TRAINING OF DRIVERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19485, 15 November 1926, Page 16

TRAINING OF DRIVERS.

STATE SCHOOLS PROPOSED. |* SUGGESTION FROM DUNEDIN. f * [by TELEGRaPH.—OWN corhesponoent. ] DUNiSDIN, Saturday. A new scheme in connection with motor traffic and > public safety is suggested by Mr. S. B. Macdonaid, president of the . Otago Expansion League. " The other : schemes," he said, " start at'the wrong j end, Driving licences, are far. too easy < to get. • No motor vendor should be 1 allowed to sell a car to a motorist who has not a competency certificate. These ! competency certificates would be obtain- i able only from Government training i schools, which would be established in 1 central districts. The schools would be \ self-supporting. Motor-car manufacturers would be only too pleased to supply cars i for the training of potential motorists, as, 1 when a motorist had learned to drive one j make of car, the inference would be that < lie would purchase that make. v < " A fee of, say, £5 ss, would be j charged. This fee might seem high, but 7 I maintain that if a business firm uses a car for business, then that firm should be prepared to pay the fee to get a competent driver and for the knowledge that accident risk .would be much lighter. If a motorist drives his car for pleasure then ha should be prepared to pay for his pleasure. * ... I " I think that at least three months would, be necessary to make competent drivers at these Government schools 1 •They would be taught the by-laws and i the rules of the road, given lessons on c acting in emergencies, end instructed in I the simple automobile mechanics. Attendance for new drivers at these schools f would be compulsory, but everyone at present driving a motor vehicle would have to pass rigid tests, and if he was r found not competent, he would have to o go to the Government school, which * would be arranged so that it would not j interfere with business." I