ARE DRIVING TESTS TOO EASY?

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 111, 6 November 1935, Page 8

ARE DRIVING TESTS TOO EASY?

(To the Editor.)

. Sir, —Under the heading of "Slackness on the Roads," your editorial in tonight's issue of "The Post" quotes Mr. Leslie C. Knox's statement:—"On my return to New Zealand I was struck by the slackness of drivers and pedestrians alike. I do not think that half the present holders of drivers' licences would pass the test in Ontario." I wish Mr. Knox had been kind enough to have said what I am sure he had in mind, namely, "that half the present holders of drivers' licences have no right to be holding driving licences at all. As a commercial driver who uses the roads all day and every day one sees dozens of instances of absolute incompetence. I am sure that if driving licences were only issued to persons who were competent to control motor-vehicles in a safe manner the death rate would be greatly reduced. In my humble opinion the present tests for a driving licence are far too easy. Imagine a person being granted a licence to operate a motorvehicle on a public highway and yet when such a person drives into a motor garage for a few minor repairs, he is unable to back the car out himself but has to let the mechanic do it for him. I have seen dozens of cases of licensed drivers doing just that.

I am sure that if the Automobile Association let the motor-cyclist alone and looked to the efficiency in their own ranks they would be doing a far greater service to humanity. My own driving experience over several years has been, not to watch for foolish actions from the motor-cyglist, but the fellow in a motor-car. A motor vehicle in the hands of an incompetent person is a potential death-dealing instrument, and the sooner the authorities realise this the sooner the death-rate will be reduced, but not before. —I am, etc., M. WRIGHT. November 4. (To the Editor.) Sir,—l read recently the comments of a visitor from Ontario concerning the negligence and other faults of motorists in this country. Now I have been driving in Wellington city four years (with only two convictions for breaking bylaws), and I would like to place on record my regard for fel-low-drivers, whom I have always found courteous, careful, and considerate of other users of the road. Speeding has been conspicuous by its absence and on the one occasion when I exceeded 30 miles per hour owing to a strong southerly assisting my progress, I was eagerly pursued by a "traffic cop" and had to pay for my few moments' excess. I think the traffic department in Wellington is too alert to allow many such misdeeds to escape its notice, save perhaps "while Wellington sleeps and all the world lies dreaming."—l am, etc., ONCE BITTEN.