THE IDEAL DRIVER.
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The Qualities Called for in the Man at the Wheel of the Commercial Vehicle.
ALMOST EVERY BRANCH of motoring calls for a special type bf driver. The lordly limousine • -demands a, man who, to do the job properly, must possess a whole host of polite accomplishments other than the mere capability of driving. On occasions, ho may be called epon to be a linguist, to possess an even better knowledge of, say, the Continent and of its customs, than the owner of the car he drives. In fact, the ideal driver of the car de luxe would possess nearly all those estimable qualities and virtues, with which the hero of "The Lightning Conductor" was invested.
Lower down in the scale of passenger car work we get the man who is called upon to be a general handyman, a gardener, perhaps a part-tithe groom, to help "about. the house, and to do all manner of things not usually associated with automobile driving, whether he li,kes it or not..
Similarly, on the commercial side of: motoring, we find a variety of necessary accomplishments peculiar to. the particular type of vehicle with which the driver is concerned.
The Taxi Driver's Knowledge and the Bus Driver's Watchfulness.
There is the taxi-driver, who must carry a map of London in his head, who must know the quickest and the shortest: way from anywhere to everywhere. The " compleat " taxi-driver should be the guide, philosopher, and friend of all who use our London streets. From advising the visitor to London on the sights that should be seen, to directing and conveying the midnight reveller to a place where he can dance (according to the suitability of his attire), the demands that may at times be made upon him are both varied and exacting. • Then we have the bus driver, who, day in and day out, must steer his ponderous vehicle through a. maze of traffic, with an ever-open eye for the umbrella of the agitated old lady, a thought for the lamp-post n46 on a cambered street,. and a care for the safety of the daring newsboy on his cycle, and a host of other, things. That is a specialized calling, if you like. It breeds and it requires a special type of man.
The Best Driver is He With a Knowledge of the Trade for Which He Works.
Then we have the man who drives a vehicle on general transportation. Apart from all the driving qualities demanded by the open road, he must know something of the customs of the trade for which he works, must appreciate the nature of the loads he carries, should have an understanding of the way they are best put on to his vehicle and taken off. It is often said that the best type of driver for a given trade is a man who has, in another capacity, at some time been actually engaged in it.
. People who use motor vehicles for the transport. of milk, for instance, will tell you. that the best driver they can get is an ex-milkman. There is something in the'relationship of a driver to his•load.
So we QOM() to the 'consideration of the farm tractor, the latest form of machine which needs a special driver. It is seldom a whole-time job. A man who can do nothing else but drive a tractor is a one-sided man—au expensive item to have about a farm. There must be seine relationship between the driver and the trade he serves. The ideal tractor driver is the man who knows his way about a farm, who blows a turnip when he sees one arid its purpose in the scheme of things. Preferably, he •should have been brought up on farm work, so that when the tractor has perforce to stand idle, he need not be idle too. The farmer's tractor driver should also be a farmer's "boy "—or man.
The same principle applies in many other trades and professions. The pursuit of any one of them involves departures alongmany by-paths of knowledge, and the man who knows his by-paths best is likely to make the best all-round showiegeat his job.