Thoughtless Drivers

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6625, 11 August 1931, Page 2

Thoughtless Drivers

An experience of drivers of all types, extending over many years, has forced a contributor to “The Motor” to the conclusion that those who act foolishly ■through incapacity, impulsiveness or thoughtlessness are a greater danger to themselves and to others than is tho deliberate road-hog. This is a conclusion which will, of course, be challenged, but it will probably also find many supporters. The road-hog, he says, runs unwarrantable risks and his actions are often intensely irritating. Other drivers can (however, more or less count upon the dine which he is going to take, and can also feel fairly safe in assuming that Jie will have his wits about him, will know the width of his car to an inch, and wil lhave a good idea of its capacity for acceleration and retardation. In' comparison, the thoughtless driver Who never improves because he does not know that he is dangerous, constitutes a more serious menace.

To some extent it may be a matter of definition—one person’s idea of a iroad-hog may by no means correspond with tho picture that this term brings to the mind of another Nevertheless, every motorist can think of many acquaintances who could not be called read-hogs by any stretch of imagination, and yet who habitually drive in a manner which, put colloquially, “asks for trouble.”

A typical example of this class is the one-speed driver who never goes fast and who never goes slowly. Because 80 m.p.h. is his limit he is apt to look askance at friends who average a higher speed than this and who talk glibly of fifties and sixties. The one-speed driver, although quite unaware of the fact, is a far greater danger to others than those who travel fast where possible and take proper precautions where danger exists. You may see him coming out of a side-street turning without warning and emerging into the mainhoad traffic at his usual minimum speed of 30 m.p.h. in top great for the poor fellow’s steering capabilities, he will usually swing fairly wide so as to endanger both lines of traffic on the highway. Once on the main road the one-speed driver maintains his peaceful 30 m.pii. through thick and thin. If a lorry is in the way ho passes it without accelerating and without regard to the presence of bends, obstructions, or hump-backed bridges which may curtail forward vision. If he wants to turn off his hand will shoot out impulsively as the brakes go on, and tho next secone his car swings across without regard to overtaking traffic; and yet—tell him his methods are dangerous and he will be a picture of outrageous indignation! A lack of imagination is, of course, another very common fault, and leads people to act dangerously without the slightest idea that they are to blame. Examples of this class of driver are found in those who park cars on dangerous bends, leave vehicles stationary on the wrong side with headlamps blazing at night, and carry out repairs without regard to the convenience of other users of the highway. Taken to ■task, such people remark that the consequences “never occurred to them.” Last, but not least, there is the impulsive driver who means well but acts foolishly. Should a thought come into his mind action follows immediately and reflection some 15 second's too late. For example, the impulsive man will approach a fork in the road and at the last moment it will occur to him to look at the signposts. He had thought that he should take tho left-hand read, but suddenly notices that he is mistaken. 'Without an instant’s pause or a glanco in the mirror, he alters his course, to the imminent danger of following vehicles.