I PASSED my driving test first time when I was 17... disturbingly (and depressingly) that was 25 years ago which makes me very old and prone to memory loss.

However, the one thing I remember very clearly is what my driving instructor said to me as he proudly picked me up from the test centre in Aylesbury and dropped me back at college afterwards.

“Just remember young lady, you now have a licence to kill” he said quite calmly in his soft Scottish accent.

I kind of brushed this off at the time as a typical ‘adulty’ thing to say to someone who has just found freedom behind the wheel of her Grandfather’s Talbot Sunbeam.

However, it turned out what he said did make sense when a few months later I was involved in a serious accident.

I got points and a fine and a conviction for driving without due care and attention. I could easily have been killed or killed the other driver. I also ended up driving around in a Mini Metro that had a top speed of about 23mph as I couldn’t get insured for anything else.

I am no angel – no driver is perfect and we all do daft things from time to time, but even though there is currently no 8.25am dash to the school gate, and technically less of us applying mascara while negotiating the bends of Rousham, there seems to be a whole lot of holiday mentality going on when it comes to Oxfordshire’s roads.

Just because the speed cameras are not working any more, does not give everyone carte blanche to break every speed limit. I have never witnessed so much hasty driving than in the last couple of weeks.

And WHAT is going on with mobile phones? I was under the impression that using them while driving was actually an offence, but it would appear that doesn’t apply if you drive a very expensive, big brand new shiny car and you have bleach blonde hair and a permatan.

Of course you can only answer your iphone if you have already applied full make up while driving at 58 mph through the new 30mph speed limit on the outskirts of Bicester (you KNOW who you are so don’t try and deny it).

The thing is, looking down to change your CD and rummaging in your handbag for your MAC lipgloss while trying to book your Pilates class on your iphone doesn’t actually mean you are multi-tasking.

And when the inevitable head-on collision happens and the emergency services come and cut you out of your twisted, dented, wrecked brand new shiny car and patch up your smashed in, blood covered body before taking you off to hospital, do you think they will care that you haven’t reapplied your mascara for a couple of hours?

Nah.. I don’t think so either.