CUTTING-IN DANGERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 184, 6 August 1925, Page 6 (Supplement)

CUTTING-IN DANGERS.

I COMMON CAUSE OF ACCIDENTS WATCH YOUR TAIL ! ERRORS OF THE NOVICE. Any experienced motorist using the roads to-day must have noticed countloss examples of really appalling driving on the part of those new to the wheel. It is of no service to anyone merely to blackguard these gentlemen as though they had no right to be handling. a car at all; their experience must, presumably, he obtained on the open road under the present system of granting driving licenses to all and sundry. Most of the trouble, caused by the new driver is undoubtedly due to the fact that he simply does not know when he is handling a car in a dangerous manner, and it is extremely desirable (hat lie should not purchase the neces■«l SL sary experience at the expense of aeci- ™^— * dents involving himself, his passengers, V and other road users. 4 . One of the first things which the V novice must learn, and one which many i. are particularly slow in acquiring, is the « * knack of being able to judge the speed ™ » of other vehicles. Together with skill ij ~ in this respect, a driver must he able h ; to form accurate judgment as to dis--4 tances and then must develop the ability ( to sum up his two impressions—speed 4 * and distance—in a fraction of a second, . T in order to decide upon what to do. i Many people do not possess even the . ™ most elementary knowledge of relative fee speeds, and few have the capacity for k rapidly calculating time and distance in relation to speed. Suppose, for ex--4 ample, that one car is overtaking another; how many new drivers under--4 stand that the rate at which they are . T overtaking is only the difference between "i . the two speeds of the cars concerned? j _ Many novices will proceed quite cony, fidently at ,'3o m.p.h. in order to pass 4 another car doing .'lO m.p.h. in the same . direction, but in these circumstances the rate of overtaking is only walking speed—s m.p.h. Consequently, from the instant at which the overtaking car pulls V~ °ut to the instant at which it is really "y| ( H ahead of the other car, a time interval , of nearly ten seconds will elapse, and . - in this period many things may happen. j. M' ' * Failure to realise this point often re;11 < i suits in drivers new to the wheel <I m ■ attempting to overtake in the face of an approaching car when they have not ; . ' '' nearly sufficient time to do so.

J b "1; 2~ The first diagram illustrates a car "_ <T speeded up to 45 m.p.h. in an endea-vour 4J &• to pass another car travelling at 30 n(L m.p.h., while a third is approaching _1 ft. 20 yards away at a speed of 30 m.p.h. "= J The novice does not realise that the tU » gap is being closed at the rate of (30 41 B" m.p.h. Let another half second fl (}• elapse, however, and notice the rapid Jl Q. changes of position. Our friend the 4? Urn ,lov i co ' s only about half a car length _1 a. °f the vehicle which he is over- „_" taking, and suddenly sees that the car <~i__7 whiqli has been approaching hini is less JHr than five yards away. True, this car may 1| S . have been braked considerably, given &* [i the luck of an experienced driver in cons' trol foreseeing what is bound to hap- >| Js pen, but, on the other hand, this driver may' have unconcernedly been proceed- (_ ™E at undiminished speed, with the natural assumption that the driver of y V the overtaking car would see his misX take and stop behind the othsr. In .any hi case the approaching car has the right JjJ {*< of the road, so that no possible excuse Vj can be given for fhe other driver. M tl What does the novice do in these circumstances? In all, probability he will vj* »< pull wildly over to the near side in the hope that he will just miss the car which hi he is overtaking, forgetting that his r» tiiil will cut across the other car. Ihe S driver of the latter, if he has noticed U what has been happening, .may .hist have \J fr time to brake sufficiently, or, if there is j. room, he may be able to mount the kerb j. S, and run on to the grass. The approachvj Isj mg car may be able to execute Fimilar <Q h manoeuvres so that our novice friend _! CU V 'V' St gGt throu frh- However, such IS a ucky series of coincidences will prolix bably not occur. l L Let us emphasise that if, in circum- _ ?L? C i s these ' tlle 110Vlce *'*™v X tut 7f ' m " St think lhe -*<*« H out and take warning from his experi)i Zt', n m " Sfc not P rw «d to f\ make the same mistake again in the light-hearted belief that all will be W ell Side mirror equipment, which traffic authorities have made a compuf- ¥ sory accessory, is a splendid protection , against the vagaries of the novice, for jt it allows the driver of the car in front FW to discover the approach of the man behind. An important point which very seldom is realised when speed limits come up for a discussion is the fact that a burst of ™ speed under certain conditions will avert J an accident. It sometimes happens that y mishaps are traceable to the fact that i a driver has applied the brakes instead S of speeding up and away from the danger that was imminent. Fast driving 8 is not necessarily reckless driving—it is often quite tiie reverse- -The dangerous 4 driver is lhe man whose movements on * lhe road are as uncertain as the j proverbial frightened hen.