MOTORING NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 285, 5 November 1925, Page 2

MOTORING NOTES

Though South Australia, like Victoria, allows motor vehicles to slither past stationary trams that are setting down and taking in passengers, it falls much more heavily than any other State on tlio road hog. The procession of offenders through the ordinary courts in Adelaide has become so great in consequence that a Traffic Court is to bo set up. The opinion that the days of immense annual increases in automobile production and sale are past is expressed by the directors of 'a vast concern, an American corporation, in its report for 1924. The report predicts a reasonable but not sensational gain for 1925. It is stated that, assuming the average life of a car is six years, 2,000,000 cars must bo manufactured this year to replace those which have completed this period of service. At a dangerous spot in New Orleans, U.S.A., there has been erected a gigantic model speedometer. Jlay by day the figures on this dial are made to indicate the number of accidents which occur nearby. Perhaps the most common abuses to which the modern motor-cycle is subjected are overloading and trying to “do it on top.” The average owner seems entirely oblivious to the strains imposed, the consequent damage to his engine, and excessive tyro wear. Gears are provided to enable a rider to save his engine, so why wait until the machine starts to knock and labour before changing down If the cell of the battery goes dead there is a way to overcome this. After finding the dead cell by testing with a hydrometer or voltmeter hold a stiff iron bar—a wrench will do —firmly in contact with the posts of the dead cell and press the starter button. That closes the circuit of the live cells and furnishes enough current to start the motor. Thereafter the generator furnishes the current for ignition. V ith the advance of mechanicallypropelled road transport, the spirit of the road has changed. Many old-time riders say it has changed for the worse. Naturally, as the number of motors on the road increases, and the 'reliability of them becomes more assured, motoring is no longer an adventure. Many owners of motor-cars are no more “motorists” than passengers in a train are railway engineers. They use their cars in the same way as they would hire a taxi or step into a, lilt. It is not surprising, therefore, that it should sometimes bo said that the chivalry of the road is dead. Motor-cyclists aro usually enthusiasts. There is, however, now-a-days, a new type of utility rider who buys a machine purely as a means toward an end, but motorcycling breeds enthusiasm and even this type often becomes a keen rider. Knowing his machine and the little roadside troubles to which all engines are susceptible, ho will usually stop and endeavour to help a less fortunato wayfarer. Very often his help is not required, but tlio offer costs nothing, and helps to keep tlio old-time comradeship of the road alive (says an exchange).

AUTOMOBILE FATALITIES. AMEKICA TAKES PRECEDENCE. Aiitomobilo accidents in the United States during 1923 accounted for 16,000 deaths, but although this seems a large figure it actually indicates that the fatality rate is being lowered ■by the safety-first measures and traffic control schemes adopted within the last six or seven years. In 1917 there were 5,104,321 motor-veliicles in use in the United States, and deaths numbered 9184. In 1923 there were motor vehicles, so that between 1917 and 1923 there was an increase of 80 per cent in motor-vehicle deaths, but during the same period the number of vehicles in use increased 250 per cent. It is, however, astonishing that the statistics for 1923 show that there was an average of 22 i'atul motor accidents for each 12-liour period during the entire year. It is estimated that half a billion dollars are thrown away yearly in the United States through automobile accidents, duo mostly to carelessness of drivers or pedestrians or both. A national movement for greater safety has resulted in the elaborate cataloguing of accidents in certain American states. Reporting accidents is compulsory, and the parties concorned are required to fill in forms containing every possible detail. Under the heading of general information the driver is asked for tho complete address and exact location of the 'accident. He is asked to choose between ice, wet, good, snow, rough, mud, and sand as characterising tho road surface at the time; between straight, curve, uphill, downhill and intersection; and between clear, rain, snow and fog in describing the weather. He is given a choice between trolloy, railroad train, team bicycle, pedestrian, fence, telegraph pole, road, obstruction, or another automobile as the thing with which he became entangled. The condition of brakes, horns, and lights has also to bo supplied. Finally the motorist is invited to indulge in a literary effort of not more than ten lines, giving the circumstances attending the accident. When it is found that accidents are repeatedly happening at certain corners, an inspector is detailed to observe tho traffic, and to report on the probablo source of the danger. Statistics placed before tho annual congress of the American National Safety Council last month roveal that America’s death rate due to automobile accidents, loads tho world, being 14.8 fatalities for every 100,COO population, against 5.2 in England and Wales, 4.3 in Scotland, 4.6 in New Zealand, and 3.6 in Canada during 1923. Figures for 1924 show that for 158 American cities tho automobile accident death rate was 19.4 per 100,000 population, causing not less than 17,400 deaths in. automobile accidents not counting accidents which involved railroad trains or street cars and automobiles. Tho t>ll of human life taken by motor vehicles last year in tho United States, was at tho rate of more than two for every hour in the day.