Educating the bad driver

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32873, 23 March 1972, Page 12

Educating the bad driver

It is encouraging to see that a start is being made in training drivers convicted of traffic offences who have been ordered by a magistrate to attend a compulsory course. Such orders may be made, as part of the penalties imposed, for a wide list of offences, ranging from incompetence and carelessness to irresponsibility. An offender failing to obey an order to attend a course may be heavily fined. When the compulsory training courses are freely available, traffic officers may be expected to use the automatic fine system more sparingly. It is obviously desirable that all offenders of this kind should be brought before the courts, so that magistrates can decide whether it would be in the public interest for them to be required to attend an instructional school. The 16 offenders required to attend the introductory courses in Christchurch are mostly young drivers, between 18 and 22. Recklessness is probably the main ingredient in their offences: travelling too fast, cutting comers dangerously, failing to obey stop signs, and so on. Those who conduct the courses for the Transport Department should be able to separate the incompetent from the careless drivers and decide which need further instruction and retesting. The courses will stand or fall by their success in inculcating a deeper sense of responsibility in the offenders. The progress of this first school will be watched with interest, and a departmental assessment of its worth awaited with equal interest The department might well consider opening the weekly lectures, which are part of the defensive driving courses, to any persons interested enough to attend.