Sir, - I read with great interest S.P. Nangle's reminder (August 6th) that "a driver must generally drive as near to the left-hand side of the road" as possible. I would agree with him that not a lot of people know this rule nor indeed many of the other rules of the road which have come into force since they did their driving test - that is, of course, if they did a driving test in the first place, as there are many people driving today who obtained their licences before it was necessary to do a test.
There are also those who did their test some 10, 15 even 20 or more years ago who will not be familiar with the current rules of the road. For example, how many drivers know on approaching a roundabout which land to select depending on which exit they require? Or how many know what the yellow box means at junctions and what they should/should not do in relation to it?
In my view of the Department of the Environment is negligent in its duty to keep us all up to date on the changes to the rules of the road as they come through. If the only way to do this is to make it compulsory to resit one's driving test every five years or so, then so be it.
I agree with S.P. Nangle that the way to obtain good driving and good road sense is to educate drivers. This in turn will reduce road accidents and road deaths. It is too easy to blame speeding for accidents and too easy to send the gardai out on speed traps. Of course the Garda should clamp down on speeding but it should also be clamping down on drivers who crash traffic lights, do not drive in lands or drive slowly in the outside land holding up traffic wishing to overtake. Good driving helps traffic flow and reduces road rate. - Yours, etc.,
Tom Ryan,
Mount Merrion, Co Dublin.