THE SKIDDING CAR

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 150, 29 June 1929, Page 26

THE SKIDDING CAR

The above photograph was taken during the progress of the amateur hill climb of the Midland Automobile Club, England. It is reproduced here not because of its sporting connection, but because it conveys far better than any words can do the proper method of handling a car in a bad skid. This car, of course, Is cornering at high speed on a hill, but.even supposing the skid to be taking place on a flat straight road or down a hill the action of the driver should as a rule be the same. To prevent the rear wheels flying round ahead of the car and turning the machine back to front, capsizing it or plunging over a bank, the driver is definitely steering in the direction of the skid. The car will recover. The correcting of a skid is an art that has to be learned. The natural thing to do is to turn the steering wheels the wrong way, i.e., in the direction the driver had intended to proceed, whereby the skid is Intensified. However, in ordinary motoring, even though the art of skid correction may have been mastered it "does not necessarily follow that such action will prevent accident. There are times when it might even bo better to permit the skid to continue, but whatever is done one thing is certain, the foot should be off the accelerator. Where other traffic is endanger- ' ed "safety first" so far as the driver is personally concerned ceases to be the golden rule; he should have applied it earlier. The safety of others must then be his chief concern, and he may have to take his chances.. Further, it may be better to leave the car to its fate rather than take the certain course of steering it over a bank; one might be lucky. Generally, the brakes should be left free, at any rate until the car has recovered direction.