated driver watches the roadway for obstacles such as debris and avoids such obstacles.
Much of driving skill is about making good decisions. Skilled drivers can make mature decisions about what to do in certain situations. A good driver must be armed with knowledge about varying conditions such as ice, rain, wind, and extreme heat. Other hazards that require attention are wild animals on the road, detours, road construction, obstructions such as smoke from a roadside fire, a felled tree during or after a storm, or other unpredictable hazards.
Good driving is a much needed skill. Taxi and limosuine drivers must have specialized knowledge of city streets, airports, and other locations where they are required to go.
It has been determined that London taxi drivers develop physical brain changes due to the large amount of directed mental processing they are required to do. This actual brain change is a new field of study called plasticity and taxi drivers have been a convenient case study group to determine the actual changes made due to repeated performance. Driving is an excellent subject matter due to its hand eye coordination and thought requirment. Driving is a much needed skill for those who use it regulary. Some people never learn to drive. Others drive daily for decades.