RISKS OF THE ROAD

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 110, 11 May 1935, Page 32

RISKS OF THE ROAD

THE SUDDEN EMERGENCY

CULTIVATION OF ALERTNESS

There is a stage in the motoring experience of ' every driver when he dwells on the risks of the road. It may, come quite early in his career from thinking about the things that could'happen so easily, or when a friend's chance remark ' shocks ■ him into realising his own ignorance; or it may only occur when ne has seen the results of an accident or been hear to being involved in one himself.

Such a little thing, he reflects, can cause trouble—a sudden deflation of a tire, at speed, .a black out of the lights, a broken axle on a hill, a steering failure, wet roads, or unexpebted ice: not frequent occurrences, but they must be faced as possibilities. He can go on for hours, trying to compile a

complete list of possible dangers in order to be prepared to meet them, only to realise that the list can never be complete: there will always be so#ie possibility that he has overlooked or that;is beyond his control.

Prom this stage of wariness the driver ( can easily come to the conclusion that the chartces of accident are so, remote and yet so extensive that precautions are useless as a complete safeguard, and so he -slips into the easy attitude of taking things for granted, and saying to himself that these things-never happen to him. In the assumption that everything will be all right there is no great danger, but it is better* to have a regular look round the car than wait until something untoward displays itself. A loose wheel is a danger in itself and Can play havoc with' ttie splines on thfe axle shaft. Unequal brakes take pleasure from driving and can easily promote a dangerous situation. In frayed battery connections there is the possibility of fire. The imaginative driver; can visualise all kinds of similar possibilities and guard against them by regular inspection and service. But cars are reliable these days, and there; is -a more useful direction in which to exercise one's Imagination than in • suspecting mechanical faults. Distort your imagination so that you believe the worst of everything you see on the road and you will be employing it usefully. Believe that every dog'is going to dart across the road infront of you,' that every pedestrian may stumble when he is crossing the road, hesitate, or run back; that every car you overtake is capable of swerving.' in front of you, stopping' suddenly, or-accelerating as you draw alongside; k that there is a led horse or a stationary car round every blind bend/, If you can believe^these things, or at least be prepared for them, you will have .employed your imagination evenmore" usefully" than by believing that the car will fail you.