ALBERT Morris (Letters, November 10) makes, what I consider to be, very ageist comments about young motorists.

As a driver in the 18-27 age category he refers to, I was deeply disturbed by his suggestion that all one must now do to pass a driving test is start, put into motion and stop a car.

This is ludicrous. The driving test is much harder now than any older drivers had to sit. How many are still using our roads and never sat a driving test?

Many of the near misses I see regularly are caused by older drivers who sit hunched over the wheel, unaware of the traffic anywhere but in front of him, fail to indicate when turning and generally become a moving road block. Many is the time I see older drivers changing to a faster lane on motorways while moving at 50mph and without indicating.

Many is the time I see drivers attempting to overtake 'older' and 'better' drivers, because they are frustrated at being held at 15-20mph while travelling along a road with a 40mph limit.

Only the other day a woman told me her husband was back behind the wheel after having a stroke two years ago. The tales she told me made me worried that a person with so little control of the car and such slow reactions should be allowed back on the roads. While I agree that it takes time to gain experience and there may be a large number of accidents entirely due to younger drivers, it is wrong to bracket all of them together and insult the driving ability of all 18-27 year olds.

As I have driven an average of 27,000 miles a year for nine years, without accident, I take great exception to the comments made by Mr Morris. I will not argue against the statistics that younger drivers are involved in more accidents than any other age category - it is part of learning.

How many times must a baby fall over before mastering the art of walking? How many times do older people fall over as they become more unsteady - and then they get into a car and drive it?

No statistics record the number of near misses involving older drivers. I am sure if they did they would look far worse for this category of driver.

DAVE SNAPE, Waverley Road, Blackburn.

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