THE DISABLED DRIVER

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 15, 12 October 1928, Page 18

THE DISABLED DRIVER

DOES HE CONCENTRATE MORE? Itolaud E. Dangerfield, who is a director of the Temple Press, Ltd., writes as follows on the subject of disabled drivers, which attracted attention in New Zealand recently:—

“The question as to whether a disabled driver should be allowed to drive, cropping up periodically as it does, is undoubtedly becoming of greater relative importance, since the ever-increas-ing number of cheap cars automatically reaches a wider field of potential buyers and a corresponding number of disabled individuals who have possibly never driven before.

“I do not propose to say definitely on the one hand that all disabled drivers are necessarily dangerous or.that they are safe (some correspondents seem emphatically partisan in this matter), because it is so obviously a subject in which all the circumstances have to be taken into consideration. “I believe that in the first place much depends on whether a man or woman would ever make a reasonably good driver even if he or she were whole and unblemished physically in any way. With the number of really bad drivers that one encounters to-day there is no doubt whatever that many of them are far more dangerous than the average disabled driver. I would agree, of course, that if any of these really bad drivers became disabled (as many of them deserve!) and were to attempt to drive afterwards, the result would be too appalling to contemplate'. At present, however, the great majority of disabled drivers became thus handicapped during the war. “I am' of opinion that, provided a man is not too badly disabled, by reason of the fact that be is always, in some way or another, aware of his loss, he will instinctively exercise more care. I have proved this to my satisfaction over and over again, not only in my own case but in those of many of my friends who lost various limbs or are otherwise physically disabled. If one drives sufficiently, one is certain, of course, to have ‘incidents’ on the road from time to time. Nevertheless, I cannot recall a single case of anyone having been involved in an accident as a result of their disablement.

“Quite apart from ‘Nature’s compensations,’ which I always think are somewhat exaggerated, man himself dislikes being at a disadvantage to his fellow-being and will work' hard to overcome this physical disadvantage. I have known at least two cases of excellent drivers who had lost both legs, and although these, of course, would, be classed as exceptional, I see no' reason why they should not have perfect control. k “In another case a man who has lost his left arm drives almost any make of car (left-hand or right-hand control—he does not seem to mind which), and although he has been fined, perhaps, more than an average number of times for ‘speeding,’ has never been involved in any accident as a result of a missing arm. These people whose cases I have briefly mentioned agree with me that because of their disadvantage they concentrate on what they are doing far more than a so-called normal driver. “I am quite certain, after a fairly long and varied driving experience, that this lack of concentration is the principal cause of road accidents. I admit that I sometimes find it very difficult, when I have a particularly attractive passenger at my side, not to remove my eye from the road, but I know that if I did, even for a second, I am increasing the risk of spoiling her beauty! “I sincerely believe that it is not too much to assert that the average disabled driver' is less dangerous to the community than any average driver who has all his limbs and who will not regard driving a car as quite a serious task upon which he must concentrate his whole mind.

“Unlike many drivers of this latter class who will never improve, the disabled driver undoubtedly profits greatly by experience.” .. .

THE NEW SPEED CRAZE

REMARKABLE CALIFORNIAN PROPOSAL.

According to a paper dealing with roads and motorists in America, airways being developed for passenger travel all along the Pacific Coast are stimulating the speed mania among motorists to new excesses. A regular air passenger service between San Francisco and Los Angeles has cut the time from fourteen hours by train to as low as two hours and twenty-eight minutes. Now the motorists are proposing a “no speed limit” highway between the two chief cities of California. Petitions are in circulation for an initiative bond issue to be placed on the November ballot calling for the expenditure of 40,000,000 dollars for a great, broad highway to be called “The California Fast Highway.” It will go as the crow flies from San Francisco down the west side of the San Joaquin Valley (states the paper). It will be 400 miles long and 60 feet wide. ' In the centre will be a 10 foot parking space, and each 15 foot space adjoining the centre core will be reserved for the speed demons. There will be no speed law, and for the longest stretch of record the rule will be:—“Let’er go the limit.” All level crossings will be eliminated and curves will be as few as possible. The motor'trip to Los Angeles from San Francisco by coast or inland route now is an ordeal for a single day’s travel, and most travellers take it in two hops. With the speedway built, however, the trip could be made easily in eight hours or less. By averaging as low as fifty miles an hour the motorist could make it an eight-hour day.