SHE SAYS ...

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31635, 22 March 1968, Page 7

SHE SAYS ...

At last a basic and thorough scheme of driving instruction has been organised in Christchurch schools. The Automobile Association (Canterbury) and the Transport Department deserve to be congratulated on the success of the pilot scheme last year, and I hope that many more schools will join in with the scheme. Participation in extracurricular activities should be encouraged, and this scheme is one in which both schools and parents can give wholehearted support and encouragement to sons and daughters. I still hope that in the future we will see a more comprehensive system of driving instruction for school pupils, including the instruction on road sense and the workings of a car that have been incorporated in the driving scheme in Christchurch. The scheme devised by the Automobile Association where

all these items, including the wearing of seat belts, are taught, is a thoroughly sound one. Standards of tuition must vary from driving school to driving school—this is only natural—but certainly there must be a standard set of “basics” taught. I noticed recently a car belonging to a city driving school being driven by a pupil. The instructor, whether for quicker escape or support, leaned half out the passenger window, his whole left arm and shoulder visible. Even for a passenger this is a dangerous position, but for a driving instructor this is giving a very poor example. Unfastened seat belts are another feature of driving that is all too readily overlooked, and yet the belts are compulsory fittings in late model cars. They should be worn, and not left to dangle uselessly.