Give new drivers time to build confidence before they hit the motorway
SIR – Compulsory motorway tuition for learner drivers (report, June 4) is only feasible if you live within 15 or 20 minutes of a motorway. In Ludlow, where my son is taking lessons, the nearest motorway is an hour away.
The answer must be to grant conditional licences for the first six months, to exclude motorway driving until new drivers have gained some solo competence and confidence.
Bryan Clark
Ludlow, Shropshire
SIR – In other countries, I notice cars with a green P plate, which is displayed for the first 12 months after passing one’s test. Surely these plates could become compulsory here, with new drivers receiving additional instruction during those 12 months on motorway driving, driving at night and driving in bad weather.
To reduce the incidence of multiple fatalities involving younger drivers, perhaps a maximum of one passenger at a time should be allowed in the car during this probationary period. That passenger should be in possession of a full driving licence.
JS Hirst
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
SIR – Geraldine Wills (Letters, June 5) complains of motorists who “barge their way out” from a slip road “without giving way to traffic already there”.
Joining a motorway is a hazardous manoeuvre. The joiner must be travelling at the same speed as the motorway traffic, and the running traffic must be aware that space has to be allowed for the joiner. Experienced drivers will move to the centre lane at junctions to provide space for joiners.
The last thing anyone needs is a hesitant driver giving way to running traffic and attempting to join a motorway at slow speed.
Brian Birch
Sittingbourne, Kent
SIR – Slip roads on to motorways are usually about half a mile long, giving those joining the motorway plenty of time to merge into the traffic. Joining a dual carriageway, where slip roads are often quite short, is a different matter. Sometimes one must make a splitsecond decision on whether to accelerate ahead of a vehicle or brake and pull in behind.
On both motorways and dual carriageways, those on the slip roads are at a disadvantage, mainly because of visibility. It is not just common courtesy but also in the interest of safety to make it easy for them to join the road by moving to an outer lane.
Mervyn Vallance
Maldon, Essex
SIR – Some years ago, French friends visiting with a hire car slowed down on a slip road, fearing that there was no space to join vehicles rushing down the main carriageway.
They lost momentum and were hit up the rear by a very irate Briton, who said they should have joined at speed – whether safely or not.
Penny Russell-grant
Colchester, Essex