I’m not a perfect driver…they’re fairly rare. But I try to watch out for other drivers, signal, leave appropriate space between myself and the vehicle I’m following, and so on. I follow normal driving etiquette, and laws, so I sometimes wonder why insurance prices are so high, and especially so for teenagers. This week, and Thursday especially, I found my answers. Some kids just don’t care. As much as I hate to sound like a constantly warning parent, it’s the truth. Some people just think the car will always do what is asked of it, and that other drivers will always drive as they should. I was nearly rear-ended by an absurdly overconfident driver in his Honda Accord on Wednesday. The driver had two visible fingers on the steering wheel, and he would stare at his passenger whenever he was speaking. I’m all for looking at people in a normal conversation, but that just doesn’t work when you’re driving. I was afraid to be in front of him for even the length of my school’s half-mile driveway. Then today, I saw a more an act of cluelessness than overconfidence. A girl in a fairly new tank of a car (I believe it was a 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe) decided that the stop sign at the end of the driveway was more of a suggestion. She proceeded to take a 90 degree right turn at 15mph, just tapping the brakes. That could have been a problem, given the fact that cars in the road cannot be seen until one is at the very end of the driveway. Once there, even a sports car could not have stopped; there was too much sand on the driveway. And here I was, thinking that you had to have confident motor skills (no pun intended) to receive a license. That kind of idiotic driving paired with a 6,000 pound SUV is why the insurance rates of teenagers can be so high. Thankfully, no car was coming, and everything except for the driving style was fine.
Of course, there are also cases of great teenage drivers out there. My friend Michael McGlinchey always drives the speed-limit, accelerates moderately, maintains his car well, stops for pedestrians, and has all the good and correct habits that one might hope to see from a driver at any age. I've noticed a few other examples of such prowess, but they're rare. It’s too bad these drivers are far less ubiquitous than the drivers who like to pretend their cell phone screens are the road. I won’t even touch the cell phone aspect of driving, I’ve seen too many examples to keep it a rational post, I’d have to rant. No ranting today.
Something pretty cool: after all of the difficulty, it looks like trying to get the press pass was worth it. The PR office at Cobo hall in Detroit has my media credentials, and they have even given me a pass for Sunday as well as Saturday. Pretty fantastic, it’ll be a whole lot easier to get new info about cars, now that I have this. Maybe even the ever-snobby Ferrari corner will allow me to look at their cars, but I shouldn’t get too unrealistic. Honestly, it’s absurd how Ferrari salespeople think they’re miles above you. It certainly doesn’t seem like they care about sales, because a first impression can matter quite a bit in car sales. Here’s a little contrast with another fantastic Italian car manufacturer, and their respective dealer: I’ve had nice conversations with Lamborghini models (the ladies, not the cars) in the VIP room behind the display, then I’ve sat in Lamborghini’s $250,000+ supercars. And I’ll end up with a beautiful, glossy paged book for a specific model (car), which is most likely worth as much as a average car. Well, maybe not quite, but it’s exquisite. On the other hand, Ferrari would prefer that I not look directly at their cars. We’ll see how the press pass flavors their future responses to me, but they haven’t given me a great impression in the past few years that I’ve attended NAIAS.
Just to give you all a little idea of what I've seen in previous years at NAIAS, here are a few pictures. To see a larger, more detailed picture, click on each one.
1. A Lamborghini Murcielago
2. A Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe
3. An Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster
4. The Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Concept (now quite a reality)
Keep in mind that this is the first year that I went to the show, and I hardly knew how to use my camera properly. This year's media should do the cars justice, and I'll have hundreds of pictures, as well as many videos, instead of four pictures. I just thought I'd give you an idea of what one may find at NAIAS. I have a great list of vehicles and new technology lined up for detailed analysis while I’m at the show, and at least one of my “5 Worst Cars” has already received a major re-do. I’ll be interested to see how it has changed aesthetically, as well as functionally. Of course, I’ll need to wait until it’s publicly available to drive it, but I’ll get as much info as I can. You’ll have to keep reading to find out which car that is…but be prepared for other surprises. NAIAS 2010 is sure to be full of interesting revelations, new models, ravishing reworks, and quirky concepts. Thanks for reading, I’ll have some very exciting news to share, and media to post, by roughly a week from today.
-Stephen
