ROAD SAFETY

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LXI, Issue 17, 1 March 1940, Page 6

ROAD SAFETY

OVERCROWDING AND OVERLOADING

AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION'S

MESSAGE

"Overcrowding and overloading are dissimilar terms and their application concerns two major fa...^ in motor-vehicle driving. Both have a bearing on road safety, ana overloading is doubly important in view of the rationing of petrol," says the latest road safety message of the Automobile Association, Canterbury, Inc.

"It is amazing the number of motorists who prefer, if they have a five-seater and three passengers, to cram those three passengers into the driving compartment, a preference which invariably means that the driver is forced up against the door on his side and consequently as far as possible away from the convenient use of the controls. This cramping of the driving compartment means only hampered access to controls, but deprives the driver of the ability to give hand signals. Freedom of movement, so essential to the safe operation of accelerator, brakes, gears, and the giving of signals is interfered with to an unjustifiable extent, and leaved very little margin for emergency calls on the driver. Always ensure that you have plenty of elbow room at the wheel, and insist, as the driver responsible for the safety of all concerned, that passengers sit where you want 'them to and not where they think they should sit.

"When it comes to overloading, which makes such a gluttonous call on petrol, the motorist has a clear duty to see that his speed and general driving technique correspond with the needs of safety and the demands made on the power, braking, steering, tyres, and general manoeuvrability of the vehicle. And the cubic capacity of the interior of the car in the rear taxed so as to interfere with rearcompartment should not be overward vision at any time.

"Rearward vision means the practicability of using effectively the rear-vision mirror at all times and all sorts of cargo placed above the rear seat against the rear side windows does not permit the driver to make the use he should of the mirror, or that occasional useful glance to the side when any overtaking traffic might be expected."