MODERN MOTORING

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 134, 9 June 1925, Page 9

MODERN MOTORING

LIGHTING-UP TIMES. To-day 5.11 p.m. "Wednesday 5.11 p.m. Thursday ..,,„....„ 5.11 p.m. Friday 5.11 p.m. Saturday 5.11 p.m. Sunday 5.11 p.m. Monday 5.11 p.m. EDUCATE THE PUBLIC. One important cpiestion touched upon at the recent annual meeting of the South Island (N.Z.) Motor Union ivas that of putting propaganda work into effect in the matter of teaching the hopeless and hapless pedestrian, his business. It was rightly suggested than an effort should be made to inculcate safety-first principles in the impressionable minds of the children by way of essays and so on. There is ample scope for the motor unions to show a lead in this matter. In the first place, safety first committees could be formed in each centre, the councils could be applied to for monetary help, essays in primary and secondary schools could be offered, and the co-operation of teachers sought. A Safety First Week could be held with stickers on windscreens, and an advertisement or two would help in stressing the rules of the road on the dyed-in-the-wool jay-walker. As motoring grows and grows, the motor unions of both islands might see fit to pool funds and have a speciallyprepared film released showing how not to walk in traffic. Thousands of pedestrians test the hot radiators of cars in New Zealand annually, and are injured thereby; like-

wise thousands of cyclists come by injuries through carelessness. While the authorities of this country are active enough regarding the control of motor vehicles, they entirely disregard the pedestrian. Drivers are controlled by teaching them what is right for them to do, and it is no use trying to control pedestrians if they are not trained in the ways tha* they should go. Auckland has nothing to he proud of in its pedestrian traffic; people old and young disregard all the rules of the road and -walk here, there and everywhere, to their own hurt. The motor unions of New Zealand are now becoming a power in the land, and the motorist is not now looked upon as someone outside the pale, although there are still a few. both motorists and others, who endeavour to discredit motorists on every occasion, the former by their disregard for the laws, and the latter by pin-pricking wherever there is an offence against the by-laws. It is up to the motor unions to take up this work, commencing with the children, for it is through these that the majority of the people will become acquainted with the agitation that is going on. The first principle that will have to in instilled into all is that both . the motorist and the pedestrian have : their individual rights, and that those : rights should be respected on all occasions. Traffic control is now exercising the minds of the civic authorities in all parts of the world, and the time is ripe for something definite to be done. If a proper system was initiated, some of the great difficulties that are in sight would be obviated, and the streets would become safer for all kinds of traffic. THE LICENSE TO DRIVE. The various Acts relating to motor I traffic are productive of no end of confusion, and one of the matters in this connection is the issue of motor drivers' licenses. There seeme to be an impression that such licenses may be issued by one local body in respect of drivers who live in another district, but the matter is covered in the Regulations as to Motor Drivers' Licenses under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1024, as follows:— I Regulation 4 (1) : Every application I for a motor driver's license made by the I owner of a motor vehicle in respect of that vehicle or of vehicles of that class shall be made to the local authority in whose district the garage of the motor vehiole is situated. With a view to impressing on members the requirements of the regulations as to motor drivers' licenses under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924, Mr. J. S. Hawkes, secretary of the Canterbury Automobile Association, has sent out the following circular: —Important to car owners, —I would point out that it is necessary, under this Act, that every driver of a motor vehicle must procure an annual license to drive. This is quite separate and distinct from the annual license to use of £2. This license ■ applies not only to the owner of the I oar, but also to every individual who j drives the car, whether husband, wife, ! son, daughter, or employee. The license ! must he obtained from the local j authority in the district in which the driver exists. The charges payable by each owner may be summarised as iollows: Registration (first year only) £1; registration plates, 2/; license to use (payable annually), £2; license to drive (payable annually), 5/. ; While on the subject of drivers' licenses, it might be stated that applications are still coming in at a rate that leaves much to be desired. It should not be a matter for surprise if in the i near future the city traffic officials have a field day such as is not uncommon in Great Britain, with a view to ascertainI ing who are not complying with the [requirements of thujas in, this respect^

