Humour May Help Improve Driving’

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30882, 15 October 1965, Page 7

Humour May Help Improve Driving’

A series of cartoons similar to the “Random Reminders" printed in “The Press” might serve a useful purpose by illustrating the “U” and “Non-U” of road behaviour, says an article in the latest issue of the newsletter of the road research unit of the National Roads Board. Referring to the human element in road safety, the article says humour could be made to serve serious purposes.

Advanced driving tests and courtesy club schemes had been used overseas to encourage safer driving and it should not be difficult to devise a similar scheme which would appeal to at least some New Zealand motorists, the article says.

“What is wanted is a motoring status symbol which will give genuine pride of possession to many recipients. If the recipients can be rewarded with slight concessions of insurance premiums or licence fees so much the better.”

Some vehicle handling suggested the drivers did not properly understand the correct technique for the manoeuvres they wished to make. Such faults as attempting U-turns in busy streets were annoying rather than illegal, but need to be ehecked. t

Driving education should continue after the test and there should be some checking to make sure bad habits were not being developed. At

present a driver might pass the test in his late teens and not undergo retesting until he was 70.

“There is surely a case to be made for retests from time to time.

“Persons passing the test are seldom as skilled or as quick in their reactions as experienced drivers. They pass the test because they are fairly good and show promise. A confirmatory test, after a year or two of probation, might give a more accurate assessment of real driving ability.

Bus companies employed itinerant inspectors who boarded 'buses to ensure regulations were correctly observed.

“For traffic officers to stop drivers in a similar manner and to accompany them briefly on their journeys could be a useful innovation, though it certainly would not be popular,” the article says. “As our roads become more crowded we must anticipate further deprivations of our freedom to use them.”