Stephen Reading, of Mayflower Close, Dartmouth, writes: When did this principle, and others such as 'patience is a virtue' or 'the man who never made a mistake, never made anything' go out of fashion? These principles rarely seem to apply these days, particularly to motorists. We are not all trying to get somewhere without killing ourselves, others or causing an inconvenience. When visiting a hospital– which I had never been to before – I made a mistake at a very confusing junction. I found myself in the wrong lane much to the annoyance of the driver behind. There was much arm waving on his part – with obvious obscenities emanating from his mouth. I managed to extricate myself from this difficulty, when the offended driver drew alongside. He delivered the final insult despite my wife and daughter being in the car. I suppose, if I had reacted by sounding my horn, he would have stopped, blocking traffic, and thumped me.