HOTES and COMMENTS LOCAL »NP GENERAL ay SPARKWeLC

A CORNER IN THE WAY. Mr. \V. H. Nicholson, president of the Canterbury Automobile Association and .Mayor of Surnner, has purchased a piece of land -which includes a high cliff, oh the road to Sumner from Christchurch, in tho vicinity of Shag Rock, and has offered it to the public to be removed. The clifT completely prevents one from seeing traffic approaching from either side, and if removed, would, in addition to enabling motorists to got a better view, allow of the road being widened and thus obviate the present acute turn 'at a corner which on Sundays and holidays is a busy intersection. Mr. Nicholson is desirous that practically the whole- of the section be removed, but the amount of work in this connection that will actually be done will depend on what is allocated by the Main Highways Board. As the work may be regarded as in the nature of reconstruction, it can be carried out on the pound for pound basis. This road near Shag Rock may be increased to three times its present width, but that will depend on what the Main Highways Board thinks suflicient. This public-spirited action on the part of Mr. Nicholson is accentuated by the fact that if anyone built on the top of the corner the abutment below would remain for many more years. There is a sign near this corner indicating that it is dangerous. A photograph of this corner reproduced in a Christchurch paper certainly shows a very acute angle, but wide enough for three cars abreast. There are a lot of equally sharp corners within a 25-mile radius of Auckland which would be all the better for similar treatment to the Sumner one.

' ABOUT BALLOON TYRES. ! Though balloon tyres are made to be i used at low air pressures, it does not [ follow that any old pressure will insure 1 maximum mileage from the tyre, engineers of the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber ; Company point out. . Because balloon tyres carry very low i air pressures to begin with, a drop of from five to ten lbs represents a big percentage of decrease in the total recommended pressure. And so, running under ' I inflated is just as harmful to the balloon tyre as it is to drive a car equipped with high pressure tyres at inflations below I those recommended for a normal load. Owners of care with 'balloon tyres I should never let the pressure drop more , than 10 per cent below the recommended i inflation for a normal load. For in- ' stance, if the recommended pressure is , 301b, the absolute minimum is 271b of ■ air, below which the tyre is certain to I suffer damage. ! The erroneous impression has got abroad, Goodyear engineers declare, that I the balloon tyre is not only built for I I comfort but that it will stand rough , j usage and can be run over the worst '' kinds of roads, over railway tracks, that I it can climb curbs and take without damage as well the jolts and skid which I follows slamming in the brakes while ', the car is maintaining a high rate of I speed. Properly cared for, balloon tyres will a last as long and give mileage equal to 1 I that of high pressure tyres. It is rea ! markable how much abuse some balloons f! will stand, but the motorist should f remember that every time he runs over | t a curb or extremely rough road he is 5 gambling away milage. * Because the balloon tyre will not stand any more use that a regular high pressure tyre it is no reason for thinking that the balloon is a fragile piece r of workmanship. Given average care '' such as the ordinary motorist expects s , to give his regular tyres, the balloon will 1 not disappoint him in long service. '' Moreover, it has the added feature of y extra cushioning for the mechanism of ° the car, thereby reducing mechanical r repair bills. ORPHAN CAks>. n A long list of the orphan cars of the c motor industry has been compiled in America. a I It reveals that there are no fewer than r i 488 different makes of cars which once represented the hopes of aa many differ--3 ent manufacturers that are no longer 3 i being built. c! Every letter in the alphabet except I. I "Q" and "X" is represented in the y initials of the long list of names pre-' c sented. And there are scores of names r that even those familiar with the hiss tory of the motor-car industry have 7 difficulty in recalling. c How many motorists, for example, i 3 1 have heard of the following cars: j 2 Alpena, Boltc, Caiida, Darling, Kconomy, ! - Fuller, Geneva,. Ilolyoke, Iroquois, 3 Jewell, Kidder, Lewis, Marlboro, Niagara, i 1 Orient, Postal, Riddle, Sunset, Triumph, • ' Upton, Victor, Wolf, Yale, and Zim- ; I merman ? , Seriously, however, there Is a lesson ', for prospective car buyers to be found • .in such a list of defunct makes. Can a ' buyer be too particular about the , t experience and permanency of the mai:u- , I facturer of the car he intends to purchase? Everyone knows the instant and > tremendous depreciation in value that . cars suffer when they become "orphans," j though intrinsically they are worth [ exactly as much as ever. And the diffi- . culty and expense that accompany the ,; securing of repair parts for "orphan" I 1 oars is another excellent reason that . J should make the prospective buyer give i j very serious thought to the standing of ,j the maker of the car he has ja, mind, |