Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31124, 29 July 1966, Page 11

Auto Gossip

by

A.J.P.

Catch-phrase I have sometimes heard the view that “there is no such thing as a dangerous road or intersection; there are only dangerous drivers.” This is a thoughtless catch-phrase, for undoubtedly roads can be dangerous as experienced drivers will agree. A road coated with black ice, for instance, can be most dangerous, and one does not need to drive dangerously to get into difficulties. Similarly, roads and intersections can be very deceptive and there is no doubt that an intersection may be sufficiently deceptive to present a danger to the normal motorist exercising reasonable judgment Intersections Nevertheless it is true that more accidents are caused by careless driving than are caused by dangerous roads. In Christchurch the main problem almost certainly is the many Intersections with restricted visibility, which many drivers cross at too great a speed. There is a hazard

wherever two streams of traffic cross, and you cannot rely on the other fellow giving way. You should look both ways, and if you are to do this and still have time to stop you must slow down, for it takes time and distance to bring a car to a halt. Self-examination When we start criticising other drivers we are wise to take a long look at our own behaviour, for all of us make mistakes when driving. Often it is merely through good fortune, and perhaps the good driving of others, that such mistakes do not have serious results. When driving, we must make allowance both for our own errors and for those of others. It is wise to drive with a margin of safety for the unexpected. Courtesy Again Having allegedly broken a traffic regulation while driving to the Rugby test at Dunedin he was “bundled into a side road’’ and addressed by a traffic officer as if he were a convicted lawbreaker, a reader complains. “Admittedly they get a rough handling from some drivers, but| this chap talked like a stormtrooper,” he writes. “Some! of the boys in uniform are! over the odds." The same; reader, a doctor, comments on “elbow side-swipe” injuries. The practice of drivers put-! ting their elbows out of the : window should be barred, he says. He has treated the injuries that sometimes result Speed Limits Another reader suggests a reappraisal of the present 55 miles an hour open road speed limit . . without the emotional outbursts that usually greet any such suggestion. The restriction is disregarded by

most motorists on the principle that an unreasonable regulation is also unenforceable. Is there any evidence that such a low limit has any beneficial effects? I understand that in the United States raising the legal limit has often brought a drop in accident figures. One has the suspicion that our regulation is based in the outmoded idea that ‘speeding’ is the main cause of accidents, whereas modern research has proved that most accidents occur at low speeds.

“Motorists are a long-suffer-ing lot They simply accept as normal road hazards the need for driving with one eye on the mirror, watching for disguised patrol cars and trying to spot likely sites for radar ambushes. But it does nothing to encourage respect for the law, and may account for the cynical attitude of many drivers towards the traffic authorities,” he writes. Quote of the Week “I would love to meet a car ergonomist some day, if only to confirm the picture I have in my mind’s eye. I see him as an incredibly thin [being, whose height varies (between sft and 6ft 6in, according to the manoeuvre (he is carrying out; his left I leg is about four to six [inches longer than his right; I two of his eyes are placed [high on his forehead and the third is just over his right ear: one of his left arms sprouts from around his third rib and the other, which starts normally at the shoulder line, is nine inches shorter (for second and top gear); the right arm is telescopic and retains only a residual hand in the form of a hook. He does not smoke but merely lights his cigarette and leaves it in the ashtray; his wooden children slot into the back seats; his wife has changeable parts according to whether she is passenger or driver.”—Harold Jackson, in the "Guardian,” Manchester, on the design of car interiors.