SAFETY FIRST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 127, 11 March 1939, Page 9

SAFETY FIRST

MOTORISTS AND PEDESTRIANS. CONFUSION STILL EXISTS. “There is still a considerable amount of confusion between pedestrians and motorists over the observance of pedestrian crossing rules and, while pedestrians generally have much to learn in that respect, many motorists, by their driving habits, make confusion, worse confounded,” says the latest <road safety message of the Automobile Association, Canterbury, Incorporated. “What is referred to specifically is the practice of driving fairly smartly, sometimes far too smartly, up to pedestrians about to traverse a pedestrian crossing place, without conveying any indication of one’s intention to stop. The indication of the motorist’s intention may lie given by apireciably-sladk-ened speed, or the stop hand-signal which drivers ought to give for the benefit of following traffic, hut a gesture of assurance to a pedestrian who is about to cross the road. “There are numberless instances of confusion caused between drivers and motorists, The pedestrian, once on the crossing place, finds a car bearing towards him. He distrusts the driver and halts, not knowing whether to go ■forward or retrace his steps. Indecision and delay are caused, and danger, sometimes. If pedestrians act decisively, co-operatively, they will assist themselves and the motorists; if some motorists act decisively but less aggressively they will be assisting themselves and the pedestrians. “Motorists who slow down so that the pedestrian is in no doubt and walks straight ahead are often saved the necessity of a halt. It is all a simple question of acting in a co-ordin-ated way, of assisting each other, of acting rationally towards each other.” OVERHEAD VALVES. TREND ON BRITISH CAR-. Tine Earls Court Exhibition this year did not indicate any notable developments in the way of valve gear either of unorthodox type or of change from ovorhead to side valves and vice versa, says a writer in “The Motor.’ This is a state of affairs which will not, I believe hold good for 1940 models. I think a large number of models for that year will he o.h.v. equipped. > The relative merits of the two designs, it must he admitted, are fairly evenly balanced. One. can obtain more power per litre from the overhead valve engine but its costs per litre is higher. There are many who believe that the cheapest way of purchasing horse power is to obtain it with the assistance of an L-head, possibly east in a light alloy. This is generally infeasible with o.h.v. engines as one has to make provision for inserted valvt guides and valve seats, which is an expensive operation. The /trend to o.h.v. will he accelerated for the (essentially practical reason that yalve adjustments become a good deal more accessible. This point is appreciated in particular, with the modern type of wing structure and a for-ward-mounted engine. Additionally higher r.m.p. is obtainable and a greater control over the shape of combustion space without loss of volumetric efficiency. DUMMY “SPEED COPS.” CANADIAN PROPOSAL. A proposal that “dummy speed ’cops,’ ” realistic figures fashioned in wood and mounted on motor-cycles should he placed on all hills, curves and dangerous highway stretches in the Canadian province of Ontario, has been made at Toronto. A resident, -Mr N. A. McDougall, has constructed the first dummy, a life-size figure, and will ask Highway Department Officials to examine it. “From observations, I believe that people drive more sanely when within sight of a policeman, and with this thought in mind I have made an exact model of a provincial police officer sitting on his motor-cycle,” he said in an interview. “If police officers wore instructed to park in a. similar manner to these signs the reckless driver could never he sure whether or not the officer was real until quite close and by that time he would presumably have corrected his driving.”