My father was a terrible driver. He learned in the army in 1944 when all you had to do was point a lorry across a parade ground and not hit the colonel. He never took a formal driving test.

He never had an accident, he never exceeded the speed limit, he never got a parking ticket or his license endorsed and he never tailgated.

He did however, drive perfectly legally at 45mph in the centre lane of motorways. He regularly blocked smaller roads by travelling at 25mph regardless of the actual limit. Whilst doing this, he would be swearing and shouting at all the other drivers who were wanting to pass him.

He ignored every other vehicle on the road unless they were in his way. He didn't know that his last car had a 5th gear. He would never pull over into the side of the road to let anyone else pass. Cyclists would overtake him and he'd swear at them. A 60 mile journey would take him nearly 3 hours. He must have caused so many fender benders, road rage rants and sharp rises in blood pressure to those people behind him.

It wasn't until I had passed my test, I realised just how bad a driver he was. I only ever got in the car with him once more after that... my nerves wouldn't stand it. Trouble is... he wasn't actually doing anything against the law.

It has to be every persons judgement on what speed they are doing. I agree that building and designing cars capable of 150+mph for ordinary road use is ridiculous. But I would also agree that the capacity for rapid acceleration is also necessary. It's the drivers who need the re-education and awareness of what excessive speed does. I've always said, even as a pedestrian (actually, particularly as a pedestrian!) that everyone should have a re-test every 5-10 years, as you have when you reach 70yrs. If you fail, your license is taken away right there and then, and you take lessons again til you pass. That might help cut out a lot of those bad habits we all get into.

So might taking cassette players out of the dashboard.

LTS