ROAD COURTESY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 8 September 1928, Page 14

ROAD COURTESY.

Thoughtlessness rather than deliberation is responsible for many o'f the incidents on the highway which the onlooker unhesitatingly classifies as “ road-hogging. ” Enthusiastic youths 6n high-powered motor-cycles do not mean to offend when they hurtle along at night with the exhaust open. They enjoy the unrestrained speed "Which is possible in safety when other traffic is off the road, and certainly do not give thought t.o everybody who has tne misfortune to live within a quarter of a mile of the improvised race-track. Another innocent nuisance is the nervous motorist ’who races his engine in traffic for fear of stalling. There is also the pest who gets firmly wedged in a traffic jam and then sounds his horn raucously although for those immediately ahead of him it is utterly impossible to move forward another inch. Tiiis is neither ignorance or nervousness, but is impatience of the most futile and annoying kind. A nervous driver’s discomfiture is increased by this disturbance, and nerves ordinarily placid are set on edge. Most, collisions are 'caused through the indecision of one of -the parties concerned, and the “offside’’ rule establishes an understanding between the various users of the road. The rule is simple both in its statement and in its application: “Give wav to the ni’an on the right.’’ Another rule which might well be formulated and adhered to is: “Give way to the man coming up.’’ On a hill where the road is narrow, the man descending has liis ear under much better control than has the man ‘coming up. It is easier to pull info the side and let the other man pass than it is for him to ■change down aiuT try to get past.