“L” PLATES FOR LEARNER DRIVERS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22579, 8 December 1938, Page 9

“L” PLATES FOR LEARNER DRIVERS

TO THE EDITOR OT THE PRESS. Sir, —I should like to endorse your leading article on the subject of “L” plates for learner drivers from a point of view you have not stressed. I quote from a paper presented in England recently at a joint meeting of some 16 interested bodies, including the Institution of Automobile Engineers and the National Safety First Association. The author states “that he wishes to emphasise that it is the sense of irritation and frustration engendered by the overcrowding of our roads which causes so many a senseless risk be taken.” The same situation exists or is developing in New Zealand, and if more experienced motorists were to see the “L” on a car they would make allowances for less skilful handling and slower speeds. Consequently, the "sense of irritation” would be avoided and at the same time driving made more pleasant lor the learner driver. In London the practice of affixing the “L” plates has been voluntarily extended to cover vehicles which, because of engine repairs, etc., must be driven slowly, even though they may be in the hands of expert drivers. There is no doubt of the beneficial effects in dense traffic, —Yours, etc., W. G. MORRISON. December 7, 1938.