HINTS and IDEAS

Northern Advocate, 7 December 1935, Page 7 (Supplement)

HINTS and IDEAS

What) To Take & What To Do

1 I The following tips to tourists have been compiled by General Motors New Zealand, Limited, in the hope that they will be of assistance to motorists in their holiday touring.

weeks on end, but when you want to use it you may find it out of order. In such case dry the windscreen and wipe over it a piece of common soap, smear it well all over, and then polish it with a dry cloth. Rain will run off without forming large drops, and a practically clear screen will result. The effect should last for a couple of hours. SAFE DRIVING. Alertness is the chief requirement for the driver on a holiday tour. He doesn’t know the road and its hazards, he is unfamiliar with local traffic customs, and at any moment he may be called upon to cope with a situation that he is not accustomed to meeting in his ordinary driving. Therefore if he does not concentrate on his job, he is much more likely to have a mishap than when he is travelling the old familiar roads around his home. Most driving over accustomed routes is done sub-consciously; the driver slows down for curves and busy intersections, halts at stop streets, and observes the traffic lights, without giving thought to them. This is the safest condition of driving, because it oermits the man at the wheel to b 4

experienced long-distance tourist thinks nothing of a run of four or five hundred miles a day, because he has learned how to rest and lelax during the run; whereas, many whose average driving is but a few miles daily in the city, or 100 miles on Sundays, becomes fatigued on an all-day trip, simply through failure to avail themselves of the refinements which the manufacturer has provided.

Fatigue is the chief cause of discomfort on a long tour, summer or winter; in the summer, heat and glare are added burdens. The manufacturer has come to the aid of the driver with improvements that enable the driver to combat these sources of discomfort, and the experienced driver has tricks of his own to bring further relief. The actual muscular effort required to drive a car all day is not great; the fatigue of a long drive results more from being forced to remain in a /fixed position than from actual expenditure of energy. You would get just as tired, of course, if you remained in an easy chair at home all day. The experienced driver will vary his position as frequently and as widely as possible, by moving the easily adjustable front seat back and forth, and by shifting his posture on the seat. Muscular effort in driving is chiefly in the operation of the pedals. The experienced driver will save a lot of energy in their use. It does not take much effort to depress the clutch and brake pedals, but to hold them down for extended periods is extremely fatiguing. Therefore, you won’t find a knowing driver waiting in gear at a signal, with the clutch pedal held down; he’ll be in neutral, resting his foot and leg. Similarly, at a halt on a grade, he’ will hold the car With the

hand brake, not with his foot. On long stretches of clear road, or on long climbs requiring full throttle, the driver may set the hand throttle and rest his accelerator foot by a change of position. On a steep down grade, he will save his braking muscles by shifting into second gear.

Combating hot weather also has us tricks. No-draught ventilating systems offer a wide variety of effects, but many drivers fail to reap full advantages. The rear windows of a sedan should be open, for instance, even if only the front seat is occupied- because it induces circulation of air throughout the car, from front to rear. A point to watch in hot weather is tyre pressure. Tyres inflated in the cool of the morning with cold air from a compressor tank will increase in pressure from the heat of the road and of running, and may become too hard for comfort.

On long drives, it is a good practice to halt by the roadside at regular intervals—say for five minutes every two hours—for a “stretch.” It helps too to get out of the car for a few minutes at stops' for petrol. Eye strain has much to do with the fatigue of driving. Use the adjustable visors of your car whenever possible, and wear tinted glasses to kill the glare of the road.