Motor

Manawatu Times, Volume 59, Issue 272, 20 November 1934, Page 9

Motor

ROADSIDE CHIPS. One of the commonest troubles with cars that have seen several years of service is that the clutch podal clearance has become too small. As the springs havo lost their tension, the clearance has become less than the recommended minimum of one inch on l most cars. It is bound to cause clutch trouble. A regular miss in one cylinder usually is duo to a defective spark plug. It it were possible to set half a dozen men to drive identical cars over a given distance, all conditions boing the same, it would be found that no two of them had used exactly the same amount of petrol. The human element/ is undoubtedly an important one, and a method of driving can be adopted which will effect a substantial saving in fuel. When approaching your car after it has stood for some time, make it a habit to look on the floor or the street underneath the car. If there are spots or pools of water or oil, investigate at once. Continual dripping indicates leaks or worn bushings. A sudden inspection of one’s driving practices may prove illuminating. For instance, the next time he stops at a traffic signal tho motorist, by making a sudden check, might find himself riding the clutch. EDUCATION BEST In suspending sentence on 257 driver arraigned for motor violations, and giving them copies of the traffic rules of the city instead of fines, Mr. Greenspan, a New York magistrate, lent impetus to the establishment of a traffic violators’ school. Such schools, where those guilty of minor traffic offences are sent instead of being fined or imprisoned, arc functioning in Detroit, St. Louis, Minneapolis and other cities, and the plan is being seriously considered in Chicago. It is actively advocated in New York by the Automobile Club there, and has won the approval of police officials, judges, and safety experts.

"I want you to leave tho court in the knowledge that the Magistrate’s Court of tho City of New York does not exist solely for the purpose of fining you,’’ Mr. Greenspan told the crowded courtroom. “I believe that many of you, whether you are summonsed here for incorrect parking or driving at great rates of speed, do not really know what the existing legal parking or speed regulations of this city are. That is why I am giving you this chance to learn these laws, rather than simply exacting a fino and sending you out of this courtroom poorer but none the wiser.”

This action, which the magistrate himself characterised as “radical,” was, he added, a compromise between the existing system of finding violators and the system ho would like to see implanted, giving the judge the choice of sending offenders to traffic school where they might learn safe and sane driving habits.

Mr, Greenspan said lie was donviuced that education would do more than fines to stem the tide of motor accidents. “You can no more hope to make motorists obey traffic rules by simply fining them than you can hope to make a small boy hate jam by giving him a sound thrashing,” he said. “Education, not merely tho indiscriminate exaction of lines, is tho logical medium of simultaneously reducing tho city’s annual appalling motor death and accident toll and relieving the disgraceful congestion which now exists in tho city’s traffic courts.”

Plans have been completed for tho establishment of a school for the city and to this offenders may 'elect to bo sent, subject, of course, to the approval of the magistrate, Thero is a clear line of demarcation between offenders guilty of minor infractions and offenders of a more serious kind. In the event of being sent for the course of lessons the offender would have to attend all the sessions, and, 'moreover, would be required to average at least 70 per cent, at examinations in order

By “Radiator.”

to pass. Those who succeeded would be given a certificate; failure to “graduate” would entail a fine. The school schedule at present mapped out is four sessions of two hours each, held weekly. PETROL SAVING Hints for motorists -who want to get more milos to tho gallon aro contained in a report released by engineers of an American oil company after a three months’ exhaustive run of specially equipped test cars. Tho report reveals that there is a wide variance in the mileage obtained from the same ear and motor spirit under varying speeds, temperatures, road conditions, and different drivers. Among the findings are the following:— 1. The average motor vehicle attains its best mileage from motor spirit at a speed of 20 to 25 miles an hour. Then the mileage drops constantly until, at 60 miles an hour the mileage is cut almost in half. 2. Maximum mileage is obtained after the engine has been running about 1J hours. The difference in mileage between a cold motor and ono that has been warmed up is about five miles per gallon. 3. Motor oil that is too heavy will cut mileago down by one to two miles per gallon, while a lighter weight oil increases mileage by eliminating oil drag and by giving more thorough lubrication. 4. The motorist going up a 10 per cent, grade will lose as much as eight miles a gallon, and on a 5 per cent, grade as much as four miles a gallon. 5. The difference between going with a 20-mile wind and against a 20-mile wind is three miles a gallon. 6. Concrete and asphalt roads give tho best mileage, with hard dirt, hard oil, crushed rock and gravel, sand and mud roads next in order. The temperament and experience of tho man or woman at the wheel is a very important factor. The man who declutches or freo wheel averages an extra mile or two per gallon, compared to the average good driver. Tho man who idles his engine incessantly, uses his brake excessively, or runs his engine needlessly loses as much as two miles per gallon.

IGNORANCE A FATAL FAULT Want of knowledge in some particular direction is responsible for most of tho accidents on the roads. The motorist who takes a car too fast round a bond and collides with a; vehicle proceeding on its lawful occasions, in the opposite direction, is ignorant of the fact that that bend had a limit beyond which it was danger to negotiate it—the man who takes it too fast is ignorant of his own ignorance. It is ignorance that causes the kerbshy driver on good main roads to keep away from the kerb; he does not know where it is in relation to his car. A little experiment would make him a better driver.

Ignoranco is responsible for' many au accident to pedestrains, who do not know how quickly a car approaches even when it is travelling at a low speed, or how long it takes for a pedestrian to cross a road. A little observation would provido the knowledge that might prolong their lives. It is ignorance that it responsible for so many cyclists using inferior rear reflections and opposing the suggestion for their own safety that they should carry rear lights. They know nothing of their narrow escapes when motorists, out of courtesy to other roadfarers have dimmed their lights only to find a cyclist, with a poor reflector, in their path. Ignorance is largely due to apathy, but in some cases antipathy is responsible. Neither is permissible in modern life. We cannot please ourselves; we owe something to our fellow men, and have responsibilities toward them. We are shirking those responsibilities and the duty of citizenship if we cause an accident, through ignorance in any direction.