DAZZLING HEADLIGTHS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 9 April 1927, Page 15

DAZZLING HEADLIGTHS.

PROBLEM OF DIMMING. Yearly, motor organisations place in the hands of motorists bulletin afterbulletin pertaining to safe methods of diiving, outlining in detail the procedure best adapted to securing a widespread knowledge of traffic rules and a degree of standardisation of these important regulations throughout the various municipalities. The dangers or violating the rules ox safe driving are being constantly stressed, including •"cutting in” or “crowding out,” witn the consequent hazard to vehicles in general. in short, everything that modern publicity methods can do is utilised in educating the motorist to drive safely and sanely. Almost a stock explanation of accidents occurring at night is, “His headlights dazzleu me.” Just what percentage of these accidents are really caused by glaring headlights is a problem that may well puzzle the expert statistician. On country roads good lights are essentials for proper vision or the load surxace, ditches, and any unexpected obstacles that may loom up. On main highways, many experienced drivers find, their dim headlights give sufficient light for most purposes, and it is an encouraging sign to see tnat year by year a greater percentage of cars are being so driven, denoting that courtesy is increasing among motorists.

But, conversely, little or no decrease in' the number of extreinely T bright headlights to he seen on the welllighted streets of cities and towns has been noted, if statements made by many drivers are correct. It is rather a paradox that on the country highways, where light is a necessity, and a superabundance of it might well be excused, the number of drivers who use excessively high candle-power lights is apparently on the decrease, while in the larger cities, where streeet lighting systems are being constantly impiovea, the number of cars driven with highpower lamps seemingly shows no decrease. Many reasons might be assigned for this state of affairs were each and every driver so offending questioned on the subject. One motorist wnose habit is driving with dazzling headlights, was asked his reason for doing so. “I’ll admit,” he said, “that bright headlights are not the nicest thing in the world to meet, but I had one good scare while driving with my dim lights on, and I’m not taking any more chances!”

A car often -starts with a jump when the clutch is engaged. This usualy means that the. clutch is too fierce. When starting from a standstill the clutch should be engaged slowly.. If it is a leather-faced, clutch, the leather should be treated with neatsfoot oil. The oil should be allowed to soak into the leather for several hours Jamming on the brakes may not bo a good practice if resorted to too often. Making them “bite” now and then, however, roughens up the lining and makes them more efficient. Stepping on the brake pedal vigorously may also show the brakes not to be as good as one might think. . On some cars a belt is used to drive the speedometer. Sometimes through the breakage or loss of a belt the speedometer is put oui of action * hen it is most wanted. A vimpli and effective repair, however, may be made with ordinary household linen tape. This is wound round the two pulleys two or three times and then knotted, preferably with a. reef knot. The speedometer pulley can then be adjusted to give the correct tension to the “belt,”