How To Drive A Motorcar
A Key To The Subtleties Of Motoring

CHAPTER XIII Lady Drivers IN starting this chapter the author has a full know- ledge of the faet that he is on treacherous ground. So long as human nature is what it is, it will be impossible in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred to get ladies to view in lumine sicco any subject about which there may be a difference of opinion from the mere sex point of view. In these “ suffragettic ” days one hesitates even to offer any advice to ladies, but as the whole of the writer’s experience with lady drivers has tended to lead to one set conclusion, it is deemed advisable briefly to touch on the subject. It is in no- wise intended to decry the practice of ladies driving their own cars ; the writer is honoured with the friend- ship and acquaintance of many who really drive Aery well. In fact, on the credit side of the balance, as regards the diSerent sexes for motorcar driving pur- poses, it may be mentioned that the most apt pupil the writer has ever instructed was a lady. Nevertheless, there are certain situations in which one finds it impossible to concede that the average lady driver is the equal of the average male. The whole of the conditions referred to may be summed up in the one word “ emergencies.” Many ladies are leally excellent drivers, thoroughly capable in every way, accurate in their gear-changing, considerate for their cars, and with a due appreciation of the implied trust which they bear when driving. The writer has been driven round Brooklands track by lady drivers at speeds several hundreds per cent, in excess of the legal limit, and felt perfectly content and quite safe, so far as the actual driving was concerned. It is, however, on the odd occasion of the emergency that the lady driver is not so likely to act with precision and, above all, absolutely instantaneously. 119