MOTOR NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 111, 11 April 1936, Page 6

MOTOR NOTES

Traffic control all over the world is advancing apace. Some of the inventions and innovations lately reported have at least the merit of being decidedly novel. Authorities in New Jersey are considering the compulsory wearing of red flashlight buttons on the sleeves of pedestrians walking out after lighting up time. The peak of the accidents caused by pedestrians in the city is declared to be about 7 p.m. o Plans have been submitted by a French architect to permit motorists to take their cars up to a restaurant on the second platform of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, about 400 ft. above street level. The plans comprise gigantic spiral roadways enabling cars to climb up and descend. An English motorist has just taken delivery of a light car fitted with three doors only, two' on the near side j and a wide one on tlie off side giving access to the driving compartment. He 1 claims this arrangement to have two advantages of safety; not only is driving visibility to the side improved, but rear-seat passengers can step out only on the near side.

SVhile in most parts of the world the motorist’s life is becoming an nnxiety because the horn must not be sounded, in Venezuela the motorist is soon in trouble if he does not do so, and loudly, too, at every street intersection. Incidentally, tlie late Dictator granted a monopoly of horns to a member of liis family who believed in the policy of making one’s presence known.

On the Hungarian section of the London-Istanbul transcontinental highway, telephone cabins will be fitted up air intervals for the use of stranded inbtor tourists*. When a foreign car crosses the fontier of Hungary, the driver will be given a key which opens every roadside cabin, and on leavftig Hungary at the ; frontier lie will have to give the key* back. This telephone service will be maintained from the income derived from the charge for the use of the telephone. SAFETY FOR PEDESTRIANS. GUARD RAILS ON FOOTPATHS. The British Ministry of Transport, as a further stage,in its campaign for the safety of the pedestrian, is about to co-operate with the boroughs, of Stepney and Poplar in a new use for guard rails along the edges of pavements. The three miles of the Commercial Road East and its continuation, the East India Dock Road, which lies between the junction with the Whitechapel High Street in the west to the Blackwall tunnel approach in the east, have long formed one of the worst “black spots” in the London area, and this new scheme provides for the erection of guard rails on both sides of this entire length. People on foot will be able to cross the road only at those special points where traffic lights, of the pedestriancontrolled type, will be. provided for their greater safety.

Up till now guard rails have been used only for important and complicated junctions, and for short lengths along the approaches to them. The systems outside Camden Town underground station, in Lewisham High Street, and at Hammersmith Broad-

way are the more important examples . of their application to London streets. These new continuous stretches are. an experiment, the results of W .” IC “ will lie closely studied by the Ministiy 8 with a view to their provision elsej where. Work oil the Poplar section 1 will he put in hand shortly. It is hoped that they will form a ' check to that “unconscious steppingf I off” from the pavement which is such }i a source of fatal road accidents, and p 1 they will certainly allow the motorist 1 to drive considerably nearer to the } kerb than he dares to at present, is calculated than an extra four yar of roadway will be made a fuller use 1 of in this way. i j DANGER OF CARBON MONOXIDE. I Most motorists are aware of the I I very grave danger involved in running 1 a car engine with the garage doors closed, because of the carbon monoxide gas, one of the deadliest known, contained by the exhaust fumes. Carj bon monoxide is particularly .dan- ; gerous because it gives no warning of its presence, and a victim to it is . overcome without feeling any preliminary ill effects. It is not so widely known however, that this gas makes its way into closed car bodies when the car is* in motion if given the opportunity, and the severe headache and feeling of lassitude which are the symptoms of what is generally known as “closed ear sickness” so often experienced oil a long trip, are really a very mild form of carbon monoxide poisoning. ( , . . This is most frequently experienced in cold weather, when the car is closed completely and the exhaust fumes, which creep through the pedal slots and other apertures in the floor hoards, have no chance of escaping. It is possible that many accidents to motor cars never satisfactorily explained, have been caused by this gas so affecting the drivers that their judgment has become impaired. In this regard,' therefore, the recent attempts which have been made by the designers of closed bodies to incorporate ventilating- systems which will keep the air inside the body constantly changing, are to he commended. Some of these ventilating systems are so efficient that in the cokl&st weather they can be adjusted to keep tli air moving in and out of the body without inducing unpleasant draughts. The motorist setting out on a long trip is well advised to see that the adjustable window panels are arranged to achieve this object, and on no account should he drive with the body almost hermetically sealed. RECORDS WITH DIESEL ENGINE. Captain G. Eyston,. recently awarded the Segrave Trophy, and Mr B. Denly, using an old Diesel motor bus engine installed in a. car chassis, created a number of long distance records for oil burning vehicles on Montlhery Track, near Paris, several weeks ago. Tlie pair covered 1000 miles at 97.89 m.p.h., 2000 miles at 96.43 m.p.h., and averaged 98.05 m.p.h. for twelve hours and 94.99 m.p.h. for 24 hours. Fog and rain during the last half of tlie run reduced tlie average speed considerably, still the performance was a good one and would have been better with a more modern type of Diesel engine. Eyston is easily the most indefatigable long distance record breaker in the world.