Every motoriste should become a member of the Automobile Association. It is an association formed for the purpose of placing scouts on the different main roads to warn motorists of police traps--and the expenditure of £2 2_s._ a year in this direction will perhaps be the means of saving you four or five times that amount within a few months. You will be given an “A.A.” badge to fasten on the front of your car, and on seeing this the scouts will always stop you if there is any danger. With regard to learning to drive, you must do so on quiet country roads or at one of the many motoring schools in and around the big cities; but know something of the school before you decide on it. There are many in which your money would be thrown away. If you do not go to a school choose a road where there is little or no traffic. One is not allowed to learn in the parks. In fact there is quite a heavy fine imposed on inexperienced drivers who use the parks. Do not go into a street of heavy traffic until you have thoroughly mastered your car, and then drive first some half-dozen times with an expert friend as chauffeur and thus get used to the crushes and the twistings and turnings. In traffic use your own judgment. Ladies are usually bad at judging distances, and it is well to keep as much toward the middle of the road as possible and not try too many “near things” until you have reached the expert class. Do not be afraid to sound your horn, yet [Illustration: _Photo. H. W. Nicholls._ THIS IS THE SWITCH] do not use it more than necessary. At cross streets or roads and when approaching corners sound the horn and slacken speed by throttling. There are numberless little things which, after you have graduated to the ranks of the experienced motoriste, you will buy, not because they are absolutely necessary, but because of their convenience. For instance, a speedometer. All the half-dozen makes are good ones. A speedometer is a very interesting accessory, for it tells you exactly the pace at which you are travelling, and in some instances has been known to influence the decision of a magistrate when deciding a charge of exceeding the speed-limit. For winter driving they are now making a fur and leather arrangement which covers the steering-wheel; but I would suggest that, to the beginner at any rate, this is superfluous. Soft kid gloves, fur-lined, are much better. Novelties of all sorts are always coming on the market; but the beginner had better let some one else try these first. It is an expensive thing to keep on experimenting with every new device for a car or the motoriste. Let others try them, and if they should prove of real use you will soon know. [Illustration: _Photo. H. W. Nicholls._ THIS LEVER IS USED FOR CHANGING GEAR] CHAPTER VII MOTOR MANNERS