<VV> Re: Holding on to an airbag steering wheel (No Corvair)

[Bill Elliott]

>>
>Not to be political here, but the major problem I see in the DC area is 
>that Maryland has dropped drivers ed as a high school class. 

Agreed.

Probably 
>blame it on budget. 

Disagree; more likely on on liability. And givent he other courses that are taught...well, we won't go there 
since we are staying away from politics. but I will say that overall I am _extremely_ pleased with the 
public schools here (Urbana, MD) and they were one of the p[rimary reasons we moved here specifically. 
We were having to budget for private school most other places in the DC Metro area....

So, all the 16 year old needs is to take a course 
>from some independent teacher who just wants their fee. And who gets 
>more business than those teachers that pass the most students. ( more 
>students= more income!)

I was not as impressed by the driving school my teen attended. I will get her in a _good_ professional 
driving course next spring. At this point she's not really driving anyway...

>I do not know if Maryland has instituted the graduated license program 
>that limits the number of under 18 year old passengers  that can be in 
>the car with the under 18 driver and the hours of operation like here in 
>Virginia.

Yes, the Maryland program is now very much like the Virginia program. And that's a good thing.

Corvair content: My kid does seem very interested in Corvairs, though she is working (very slowly) on 
restoring a '68nPorsche 912. She _really_ wants a Mini (the real thing, not the BMW) but we've told her 
she needs at least two years of solid driving expereince and a real driving school or two before we even 
consider letting her buy one. So in the meantime, she saved here money (since she was 12) and bought 
herself a '94 Capri (dual air bags, abs)... she hopes to sell it and the Porshe in 2 years and have enough 
for a decent Mini.  And she wants to learn to autocross. So we mentioned putting a roll bar in the Capri... 
she looked confused and said "why can't I autocross the Corvair?". I had to laugh...she doesn't think 
much about the Corvair as a car to drive to school, but thinks it's THE car for autocross! (Must have 
been that discussion with Donna Mae)  ;-)

Bill