SIR,—Mr. Playfair's concern with 'criminally bad drivers' is justified, but
I don't like the sound of his assessment of a good driver. Certainly there should he a corps d'elite of motorists, with a badge to show membership, and maybe privilege granted by the authorities, so that drivers will give their right arm to join its ranks. But in the name of St. Christopher may eligibility not be 'automatic for all those who have held a driver's licence for live consecutive years without a conviction of any kind' ! What a driver hasn't done is not important; it's what he's likely to do, if his lucks runs out on him.
The only way to determine a man's fitness to join it is to match his ability against the highest standards known—those of the Metropolitan Police Driving
School. The value of these standards is on record. When the school was opened in 1935 the accident rate in the Force was one in every 9,000 miles, By 1954 (the last year for which figures are available) the rate was down to one in every 72,987 miles.
As far as I know there is only one motoring organi- sation in the country that ,insists on comparable standards 'before granting membership, and that is the Institute of Advanced Motorists. No amount of money will buy one of their badges--only a high standard of driving. If there are going to be super- motorists then the Institute's standards make an ex- cellent rallying-point.—Yours faithfully, 1 Thurlow Road, Hampstead, N W3 MICHAEL OXLEY
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