THE PUSHING ONE

Evening Star, Issue 22722, 9 August 1937, Page 15

THE PUSHING ONE

Insistence (says an exchange) is a land of selfish egoism which turns an otherwise good motorist into a, ‘‘thruster,” one who takes advantages or every opening to go through the traffic and so save a few minutes on a journey. It is not because he is really in a hurry that, by skilful driving and thrusting methods, he threads his way through the gaps which permit his passage with only an inch or so to spare. He likes doing it; it adds to the zest of driving, and turns a pastime into a sport which is different from all other sports because the people with whom he is competing are unaware of their part in the contest. It is so easy to win a game of strategy if one’s opponents are not playing. This would not matter at all to the world at large but. for the fact that the thruster causes a great deal of inconvenience to a large number of people and contributes to the number of accidents on the road. The thruster, always being _ the overtaking party, does not realise how disconcerting it is to have a car ‘‘ on one’s tail ” as it were, constantly juggling for position m order to swoop by. If he had competed in an international road race he would know that his methods are exactly the same as those employed by the great Contini wear down many a by this same harrying process. If it can play on the nerves of a roadracing expert its effect upon the ordinary family motorist can well be imagined

A driver -who is harried is not clearheaded, therefore the thruster is definitely lowering the standard of driving among Jhis fellows. Legally ifc is not often an offence, and there is only one Jaw which the motoring public can hope will mitigate the nuisance for such it is, and that is the Jaw of decency.