The MOTOR

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 50, 27 August 1932, Page 17

The MOTOR

LIGHTING-UP TIMES ■ Sunday 5.52 p.m. Monday 5.53 p.m. Tuesday 5.54 p.m. Wednesday 5.55 p.m. Thursday 5.56 p.m. Friday 5.57 p.m. Saturday 5.58 p.m. TESTING DRIVERS THE PARIS BUSMAN RECORD OF REACTIONS Hard times are having their effect in France dv the number of persons applying for driving licences, which, in France,, are issued by the Government after a practical examination. This examination is a severe test, nevertheless 560,000 licences had been issued in 1930. Since then there has been a drop. The severity of the test is the subject

,o£ an article by a writer in the "Autocar." He says:— "Some time ago I asked to bo submitted to the tests imposed on all men who aspire to drive buses in Paris. I was put in. a darkened room before a thrilling . and ever-changing movie scene. Just when the villain was about to fling his victim over the precipice, or when the clown was in the midst of his most amusing antics, different coloured lights would flash on various part* of the screen, a gong would be sounded, or a revolver would be fired just behind me. I had to react to those signs and sounds by pressing on various levers or twiddling certain controls, :and everything I did was being recorded electrically, to a huudreth of a second, on a diagram. "My physical and nervous strength was measured by the time I could maintain pressure on a pneumatic bulb. I had to judge speed and distance by determining when two model vehicles, running at different rates, would meet. And again my decision was recorded on a diagram.. My-eyes, my heart, my sensibility to emotion, were all tested, and on coming out of the laboratory in a somewhat dazed condition I was informed that the number of points I had gained indicated that I was suitable for training as a Paris bus driver. Later I was submitted to the tests for men who have had some practical training. Put behind the familiar wheel, lovers, and pedals, the road unrolled before me on a cinema screen, with numerous sudden and unexpected incidents. Boys rushed across the street, a man dropped off the back of a coal wagon, a horse and cart came out of a side street just when I had got the order to go full speed ahead, a tram appeared, and >the .driver, blew a .blast on his whistle, an anarchist attempted to blow up the city of Paris, and the fire brigade hurtled by with bells clanging. It was all very realistic and thrilling, but thirty years' experience on the road had made me immune to such distractions, as the diagram showed. "Statistics kept by the Paris Bus Company show that during the last six years the number of vehicles has increased two and a half times, and the number of accidents has increased in exactly the same proportion, but the number of accidents caused by bus drivers, who are obviously operating in the most difficult traffic conditions, has gone up only 7 per cent., although the number of buses has increased 50 per cent. "Now I am convinced that it is possible to determine in advance which persons can and which cannot become good motorists. Although it is possible to prevent unsuitable persons driving' buses, there is nothing to prevent them driving private cars. Perhaps, however, if private motorists were submitted to an examination such as this, which would give them a rating, those standing low on. the scale would realise their inferiority and would exercise greater care."