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

i EXPERT DRIVERS Consequently the whole purport of these remarks is bound up in the one piece of advice to be more careful at any point, such as cross roads, corners, places wnere there are children at the side of the road, and so on, and thus guard against danger so far as may be humanly possible. Any lady drivers, or prospective lady drivers, who may chance to read this chapter are earnestly begged by the author seriously to bear the points raised in mind. It is no serious charge, but, on the contrary, it is purely drawing a line of differentiation between the sexes from a physiological point of view, which is the work of Nature. Driving Capabilities If there is any one thing in which it is impossible to make a person change his or her opinion, the writer would say it is in regard to the degree of expertness of the person in question relative to his or her ability properly to drive a motorcar. In all probability 99 motorists out of 100 of both sexes consider them- selves expert drivers. Howaver, in the writer s opinion, there is no greater self-deceit in the world than this belief. One may be a good all-round driver, capable at the wheel, neat and precise with gear changing, and even able accurately to control such road conditions as skids, etc. Nevertheless, the real expert driver is be or she who, in the emergency which must come eveiy now and then (assuming, of course, that reasonably long distances are covered), is able to, and in practice does, act in precisely the right manner at precisely the right fraction of a second. It is the person thus gifted—one has to be born to it, as this degree of per- fection can never be obtained by practice—-who is really the expert driver. In the writer’s opinion (the word opinion is used advisedly, as it is impossible to be didactic on the subject), the total “ lies ” and “ shes falling under this classification are a very, very long way from running into four figures. It is sincerely to be hoped, then, that those lady drivers who read this chapter will take to heart the advice given. Epitomized, it is only a plea to them 121