RESOLUTIONS FOR MOTORISTS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21197, 22 June 1934, Page 7

RESOLUTIONS FOR MOTORISTS

AN EXPERT'S ADVICE Resoive not to tell your friends that you can do a certain hill on top, when you know that you have to change down to bottom. If you keep this resolution your friends might be inclined to believe you when you tell them that you did 45 miles to a gallon of petrol on a 14 h.p. car. Resolve to clean your car, or have it cleaned, at least once every three weeks. Resolve also to go round with the grease gun at regular intervals. Resolve to remember (a) to roll up the radiator muff before starting off in the morning, (b) to empty the radiator on very cold nights, (c) to see how much oil you've got every third, time you fill up with petrol, and (d) to pay more attention to the pumping of your tyres. Resolve to tell your wife s mot tier where she gets off (quite literally if necessary) if she persists in telling you how you should drive your own car. Resolve to use your engine as a brake whenever possible, and not to drive continuously on your brakes alone. By keeping to this excellent resolution you will extend the life of your car, and more particularly of your tyres. Resolve to learn how to read maps. Do not just look at a map and murmur: "This is Greek to me!" And do not leave it to your passengers to tell you the road to take. They speak with many tongues. Resolve, metaphorically, to put yourself in the pedestrian's place and to assume that he or she is insane. Motorists who assume that pedestrians will not be so stupid as to step off the pavement without looking either to the right or to the left, are the very people who have accidents. Resolve not to grumble about your car—at least not without cause. On the other hand, resolve to be prepared for trouble when trouble is least expected. Resolve to make use of your car and not leave it in the garage for weeks at a time because you cannot be bothered to get it out and go for a spin. Winter motoring can be as pleasant and health-giving as spring and summer motoring. Resolve to keep a small, cheap camera always in a pocket of your car, and resolve always to keep it loaded. You never know when you might want to use it. Resolve to make a friend instead of an enemy of your garage man. After all he cannot help the price of petrol and if there is anything wrong with your car then it is his duty to tell you about itResolve to give yourself plenty of time to get to a place. Accidents invariably happen to careful drivers when they are forced to drive recklessly owing to pressure of time. That is one of fate's backhanders. Resolve to lock the doors of your car when you leave it unattended for any length of time. If you do not, then it will'be partly your own fault if the car, or its contents, is stolen during your absence. Resolve never to pass on the inside of another vehicle. This is, perhaps, the most dangerous and inconsiderate of all tricks played by careless, reckless, and devil-may-care motorists. Resolve not to give motorists in general a bad name amongst those who cannot understand the trials and tribulations, as well as the pleasures, of motoring.—Arthur Groom in the "Motor."