A FLAIR FOR DRIVING

Southland Times, Issue 23123, 13 February 1937, Page 14

A FLAIR FOR DRIVING

NOT A MATTER OF AGE Following a controversy on the factors that make a good driver The Motorist says:— “Old motorists deplore the assertion that 17-year-olds can consider themselves competent when they so obviously lack the years of experience that are their own; and the young drivers reply vehemently that experience alone is not enough. “In that they are right. There art drivers past middle age who, although they have driven for 30 years or mort and never had an accident, are not skilled motorists. Learning when the roads were open and uncrowded, thej have developed selfishness; and some cannot see well. “On the other hand, for a youth to have control of any car, but particularly a fast car, even although he may have passed his driving test, is potentially dangerous unless he has restraint, imagination, and good sense in addition to sound faculties, quick reaction and safe judgment. “Skilled driving is not a question ol youth and age, but one of temperament and experience. Both are essential for safety; a flair for driving more so than the number of years or thousands oi miles that one has driven. “Much of this flair is the result of observations, judgment, instinct, intelligence, and imaginative outlook. It can be acquired by certain drivers irrespective of whether they start driving at seventeen or seventy in a short time; by others hardly at all. We all think we have it, but our passengers are often better judges.”