Sign should help irate motorists

Press, 11 February 1983, Page 7

Sign should help irate motorists

How many motorists have waited at the back of a line of traffic while a fumbling driver at the front grinds the car's gears and stalls the engine, missing the green light yet again? Perhaps the irate motorist would be more patient and sympathetic if he knew that the driver responsible for the delay was a learner. A sign designed by a Christchurch driving instructor. Mrs L. E. Eagle, tells motorists just that — a learner driver is in the area. Whereas the type of sign usually used by driving school’s is attached to the body of the car and can be seen only by surrounding vehicles. Mrs Eagle's sign is positioned above the roof where it is visible for several hundred metres.

The small round sign is blue with a white L. and is secured between the passenger window and the top of the window socket. The passenger window must be up to hold the sign in place. Mrs Eagle saw similar signs during a visit to the Netherlands several years ago. With help from a “clever nephew." she designed her own version, and put it into use in her own instruction car last April.

Now. the sign is used by more than half the cars owned by Christchurch driving schools, and an instructor in Taupo is using one on trial.

Mrs Eagle says the sign has several advantages: it is reflective, it fits all cars, and it is easily put on or taken off the car but difficult for a vandal to remove. If the Government introduces the proposed three-tier system for learner drivers, the sign will make the implementation of the new laws easier, she says. Under the proposed system. both learner drivers and probationary drivers (those with limited driving experience) would be restricted and would be required to have their vehicles easily identifiable.

If all learner drivers were required to carry the sign, it could easily be changed to a P sign when necessary. Blue was used for the sign because it is now accepted as the information 1 colour in New Zealand. The probation sign, if needed, could be red.

Mrs Eagle also believes that the sign could become the symbol of the Institute of Driving Schools, a body of which she is president.