To the taxi driver who undertook me at about 80 mph coming off a roundabout on the A47 to gain just a car length on your journey, I wish the parents of the child you were carrying to school had seen.

They had trusted you to deliver their child safely to school, acting responsibly and taking the utmost are to achieve that.

In my opinion, some of the worst driving on the roads are at school run times by taxi drivers racing against the clock to meet the school bell.

The driver of the white estate car driver speeding in the inside lane to squeeze in between me and the car in front was female, who should have known better to take such a dangerous and unnecessary risk with other lives.

Every day we hear and read about deaths on the road because of other people’s recklessness but still people drive like idiots.

My incident on Monday morning was close to the scene of a fatal accident just before last Christmas when a 20-year-old was killed in a 't-bone' crash crossing the A47 near Blofield in his Vauxhall Corsa when he was crashed into by a Range Rover. 

We learned at an inquest into Daniel Leathers’ death this week that he might have survived had the other driver not been speeding.

I know this stretch of road well, driving it most days. It’s a 50mph limit at the end of a single carriage way that becomes a dual carriageway.

According to data collected from the Range Rover’s computing system, it had been travelling at between 59 and 63mph at the time of the crash.

Soon after the crash scene, the road moves to the national speed limit.

Nearly every day I see drivers speeding up coming out of the single carriageway stretch to move to the dual carriageway and 70mph a limit.

The fact that what on paper looks like fairly minor speeding could have meant the difference between life and death for Dan was chilling.

He was driving home to Lingwood from work like he did every day. 

As he lay in Addenbrooke’s Hospital for the last two days of his life, about 20 of his friends visits to say their goodbyes to "the life and soul of the party", his father, Jeremy, told an inquest into his son’s death.

These young people were probably all young drivers setting out on their career behind the wheel learning the consequences of a lapse in attention or nudging a speed limit the hardest way possible.

The Range Rover driver told police she believed she had been travelling at around 50mph at the time of the crash, but following the investigation said she accepted its findings that it was faster.

The police crash scene investigator told the inquest that if the Range Rover had been travelling at 50mph Daniel’s car would have had enough time to travel another 0.8m across the road.

"This would have changed the mechanics of the crash and may have caused the injuries to be less severe."

Those simple numbers that could have created a different story for Daniel and his family and should serve as a stark warning to every driver.

Daniel was an organ donor and he has been able to give to others, which has given his family and friends great comfort. 

"We miss Dan every day and wish he was still here," his dad said.

Life can change in a flash and every time we get behind the wheel each and every one of us has the responsibility to preserve not just our own life but those of every other person on the road.

Do we still need handwriting?

When was the last time you wrote anything at length by hand?

Birthday cards don’t count.

We’re all so adept at using keyboards or typing messages and lists on our phone that most of us would struggle to find a pen. 

Most people’s handwriting is appalling anyway, so the idea that students use laptops in exams rather than filling pages of A4 paper with illegible spidery scrawl should be applauded.

Handwriting purists warn that it might be the end of handwriting as a skill, but do we really care?

As long as children are taught to write it will be like algebra, ox-bow lakes and the lifecycle of a frog – stuff you learn at school to prove you can and then don’t bother with again.

Reaction was unfair

Don’t read the comments, they say. 

I did, and was shocked by the nasty mean-minded comments about my last column about  my disabled friend’s experience at Heathrow when he was dehumanised and disregarded after his wheelchair went missing despite following process for delivery to the arrival gate.

Apparently, according to some readers, disabled people shouldn’t go on holiday.

Here’s a sample: 

“Well, if it is so much of a problem, simply don’t fly! I am sure that the rest of the passengers that watch people in wheelchairs jumping security and passport queues would appreciate it!”

“If equality is demanded let them wait in the queue like the rest of us instead of getting special treatment?”

“Luggage goes missing at airports with millions of passengers a year. Unfortunately now and again this will include wheelchairs. The level of rage poured out by the author seems to be verging on hysterical.”

No wonder people prefer dogs to people.