MOTORING WORLD

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1179, 29 November 1924, Page 12

MOTORING WORLD

Nover bo tempted to exceed the speed which you “feel to'be safe” —quite irrespective of what your hurry may be.

In New, York City are 9000 passenger car accidents, J6OQ-motor truck'accidents, and 2000 taxi accidents in one year.

Automatic petrol-supply pumps are used in Berlin. The machines, however, are not operated by coins, but by special discs, purchased beforehand.

It is said that Connecticut holds the record for the number of women drivers holding licenses. Tho percentage is 14.1 of tho drivers of the state.

Sir Charles Ferguson, the GovernorGeneral designate for New Zealand, has ordered a seven-seater touring cur to be shipped to New Zealand for his use in the Dominion.

It is natural to think of the motor car us a development of the twentieth century, but in reality more than 600 different types of cars had been built prior to 18S5.

The Napier Borough Council has altered its traffic regulations and now permits persons twenty years of age and over to obtain taxi-drivers’ licenses. The old regulation put the age limit at 21.

An Auckland business man, who is a well-known motorist, admitted in an interview that motor cars were allowed to make speed-ways of the business streets of Auckland to an extent that would be permitted in no other part of the world.

A Pedestrians’ Protection League has^ recently been formed in Los Angeles, California, to educate all road users in the existing laws and regulations, and to bring about the establishment of a code for pedestrians, violation of which will render them liable to be summoned.

An American firm is experimenting with the object of perfecting a motor-car whose weakest parts ■ are to be so strengthened that all the parts will wear out'simultaneously. Tlio effect will be to prolong the life of the car and eliminate the need for “spares.” How long such a car would last is beyond tho conjecture of the most expert expert. Presumably tlio car would survive as a family heirloom until the greatgrandson of the original owner, taking a hill one day “on top,” heard a last dying moan from tho exhaust and found himself suddenly sitting on a little heap of dust.

THE RANGIRIRI DEVIATION.

OPEN FOR TRAFFIC IN APRIL.

•'The Ranqiriri deviation will be open for traffic next April,” stated Air L B* Campbell, district engineer to the Public Works Department, when questioned regarding the progress of roading operations on this all-important sector. By that time, which meant the end of the summer, the whole of the deviation from Alercer to Ohincwai would be metalled and ready for through traffic. At the present moment, Air Campbell stated, supplies of metal were being received and put out on the road in all the quantities desired, while a few metalling contracts had been let near Rangiriri. The weather during September and October had been very much against the department, but with the advent of summer conditions tho work could be pushed on fairly expeditiously. The greater part of tho earthworks required had been completed, though portions still remained to be done in the immediate vicinity of Rangiriri township and in 1 fie notorious swamp on the deviation itself. By Christmas, however, it was fully expected that these works would be finished and ready for metalling. BAFFLING THE CAR THIEF. A novel method of baffling the attentions of tho car thief was recently published in the Light Car. Its merits are its simplicity, as any competent car owner can apply it, and its unobtrusiveness, in which lies the secret of its success. Briefly, it consists i merely in turning the ignition switch round so that tho ‘‘off ’ position appears to be the “on” and altering the petrol cock so that its active and inactive positions are also changed over. The latter can be arranged by filling the channel in the plug with solder, and drilling through at right angles. On leaving the car the petrol cock and ignition switch are left in the “off” positions. There is no lock to pick or key to lose; the car looks quite normal, but the person who tried to start tho engine without a hint of what was wrong would have to spend some time on tho car before he penetrated the secrets, and would thus expose himself to risk of discovery. In America they have discovert! that locks may be readily picked, while ignition locks are circumvented by disconnecting the earth wire. If there is no ignition lock and no apparent abnormality in the ignition system, the thief will not readily assume that this is the point to which ho should direct his attention. The same argument applies to the petrol supply, while the combination of the two would provide even a very determined thief with sufficient material for cogitation to last him a long time —far longer than he would care to take. Such a device also proves a source of innocent amusement for the owner’s friends who may bo invited to discover how to start the car. A test of this kind will show the readiness of most people, even experts, to “take for granted” and will teach them to give far greater attention to apparently unimportant details. BUS DRIVERS AT SCHOOL. Most of us riding in a motor bus on a greasy road, have wondered how the driver lias managed to save a nasty hump on the kerb when the hack wheels have done ilieir terrifying skid. This, it appears, is the result of special training (says the (’hildren’s Newspaper). Learners have to drive a bus round an asphalted playground on a section of which oil has been liberally spilt.. There is a baulk of timber representing the kerb, and at tile same lime insuring against disaster. The way a hump is saved is by first putting on the brake as the back v.heels skid to the left and (lion, suddenly, at the right moment taking off the brakes, letting in the clutch, and turning 'the front wheels left. The back wheels docilely follow as if by a miracle, and tile bus is on the straight again.