Hints for the Motorist

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 14048, 1 May 1946, Page 5

Hints for the Motorist

ALBERT L CLOUGH

GOOD DRIVING SHOULD BE CULTIVATED FROM THE “L” STAGE We have'seen concrete evidence that the post-war car has arrived and thousands of new motorists will in the course of the next year or so, be taking to the wheel. The difference between a good and a bad driver is often just a matter of using the imagination and acquiring “motoring” eyes, which grew accustomed to visualising possible emergencies, resulting in sooner, but not so violent, application of the brakes. Good eyesight is an essential for the good driver, for to move at any speed at all one must be able to see clearly every moving detail on the road ahead. Bad eyesight at the, wheel, is like faulty brakes, a menace to all road users. Where the eyesight of a potential driver is poor, a visit to a good oculist should be the first step. N ' \ Eternal Vigilance When at the wheel, perpetual vigilance must be exercised. The socalled unexpected must always be anticipated. Motoring may be a relaxation for the passengers but never for the motorist. Following a bus in a crowded street is to be avoided where possible. If you should want to make a right turn in a crowded thoroughfare, patience is required. All traffic moving/ towards you must be given right .of way. It is always safest to expect the pedestrian to do the wrong thing, particularly the child. It isn’t good enough, when following a car, at, say, 40 m.p.h. at 20 yards distance, to be guided by the back of ■ the car. You should be able to see the road ahead for, a child or a dog might dash into the road causing the driver in front to apply his brakes suddenly. If you have seen the emergency, then your brakes are applied at the same time as those of the driver in front, thus avoiding any possiblity of a collision.

At Night Some drivers like night driving, others find it too much of a stiain. On a clear road, with a good headlight, there is not much to woriy about, but on a busy road when your headlights must he perpetually dipped, cyclists can be a real danger, if the headlamp is poor and the reflector worse, for you may bo almost on him before you realise it. A “Flat” Battery It is possible, if at any time yon arc stranded with a flat battery, in order to start the engine of your car, to obtain current from the battery of a second car, provided the battery voltage is the same as that of your own car. You must first disconnect one of the cables from the battery terminals on your car and then connect two .wires from the battery terminals of the second car to the two battery cables on your car It fs most important that positive is connected with positive and negative to negative. You will now be able to start the engine of . your car by switching on the ignition and using the starting handle. Once the engine is running sufficiently fast for the ignition warning lamp to go out, the battery 'cable may be reconnected and the connections between the batteries of the. (wo cars removed. Bear in mind that you must keep the engine running at a fast tick-over speed as you * IC relying upon, the dynamo to supply the current for the igm ion cue ’ No Tools A garage man round the earner from my house has some hard things to say about motorists who range far and wide without oo s, sometimes even without a jack and wheelbrace. file result is that he is often called upon to go, perhaps several miles from ha , mobilise a car with which the owner, had he been \ could have coped in a matter of-minutes. In the shoit-term se s, seldom pays to accept this sort custom, the lahouv famine he.ng w a ,t is; yet, with an eye to the Entl.ro, this assneved engu.ee fee s lu norbaps it does not pay to decline it either. He attributes the too famine mainly to'the failure of Layers of used cars to replemsl, too! kits which earlier owners have retained.