Yes, Andrew, first you got the training, and then you got plenty of practice. I learned just enough to know that handling a 4x4 (or 6x6!) in lousy conditions, especially with a trailer, is no game for even a gifted amateur. “Non-trade” drivers like me had three weeks on the Ponderosa in Borden, not nearly enough time to build that skill set.

I think most non-professional motorists believe they are much more skillful behind the wheel than they really are, and they’re not helped by the proliferation of automatic and power-assisted systems in modern cars. Having learned to drive late in life with an automatic transmission, my dear husband — no slouch intellectually — never fully grokked traction or how to use the gearbox to get it. And anyone who spends enough time on major autoroutes will eventually see some poor fool make a bad situation far worse by stomping on the pedal and locking his brakes.