HOW ARE YOUR BRAKES?

Northern Advocate, 11 August 1934, Page 12

HOW ARE YOUR BRAKES?

TEST FOR MOTORISTS. HOW IT IS DONE. Motorists, are your brakes good? That is a question you will have to answer, and you will have to back up your statement by a practical demonstration at some time in the near future. It is now compulsory to have car brakes tested, and there are three inspectors at work on Northern roads to put you through that test. Yesterday they were operating on the Mattnu Road, and the “Advocate’ ’ sent out a ear to go through the process. Here it is.

Firstly you will be called on to stop, and an inspector yvill board your vehicle. You will be told to brake- at a. certain time, and if, in the opinion of the inspector, the efficiency of your braking system is questionable, there is a further test, and one, which this time, will judge to the inch. A wheel, for all the world like a bicycle wheel, but with a series of cogs and flexible tubes as part of the equipment, will be. clamped to your car. The inspector will take a seat beside you, and will nurse an accurate speedometer. At 20 miles an hour you will be asked to brake, and immediately you do so, the inspector will trip a catch, and when you have stopped will go back to inspect-the road surface. The tripping of the catch works an arrangement, like a grease gun, and the moment it is tripped, a piece of red lead is squirted on to the road. That marks the spot where you started braking. With a tape measure, the inspector will then find out the exact distance in which you pulled your vehicle up. Then will come a. certificate of fitness, or a warning to get your brakes properly adjusted, or, in extremely bad cases, a summons.