Call to put driving on curriculum

Nearly 70 per cent of drivers want driving to be taught as a `life skill' at school, according to a survey of 1,000 motorists.

The study, conducted for the RAC and AutoExpress, also showed that eighty- five per cent of motorists support the introduction of hazard perception skills as a compulsory part of the driving test. Nine out of ten drivers questioned wanted to see motorway skills introduced as part of the test.

A spokesman for the RAC said that many drivers out for the first time might be unnerved by motorway driving - especially if they were unused to seeing traffic moving at high speed. Also a priority was "night-driving". More than 85 per cent of those questioned believed that night driving skills ought to be assessed.