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Graded licences
Sir, — Once more the motor
ist is going to suffer at the
hands of the insurance com
panies, as I imagine that the
NRMA will not be unaccom
panied in its decision to discrim
inate against high-performance
cars such as the Falcon GT and
Lotus.
Any motoring journalist —
come to that, any person with a
genuine knowledge and love
of motoring — will confirm that
the GT Ford is possibly the best
handling locally-built car and
:hat Lotus are world renowned
for road-holding and handling.
Why then should one who ap
preciates good machinery be
penalised to the point where it
may not be a practical propo
sition to buy such a vehicle?
Every major motor magazine
in -the world — and many thous
ands of enthusiasts — has for
years been advocating a graded
licence system which would
match people to the cars they
wish to buy or drive. Surely such
a system would cost less and
cause less trouble in the long
run than the ever-increasing
danger and expense of the pres
ent chaos.
Properly designed and en
gineered high-performance ve
hicles — among which the Ford
GT and Lotus must ccrtainlv be
classed — are nrovided with a
very high primary safety fac
tor. Primary safctv is, of course,
the ability of the vehicle to avoid
dangerous situations when
handled correctly, as opposed to
the secondary safety factor
which supposedly protects a
person after the accident has
happened.
One firm, Renault Australia,
is very much aware that.it pro
duces vehicles with a high pri
mary safety factor, and pro
vides a free driving course to
allow drivers to realise the poten
tial of their vehicles. I would
like to know the percentage of
accidents for Renault drivers
who have taken the course
against those who have not.
Possibly other companies
might see the wisdom of intro
ducing similar courses rather
than have their sales diminish,
or would this get the average
motorist'* back up because of
the imputation that he is a bad
driver?
When a salesman hands over
the keys of a new or used
GTHO, Monaro GT, or
GTRXU1, to some lad (or lass)
who cannot possibly have had
a licencc for mow than two or
three years, or hands over an
expensive piece of imported
•machinery to tome elderly
gentleman whose reflexes must
be sadly slowed, does he ever
see further than the profit he
has made?
Surely a campaign for driving
courses, plus a graded licencc
system with regular tests (which
could be optional if one wished
to try for up !ing) would go
at least part way toward reduc
ing the primary cause of our
road toll: terrible driving.
I view with utter horror the
advent of the experimental safety
vehiele, at least while there
arc still standard cars on
the road. The thought of driving
on the same roads with two-ton
monsters whose drivers feel
completely protected is terrify
ing.
I sincerely hope that the
situation is not permitted to
deteriorate further and that in
the not-too-distant future our
law-makers will come to their
senses.
J. W. ADAMS
Chifley.
A national anthem
Sir, — So Mr Whitlam thinks
the new Australian National An
them will be 'Waltzing Matilda'.
I will acknowledge that most
overseas countries link Australia
with 'Waltzing Matilda', but I
cannot imagine myself standing
to attention, with bared head,
singing about a jolly Swagman
shoving a jumbuk into his tuck
cr-bag while his billy boils under
a coolibah tree beside a billa
bong. 1 would suggest that very
few Australians even know the
meaning of these words.
' If we must have a new an
them, I would favour 'Advance
Australia Fair'. The tune has
dignity and a certain amount of
pomp, and is already known by a
great many Australians, both old
and new. I could sing this an
them with pride — but shoving a
jumbuk into a tucker-bag
J. A. IRELAND
Curtin.
Sir. — One docs not have to
beat about the bush regarding a
new national anthem. "Advance
Australia Fair' appears to have
the lot.
A more colourful and descrip
tive wording of this vast and
beautiful continent would be hard
to find. It even mentions the
name of the place, "Australia".
One could even learn the words,
these being.^ar piore pleasant
than 'Waltzing Matilda' (the or
igin of which seems to be very
vague).
One cannot imagine Great
. Britain adopting 'Where have
you been all the day Billy Boy?',
or the US, 'John Brown's Body'.
M. NEAL
Narrabundah.
Land-lease
prices
Sir, — The Department of
the Capital Territory's advertise
ment in your paper (June 2)
amply demonstrates that depart
ments basic misunderstanding of
the cause of high land-lease
prices. No amount of pleading
for restrained bids is going to
lower land-lease prices when the
demand for land outstrips the
minimal supply offered.
The issue, as no doubt the
department's economists will
point out, is one of the demand
of land being greater than the
department is able or willing to
supply. The sooner we stop
crying "unrealistic bids" and put
our energy into supplying more
land, the sooner prices will
stabilise.
H. LLEWELLYN
Watson.
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