She says

Press, 6 August 1976, Page 16

She says

It’s always seemed rather anomalous to me that many of us acquire a driver’s licence with little or no experience of driving on the open road. Sure, we may spend most of our driving hours around town, but that brief excursion into the world of speed and space can be frightening at least, and possibly even dangerous.

Having had plenty of experience as a long distance passenger, I believe that many drivers are woefully unfamiliar with the problems peculiar to driving on the open road, and many are plainly in need of education.

My experience in this area has been sufficient only to make me aware of the skill I do not yet possess. Cornering at speed, coping with steep hills,

and jolting sluggish reflexes are the sorts of things I’m thinking of, but as well as this, one must be able to cope with the speed with which other people do things. Dithering in the middle of the road around town is usually more annoying to others than it is dangerous, but the same degree of hesitance on the open road can mean — well you know what. The thing is, one day I may have to make a long drive on a main highway, and join the band of motorists for whom the open road is still a learning ground. Surely it would be safer all round if there were some system whereby this learning took place before we gained the privilege of a driver’s licence? — Morag Maclennan-Jones.