DRIVING TEST

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 127, 25 November 1935, Page 10

DRIVING TEST

FOR MAN ON MOTOR-

ROLLER

A MINISTRY DECREE •

If any sort of doubt still lingers in the minds of pedestrians as to the Ministry of Transport's fatherly anxiety for their safety, it should be dispelled once and for all by a remarkable demonstration of official care and1 caution which is.about to take place at Old Windsor, Berkshire, writes F. .G. Prince-White in the "Daily Mail." Not long ago Beaumont College— the Roman Catholic public school at Old Windsor—bought a hand-guided motor-roller that has been used to keep its cricket pitches in order. Nothing in that, you will say, to cause the Transport Ministry to tremble. Nothing at all—but listen: Now that the football .season is in full swing it has become necessary to remove the machine from the cricket pitches, which are in the school grounds, to the school's football ground, which is just along at farfamed Runnymede. . ■■•;■■ ..',. So the roller is at present being kept in a boathouse at Runnymede. But—" and this is where the danger signals flash! —when the tune comes for rolling the ground the groundsman is obliged to run the roller about 200 yards along the highway before his objective is reached. , ■ . "Oh-ho!" says the Ministry, on being informed of this. "This motor vehicle runs on the public highway, does it? Then, obviously, the man in charge ; of it must pass the driving test." ' THE PROGRAMME. And so it is to be! One day, soon, an examiner will appear here, e|d the groundsman, Mr. Charles • Hester, grimly gripping the' handles of his petrol-driven monster, may be invited to perform such feats as: Drive straight, or at an angle; overtake, meet, or cross the path of their vehicles appropriately; turn right and left hand corners; pull up the vehicle normally or in an emergency; drive it backwards through a narrow" opening; use forward and reverse gears; and read a motor-car number plate with six letters or figures at 25 yards range. Also—and this is where so many tof the tested fail dismally—he will.be called on to give the proper traffic signals; particularly, no doubt, that one which indicates: ."I am ready to be overtaken.". ■ . . ■■ ';.. And then there is that clause in the Highway Code which declares that a driver "must satisfy himself that he can overtake with safety"! It will not be for Mr. Hester to complain that he would never have the chance to overtake anything or anybody. The law must be fulfilled, A NUMBER PLATE. Meanwhile, the roller is, according to instructions, being fitted, fore and aft, with red-painted "L" plates—denoting that the driver is a "learner"— though Mr. Hester has been "driving" the roller for some months past. Of course, the roller.has a number plate. It is registered in the category of a farm machine, and is so licensed at 5s a year. Mr. Frank Jarrett, engineer, of Datchet, Buckinghamshire, who supplied the roller, said: "We were first advised by the local taxation authority that it would be necessary for the man who walks behind the machine and steers it to take out a preliminary driving licence and to submit himself for a driving test. "I was astounded, and wrote to the Supervising Examiners' Department Ministry of Transport, in London. This is what they said: " 'In reply to your letter of the Ist inst, I am directed to inform you that it has been ruled that your client, Mr. C. H. Hester, should undergo a driving test. " 'Application form is returned, to be resubmitted, together with a fee of 7s 6d. The test can be arranged to take place at Old Windsor.'"