LIGHTING-UP TIMES.

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 148, 20 December 1930, Page 26

LIGHTING-UP TIMES.

Sunday 8.24 p.m. Monday 8.24 p.m. Tuesday ......... 8.25 p.m. Wednesday ....... 8.25 p.m. Thursday ........ 8.26 p.m. Friday ......... 8.26 p.m. Saturday ........ 8.26 p.m. There is a possibility of the summer pouring season being nioro fruitful of Jfoad menace than in past years, because pi' a steady and quite noticeable deterioration in driving restraint. Big f^ars aro much faster now than they [■Were a few seasons ago, the normal and 'comfortable driving speed being quite ;!;en miles aa hour higher. Besides this, tfhere is tho great increase in tho number of small cars, most of which aro sadly overdriven, their owners delighting in showing off their crowded-traffic advantage by constantly speeding up .through narrow spaces to beat the big •fellow and drive into a little gap ahead, i • jbraking sharply' to accomplish the manoeuvre. Nothing really is gained. pL'hesc little chaps do not seem to rcaljse that on the open road they have aio chanco with the big car, and that ithoir manoeuvres on the crowded road javo largely possible because, as a rule, |the big car > in the hands of a more iexporieneed, tolerant, and accidentproof operator. It must bo admitted jthat there is real driving skill, and the consequent pleasure that arises from it, in handling one of these little cars, cut tho pleasure is too one-sided. Other {traffic has constantly to be on the alert, p,s the little follow, speeding in and lout, as he is constantly doing, promotes ji-oad situations that, while offering no [particular danger to himself, are nevertheless highly dangerous to other traffic. The small car is in the same position Jis the big one in regard to comfortable pouring, and the wise, driver will, out Sof respect to his car and his passengers iiliko, keep to the limits that best suit jhis vehicle. Most small cars have been bought and are operated from stress i»£ economy, but it is not economy to ipver-drive them: —in the long run much tho reverse. Properly handled, these inachines should last for years and not lie more or less wrecks in a couple of Reasons. There seems to be a.distinct Ssmall-car complex, and it finds' expression mainly in talk 'of what the car £an do and a constant desire to demojstrate it. The owner is car conscious, a jlhing no respectable motorist should be. The finest thing in niotori .g is a real knowledge and understanding of the car 5n one's contaol and the getting of the host and most pleasant service from it. iThe small car is wonderfully efficient its a traffic dodger in town, where speeds fire low, but it is, to say the least of it, unwise to carry the practice out on jfco the country roads.