I got my driver’s license the summer after I turned 17. I had signed up to take a 6-week driver training course through the Ontario Motor League which, if I was successful, would allow me a discount rate on insurance. That was a good summer, and I remember enjoying learning to drive - especially that last day, when the instructor gave us a chance to drive on the Don Valley Parkway. For those not familiar with the D.V.P. in 1971, it was a twisting, winding road which many experienced drivers found somewhat intimidating. I loved it - it was a thrill to be alive and, like most teenagers, I felt invincible. Mom had given me some money to give to the instructor so that he could arrange for my driver’s test with the Ministry of Transportation, and I took my test. At least I passed first time. I chuckled at that, because Michael had failed his first driver’s test, but had passed the second.

Anyway, it was the end of August, I had only one more semester of school before I got my diploma, and all was well with the world. I was dating a pretty, blonde girl named Marsha at the time. In December, just three months after getting my license, I took Marsha to see a movie. It had been raining that day, and I’d had an argument with my dad. As I recall, he’d specifically told me not to take the car - a 1966 Mercury Meteor (which my brother insisted was his), but I took it anyway - I had a date and I needed the car. The movie was playing down the street from Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto (which seemed appropriate because the movie was about a figure skater and a hockey player falling in love), so on that Friday night, I picked up Marsha and off we went.

I guess I wasn’t paying attention, because I managed to run a red light at the corner of Jarvis and Carlton and ran into a Cadillac, damaging its whole side and the front end of the Meteor. To top things off, there was a policeman in his car sitting just across the road and he saw everything. I called my dad from a pay phone and he came to pick me up. Marsha’s folks picked her up, and I never saw her again after that. Well, I was charged with “failing to yield the right of way at a stop light", and when the time came for me to appear in court, my dad compelled me to lie to the judge - giving the story that I was trying to make a left turn (which wasn’t true) and when the light changed I was already in the intersection and proceeded to complete the turn (which wasn’t true) and that the fellow in the Cadillac must have jumped the green light on his end (which wasn’t true). All these lies in court, because my father thought that would be better for me than admitting that I was inexperienced, and was at fault. Well, I guess the judge saw through the story because I ended up having to pay a fine ($75, I believe) and lost 5 demerit points. Fortunately, the insurance covered the cost of repairing the Cadillac, but the Meteor didn’t have collision coverage and so the accident pretty much put her to rest. My brother didn’t appreciate that at all, and I was in everyone’s bad books for quite a while.