Cheap Station Waggon

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30591, 6 November 1964, Page 9

Cheap Station Waggon

A Skoda Octavia station waggon, which may be the cheapest such vehicle available in this country, is expected to come on the market late this year or early next year. It will sell for less than £9OO.

The Octavia is powered by a 1220 c.c. four-cylinder engine, and can carry four adults and 2201 b of luggage. It is a two-door vehicle, and has two individual seats in the front and a bench seat which can be folded, at the rear.

Stop! So far the new stop signs at the intersection of Cranford street and Edgeware road do not seem to have been noticed by many drivers. A brief count at the intersection last week showed that only sightly more than half the vehicles using Edgeware road stopped. The worst offenders were private motorists: taxis and trade vehicles observed the signs. Forever Amber

It is annoying, late at night, to arrive at a city intersection just as the light changes to amber, and then have to sit for many minutes, with no other traffic in sight, until the lights change again. In such circumstances I have even been waved on by a policeman after a long wait. Generally, however, reversing back over the actuating pad will start the lights moving in your favour. Even when waved on, extreme care is necessary. Other drivers, with the lights in their favour, are likely to assume no other traffic could possibly come on to the intersection, and approach fairly fast. Gamblers Traffic lights show up one type of driver: the “amber gambler.” He is the one who sees the lights are amber, but accelerates through the intersection: an illegal and dangerous practice. A variation on the theme is seen in the driver who moves off into the intersection before “his” set of traffic lights have turned green; he watches for the other set to turn amber. Buses, in Christchurch, do this very frequently. If there is an “amber gambler” coming from the other side. . . . Happy Daze How about an “anti-daze” safety campaign? Far too many of our drivers travel around giving very little thought to their driving. You can see them every day: looking at the scenery, at the girls, at the shop windows, and running into the back of other cars. On main roads they are particularly dangerous. Most of us have met the fellow who, his mind miles away, turns slowly across a main road without looking in his mirror or giving any signal. Avoidances I have seen “phenomenal ' avoidances” caused by two of these absent-minded motorists in the last few days. One was on a fast, sealed main road near Kaiapoi. A man in an Austin, coming off a small side-road, drove straight through a stop sign and slowly across the main road, causing an advancing Volkswagen to brake very hard indeed to avoid him. The second fellow pulled on to the ’ north (unrestricted) end of . Marshland road off a side road , without looking, then slowly across the road into a drive- . way, causing an oncoming car to brake really savagely, its tyres smoking. He did . not look; he gave no signals. I hope his ears are burning. New Tyres Some interesting information on the necessity for running in new tyres has been published recently in Eng-