ROAD ACCIDENTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 17 August 1929, Page 15

ROAD ACCIDENTS.

SPEED MUST SUIT CONDITION'S. Road accidents .are almost invariably caused by lack of skill on the part of someone in charge of one or more of the vehicles concerned. It does not profit anyone to blame slippery roads for accidents. If slippery road surfaces exist —and, unfortunately, they do to some extent —motorists who 1 are not masters of their ears .to the fullest possible degree must remember that any excessive speed is dangerous. In other words, speed must suit road surface conditions just as it must conform to road traffic conditions. One may run off a safe on to a dangerous surface with startling rapidity, and .with this fact to be faced, the novice or timid driver must proceed in suc-h a manner that, he never exposes .himself to the risk of the need for a sudden stop.

There is a point to which it is worth while directing the attention of those who are using their first cars. When front wheel brakes became practically, universal, they were so great an advance on the old rear-brake-only system that a, perhaps, false feeling of security was engendered. A belief, quite contrary to facts, sprang up that, a four wheel braked car could not skid. With four perfectly adjusted brakes and a reasonable degree of skill on the part of the driver, a serious skid is very improbable. But brakes, like everything else about a car, need attention, and oven if they receive it, not everyone can set four brakes accurately. It follows that there are a great number of imperfectly adjusted braking sets in use, and, unfortunately, it is just such sets which are likely to bo in use by novices and drivers of little mechanical knowledge or skill in emergency. 'To all such it is advisable for them to have their brakes overhaul and carefully set at least twice a year by an expert.

The controllability of cars to-day in the hands of all but an expert is also very greatly affected by the correct inflation of tyres. Despite the efforts of the tyre manufacturers in their campaign to assist motorists by urging weekly tests of pressure, the bulk of motor car users are, it is feared, too often indifferent to the warning.

On a greasy road a ear with underinflated, spongy tyros is often an awkward instrument to control in an emergency, particularly when roads arc pot-holev or, worse sit ill, wavy, Ss. is so often the case where much heavy ti-afPie passes. Tyre pressure testing and correct inflation are matters that the veriest tyro can see ito himself with the use of a pressure gauge. If he takes the precaution to do this simple task once a week, and has his brakes seen to by an exipert now and again, the lot of road users .will be happier. In that way lie safety and the preservation of human life.