The MOTOR LIGHTING-UP TIMES

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 26, 30 July 1932, Page 17

The MOTOR

LIGHTING-UP TIMES

BY "AUTOS"

Sunday. .'. .6.25. p.m. Monday • ■;. ;•.-. ■.....- • 5.25 p:m. Tuesday ... 5.26 p.m. Wednesday ....... 5.27 p.m. Thursday .....,;... 5.28 p.m. Friday ........... 5.29 p.m. Saturday ~ 6.30 p.m.

FOR THE MOTOR-CYCLIST

TOLL OF THE ROAD

CONCERN IN ENGLAND

SEEKING A REMEDY

The present average of eighteen fatal accidents a day on British, roads is tardily affecting the national brain and the national conscience (says "C.8." in the "Manchester Guardian"). The holocaust ia too frightful

to be faced with inertia or fatalism, and in common with, other great motoring communities we are busy considering various remedies. - According to some people high speed is the solo culprit, and deceleration is the sole cure. This',i's's6 'far':untrue'that" a very"strong ,case caii be argued for tho view that dangerous .situations on tho road aro generally ••caused'"bv -the' presence X>£] some vehicle which is perceptibly slower than the average of the traffic stream. A slow vehicle causes a series of moving eddies as normal traffic swings out to pass; and these eddies provoke collisions and skids. ■I ■ have just -completed a . 2000-mile , tour of the counties lying between London and Land's, End. In. this tour two species of danger were encountered,1 and two only. The one was due to traffic eddies created by slow .yehiclos. The other was duo to the failure of certain West Country road authorities to prohibit glossy road surfaces on which skidding is inevitable in wet weather; and-the perils of these glossy, surf aces were vastly enhanced by the failure of the same authorities to keep their roads clean. When a road is naturally slippery and rain is allowed to combine with, a film of dust and oil braking becomes dangerous and skids are inevitable; On certain Cornish roads it is still possible for a car 'to' skid violently whilst it is proceeding dead straight at moderate speed with the brakes :OfE. . In the more sophisticated counties the glossy, surface has long ago been superseded by the matt surface, which affords; good wheel-grip when it is wetj and five years will see the. end of gloss. ONE-WAY TRAFFIC. Railway engineers press hard for the' universal adoption of one-way traffic. Their schemes imply some- such programme 'as is' outlined below. The minimum effective width of any considerable road would be 32ft under the "railway" system, exclusive of sidewalks and' central k«rb. The central kerb would be perhaps 4ft wide and 6in high, segregating thei traffic into two entirely distinct lines. This kerb would act as a midway refuge for pedestrians' —it is not possible to imagine that anybody would care to walk along it between two 30-50-m.p.h. streams careering in opposite directions. At intersections with other Toads the two carways would swing out an-1 round a central island,.which would-enforce a certain degree of slowing down, and would be controlled (wherever the traffic was heavy), by robot lights, operated; hy ; automatic time switches,' or any more efficient device which may hereafter be invented. Each 16ft carway might .'be further divided by a central white line into two Bft strips; and the near-side strip would accommodate the slower vehicles. The slower vehicles would include any surviving horse ■ carriages, under-powered motor-cycles and sidecars, low-powered tradesmen's vans, and any elderly drivers who prefer to travel at a comparative crawl. The Bft strips nearer •to the road centre would take the fast traffic. - ' This small and inexpensive change in road design wou]d automatically eliminate the bulk of head-on collisions, which' arc tho most lethal of ordinary road crashes. It would further terininato the "cutting-iu^ bogy, and end tho present -risks of collisions on corners. It would probably increase the number of night ■ accidents, ' unless special methods were adopted to make the central kerb easily visible, such as painting it ■.white or embedding green roflex mirrors in'it. Many authorities consider that the central kerb should be higher than 6in. ' . RESPONSIBILITY AT CROSSINGS. So'far as minor roads are concernod, the most urgent need is to fix "responsibility at crossings. Many road crossings are absolutely blind. Strangors run on to such crossings at a fair speed in ignorance; and in thinly populated

areas too many' drivers take chances. It would be perfectly simple 'to fix this responsibility. There is no need to draw a legal, distinction between "main" and "by" roads. All that is required is statutory power to fix the responsibility, since psychology indicates that where everybody is responsible nobody can be trusted. Some authority, central or local, should receive power and instructions to decide the question for every road crossing in the country. Tho authority would give traffic in one direction a right of way, and order traffic ■in the other direction to obey a stop sign and halt b; ■ the point at which sideways visibility was open. Such stop signs, like military words of command, would be duplex; a precautionary sign would be erected 100 yards short of the crossing, and an "executive" sign at the stop pjint. ' In any broadside crash past the stop point the vehicle emerging from: the ,inferior route would .automatically be debited with complete responsibility. . Further urgent Teforms are the com-

pletion of sidewalks and laws compelling pedestrians and certain forms of light-wheeled .traffic (perambulators, for example) to keep off the carways. Tho problem of the pedestrian, especially. in towns, ~has yet to: be grappled with. Its solution will 'probably entail, in the: long run a return to thandrails nalong all^-city.;. - .pavements, ■Witlf definite.crossing 'places at' gaps'in the railings. Experience suggests that street crossing is responsible'for the bulk of accidents to pedestrians in urban areas. The problem of tho rural pedestrian is largely a question of providing proper sidewalks; we are slow to realise that it is actually

safer-'fo' walk on a railway than ' oh' many roads, for trains arrive at longish intervals and make a loud noise. But we still set pedestrians to walk on motorways';where the traffic is almost, continuous ;and comparatively silent, though it is as rapid as many local trains.' ■■ '; . > ■ .X. i-.

A small percentage of danger at road junctions could be eliminated by locating the signposts, 100 yards short of., the : actual junction, as iS'dono on the Continent; when the signpost is .at the corner strangers stop at the junction to read the post, and often create trouble... But...because ..our- signposts were quite reasonably put at the crossing when traffic was slow we continue to keep them there.

The Vacuum Oil Company has forwarded a seventy-two-page booklet entitled "Your Motor-cycle on Road and Track," a publication that should prove very valuable to motor-cycle owners. An interesting contribution is an article by Stuart Williams, tho famous Australian speed rider, who has represented the Commonwealth in the T.T. races, Isle of Man. This informative article deals with tuning for road racing. ,

Another section, one that should be of interest to people contemplating buying a used motor-cycle,. tells where to look for defective mechanism. It is very helpful and calculated to prevent investment in a faulty machine. The, lubrication of motor-cycle engines and transmission is dealt with by Mr. A. E. Code, chief automotive engineer of tho company. Other sections deal with general lubrication, gear lubrication,, how the correct grada of oil is determined, and latest trend in lubrication systems. . ■ A section is devoted to preparing for reliability trials ■••: '. •' .•-. : A chart is provided making, recommendations to help in the choice of the right grade of lubrication for' the various machines. The publication may be obtained free of charge from the company. ■■„..-: -.;,:/.....;, ■ . .

, The summer services on the great international network of airways are so ihter-eonneeted as a result of international conferences that they provide regular daily air services from London to as many as 130 European cities and towns. ' ' "■