Many letters on ways for reducing motor accidents have appeared here. In particular the letter 'Road users have a role to play' by Ya'ish, in which the writer said: "... slow drivers on the left most lane ... the middle lane is for cruising". This contrasted with my experience in Britain.

After driving for well over 30 years in Malaysia, I failed my first driving test in Britain. There are important differences here. On British motorways there is only one 'driving' lane, all extra lanes are 'overtaking' lanes. No matter how fast you drive you use only the driving lane. There may be more than one overtaking lane and they are all used only for overtaking. Heavy vehicles observe the same speed limit on motorways.

During my driving test I was marked down for driving too slowly. If the speed limit is 110 kph you must do at least 100+ kph. If you intent to drive slowly you must use the alternative country road and not the motorway. There is no 'slow' lane on motorways. Even on country roads you must drive close to the stated speed limit; e.g. at 70+ kph on a road marked for 80 kph limit.

A slow driver must not be allowed to impede the progress of all other drivers. That is why we don't allow tractors on highways. Yet we have a slow lane for slow drivers on Malaysian highways. Our police only catch fast drivers but ignore the slow ones. Rising the speed limit to 120 kph while continuing to have slow drivers on highways may cause more accidents.

One other reason for Britain's lower accident rate is the insurance requirement. Motor insurance premium is heavily loaded on the driver's experience. Young drivers have to pay prohibitively high insurance premiums. You cannot get away by using "all riders" clause as in Malaysia. All drivers must be named in the motor insurance policy. "All riders" policy is even more expensive to take out.

There is the usual no-claim-bonus, but the premium is still very much higher for a young driver. Of course, all driver, including an older experience driver, will still loose the no-claim-bonus for involving in an accident.

Motorcycle licence in Britain is harder to pass than car licence. Motorcyclists have to take extra training over the required driving lessons for car licence. Motorcycle licence test is also more stringent than car driving test.