ROAD SAFETY

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LXI, Issue 15, 23 February 1940, Page 3

ROAD SAFETY

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AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION'S

MESSAGE

"It is still a prominent fault of motorists in travelling too. close behind the car ahead, and it is a fault that is unsafe as well as costly for motorists," says the latest road safety message of the Automobile Association, Canterbury, Inc.

"To avoid those front and rearend bumps is simple enough if motorists will only practice rigidly at all times what we know as tihe half-distance rule, which means always travel at a speed which will allow motor-vehicles to be brought to a standstill in half the distance of clear road ahead. What this rule implies is being able to stop where you can see. /

"It infers not only the ability to stop behind and clear of the car ahead, but also, in approaching a blind corner, for example, the ability to stop at a safe point if another car appears in sight coming towards you and taking the corner on your side of the road too fast to be manoeuvred to its proper side.

"No doubt this may seem to some drivers to represent almost a counsel of perfection, but application of the rule will find you prepared for what may be termed a 'full-brake emergency stop.' Better, by far, always to drive at a lower speed and be able to stop in half the distance of clear road visible ahead. There will be no need then, whatever happens, to possess a 'reaction time' better than the average driver would register under test. No heed then, either, for those awkward skids* or slewing-off which are so commonly seen when the driver ahead makes an emergency stop or decides suddenly, and without hand signal warning, to change his direction as, unfortunately, some drivers do. It is reiterated that the car to watch is the car behind the car ahead. Allow plenty of room; your safety demands it."