Driver training

Rebekah Holt’s article last week described in some detail what went wrong on a slippery road and led to disastrous consequences for her. Like most people driving on our roads she had no training or knowledge to recognise what was going wrong, how to read the road and take corrective actions.

The New Zealand motoring public (most of us) have been sold short by the mono-dimensional thinking of the “speed kills” mindset of the police and traffic authorities.

A major point that was not covered is that with Greg Murphy and other acclaimed ex-competitors in New Zealand motorsport, we have a tremendous resource of knowledge and abilities that the authorities do not seem to have recognised.

With more education about driving knowledge and skills, the accident that befell this lady and many of those that still happen daily, could be avoided.

The article did not explain Greg Murphy’s role as a road safety advocate and whether this sort of training is undertaken by him on a regular basis.

Many years ago, I was fortunate to be taught the theory and practice of driving, as part of the Australian high school curriculum at the time, and went on to further this training on the racetrack. Skills I learned there have been life savers in the past 45 years.

If we really are serious about reducing the dangers on our roads, shouldn’t we be utilising Greg Murphy and his cohorts with facilities such as Hampton Downs to properly train our teenagers? There is a lot more to safe driving than just knowing what the speed limit is.

Chris Burbridge, Ardmore.