WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1927, Page 18

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?

MOTOR-CARS AND HOUSEHOLDERS. ,

; ■ I would'like to bring to public notice an unpleasant experience which r has befallen, me and to which many householders may at any time 'be likewise subjected," writes a correspondent to "The Times." "My house stands at the corner of cross roads. A aiotor-ca? travelling along the main road met a motorcyclist, attempting to cross the main. road. The motor-car ran into the motor-cyclist, and then mounting the pavement, crashed through two rows of my iron railings, uprooting and breaking the cement bipeks; .in which the railings were embedded. I naturally requested the owner of the motor-car, to pay for the damage done. ■ His insurance company refused to do so, placing the blame on the cyclist. Not having seen the accident, and there being no police witness, I decided to sue the driver of the car, having first definitely verified the fact that the driver of the car had 25 yards in which to pull up before hitting my railings from the point where he should have 3een the motor-cyclist. I was of the opinion that, whether or not the cyclist was to blame in coming out on to the main road, the car driver was equally to blame for being unable to stop his car. I lost my case in the Court, ,the learned Judge finding no negligence on the part of the ear driver. I have therefore now to pay both for the damage done and the entire cost of the action. It^ does not seem right that it should be left to the householder whose property is damaged, without any witness to assist him, to be the judge as to who is responsible for the damage done to his property. Common sense would suggest that the person who actually does the damage is responsible to the owner of the property, even if ho has to recover from any other person or persons • involved, should he consider that the responsibility lies elsewhere than with himself. It would appear that some change in the law is urgently required to allow of such a procedure. With the daily increase of ears on the road, and the terribly inexperienced drivers, acei-

dents will probably become more frequent, and as the law now stands the owner of property is likely very frequently to find that ho himself has to pay for the damage done by others to his property."

A Nelson motorist who has been on a tour of the Maryborough district expresses his appreciation of the work of the Marlborough Automobile Association in erecting warning signs at practically every creek or dangerous pait of the roads (states the "Express"). He says motorists are not likely to realise the value of similar work m their own districts as the roads are better known to them, and the signs therefore not so necessary. To the visitor, however, such warnings are of the utmost value.

As the piston of a motor-car engine commences to move downwards the big end of the connecting rod follows the crank pin, and therefore moves-side-ways m relation to; the small end: in 1 a sense the connecting rod may be considered to be swinging like a pendulum with its pivot represented by the gudgeon pin. Boughly speaking, the direction of the awing is reversed

as soon as a point is reached when the rod and crank are at right angles and, like all rapidly moving todies, the rod tries to continue its outward swing. This throws a sideways load on the bearings and makes the rod tend to bend, or whip, outwards. Hence the "I" section usually used, this section having a great resistance to bending. Severe "whip" leads to unpleasant vibration or even fracture.

The Automobile Association of Great Britain frequently receives queries for route, suggestions for commercial vehicles making long journeys. The information is usually requested with a view to avoiding weak bridges, but a very novel reason was given for a recent inquiry. The association was asked to devise a route from London to a northern town for a stuffed giraffe forming a load of 20ft high. The circuitous journey was successfully mapped out to avoid all low railway or cross-road bridges. ■