ROAD SENSE AND CAUTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 3192, 19 August 1930, Page 2

ROAD SENSE AND CAUTION.

Before the advent of the automobile road rules and courtesies were punctiliously handed down, and there was a code of behaviour, not written, but universally understood. With the coming of the automobile things changed. The same rules applied — they apply to-day—but there arose various and numerous contingencies not known to the horse-drawn vehicle driver. The bicycle was the instrument, more than any other, which extended road usage to the multitude, and was then the faster vehicle on the road.

The cyclist represented the new road users drawn from the populace, from the class which had never before had charge of a vehicle on the public higway. Being a peculiarly vulnerable and fragile vehicle, the rider of it had to conform and conform quickly with the accepted usage. In many cases he had to sink his full rights, because neither as an individual nor as a class was he strong enough to enforce them. But the cyclist gained roadi sense in a way which was not possible in the case of any other road user. Road sense comes of road use. It can come in no other way, and any kind of extended road use will give road sense to any but the really careless and inconsiderate.

The first lesson, taught by sheer force of self-protection, of course, is to keep the left. The beginner generally hugs the left side of the road closely; but he soon finds it more comfortable and easier to drive well on the crown of the road, away from the side camber. Once he has learned this and is of abnormally fair-minded type, he will allow the other driver the same room for safety. He will not crowd him into the side chamber. Road sense will also be developed concerning such matters as the apparent positions of two vehicles, their relative rates of travel, and where they may be expected to pass or overtake one another. When overtaking with an oncoming car in view, the correct judgment of the relative speeds of the three cars is most important. Road sense will determine whether there will be time to ovei’-

take and assume the left-hand position before the oncoming car is met. This provides the acid test of road sense. Generally the good driver will hold back. The inexperienced fellow' may “go for it.” The point to remember is that the driver about to be overtaken may upset all calculations by accelerating. There has arisen the position which causes many an accident —and takes only a second to create. Road sense should prevent this situation from arising. In the first place one should not attempt to pass if there is the slightest doubt of the road being clear —that is

where the road is only wide enough for two lines of traffic. Your safety is entirely dependent on the man on your left if you try to pass. He is master of the situation, and however clever you may be, he can balk you and be the cause of the accident without having any legal responsibility for it. You took the chance, not he. You have also obstructed and put in jeopard the occupants of the oncoming car. Real road sense comes to our aid in any such contingency, because it immediately counsels caution. Do not attempt to pass till all is clear. That way sense and safety lie.