UNCONSCIOUS SPEED.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 May 1935, Page 3

UNCONSCIOUS SPEED.

THE CAR OF TO-DAY. CARELESSNESS IN DRIVING. ' According to an American opinion the change from an old model car to one of present-day manufacture is au easy road to carelessness in driving, and carelessness in driving had been authoritatively set down as one of the causes of an increase in road fatalities in the United (States. His argument is that in comparison with the old car the new one is silent at speed, holds the road well, and consequently deceives the driver into high speed, whereas the old one was noisy and rough, less road-worthy, and therefore directly a cause for keeping speed down. Here is what he says:— Suppose that, for the last several years, a man' has been driving a 1928 model car. It’s good enough # to take him somewhere and get him back, but it lacks several of the later mechanical improvements, and, besides, is relatively old. It is not ,the vehicle it used to be. When its owner drives it at fifty miles an hour he knows he is going fast. The noise of the engine tells him so. The vibration of the car emphasises the fact. Entering a curve, the driver knows be has to slow down. The car isn’t balanced to take curves at anything like fifty miles an hour. The man buys a new car, tins year or last year’s manufacture. He finds that it will go fifty miles an hour and more silently. He feels no vibration as he speeds along. The car holds the road on curves. All the oid signs of speed are gone, except the speedometer. And the man soon grows careless about watching that. Before he knows it he is driving sixty and seventy miles an hour without realising that he is doing more than forty or fifty. And if an emergency arises, he has much less time in which to deal with the situatiu and avoid an accident. This man’s case was common all over the country last year. Thousands of persons turned in old cars to which they were accustomed and bought new ears that behaved like eager, spirited horses in their hands. That was the point made at the Indianapolis meeting. It was offered as an explanation of many accidents. And it sounds like one. It appeals to common sense. But it does not testify to the common sense <of motorists. One must consult the speedometer in the car of today. He cannot depend upon noise and vibration to tell how fast he is driving. He cannot feel his speed any more. All of. which means that the change to a new car places a greater demand upon the mentality of the drivers. To drive competently a man must intelligently observe highway and street conditions and consciously refrain from driving too fast for them.