RESPONSIBILITY OF DRIVER

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22424, 10 June 1938, Page 19

RESPONSIBILITY OF DRIVER

WARRANTS OF FITNESS

The responsibility of the driver to see that the vehicle of which he is in charge carries a warrant of fitness is a point in the traffic regulations of Which many members of the public do not seem to be aware, state the traffic inspectors of the Transport Department. It is generally considered by the public that the owner is responsible; but the regulations expressly state that the driver is responsible. There is no mention of the owner in the regulation covering the matter. If a person borrows a friend’s car or relieves him at the wheel while on a trip he makes himself personally liable if the vehicle does not carry a current warrant of fitness. The matter is dealt with in regulation II of the Traffic Regulations, 1936.

A committee appointed some months back in the United States to investigate the subject of the higher engine compressions made possible by the use of aluminium cylinder heads, claims that, after exhaustive tests, the fact was established that, using the same octane rated petrol, an iron-head engine developing 90 b.h.p. gave off 104 b.h.p. when fitted with an aluminium head incorporating a combustion chamber particularly designed for use with that type of cylinder head.