THAT IMPATIENT DRIVER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 94, 12 July 1927, Page 12

THAT IMPATIENT DRIVER

TOOTING CAUSES CONFUSION CO-OPERATION IS NEEDED The practice of tooting when cars are queued in traffic is becoming a habit which, apart from being distracting, is extremely dangerous to the driver who is the cause of the temporary hold-up. Motorists who consider that they are harassed and are continually complaining of the severe regulations which bind them should have enough fellow-feeling to assist the other driver instead of annoying him when he is in trouble.

The impatience of some drivers in a hold-up is a failing which needs immediate checking. The peremptory blast from a car’s siren, the demand which the impatient driver gives to the cars in front, can do nothing hut cauj;e confusion, and thus add to the dislocation of traffic. A flurried driver who finds his engine stalled or is blocked in some way, perhaps no fault of his, needs no command to get moving. He has probably incurred the wrath of a traffic policeman, and to toot unnecessarily is only adding to the uncomfortable situation in which he finds himself. What driver has not found himself in a temporary predicament which has caused him much personal agitation? To hold up the traffic for a minute you feel that hundreds of pairs of eyes are centred upon you. It needs nerve to face the situation boldly. But it needs more nerve when that impatient driver in the rear gives a piercing blast on his siren. With the congested traffic in the city this week motor traffic has been diverted in different directions, and many drivers have found themselves half-way across a street when they have been commanded to turn in another direction. Probably no ,-fault of the driver’s in this instance, yet the following traffic, which is only held up for a minute at the most, seems to get much delight from tooting. Whether it be a serious demonstration or merely a pantomime show doesn’t really much matter.

It all has the effect of causing agitation, both to the driver and in some cases to the traffic policeman. It puts a fellow-motorist in the position of a faulty driver, and by liis fellow-motor-ists he is convicted and condemned by the irritating display of tooting. The confusion caused to the driver in trouble has its dangerous side, for, worried as he is, a mistake or an unguarded movement one way or the other might cause a crash into a car close by. This has often happened, all because of the tooling, which so unnerves the driver that lie is hardly in a fit state to handle his car. A co-operative spirit among motorists would be more beneficial than the cynical attitude adopted by some drivers, who seem to think that they are the superior of any driver on the road. Let it he said that many of these alleged good drivers owe their safety on the road to the consideration of a body of drivers who keep them safe. No driver can afford to play with the traffic and to tootingly jest at his fellowdriver. It doesn’t pay. does not help us out of our difficulties, causes congestion and confusion, and, lastly, does not tvpifv the spirit which should exist in the motoring ranks. It is to be deprecated, and soberminded drivers can kill the practice by turning their attention to the individual who so blatantly toots his indignation at being held up for one minute.