DAZZLING LIGHTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19275, 13 March 1926, Page 10 (Supplement)

DAZZLING LIGHTS.

HEADLAMP ADJUSTMENT.

A by-law aimed at the prevention of the evil of dazzling headlights was passed by the Auckland City Council last year. The regulation stipulated that tho maul beam of reflected light should not lie higher than sft. 6in. above the ground at a distance of 75t't. Every effort was made to encourage motorists to have their headlights- adjusted after testing at the site appointed. The response was poor, the majority of drivers choosing to ignore tho by-law. Since it would be impracticable for the C'itv Council to conduct a systematic testing of every licensed vehicle at night, hundreds of cars with lights which do not comply with the regulation continue to increase the accident hazard. The Hamilton branch of tho A.A.A. is now conferring with the borough council traffic inspector with a view to initiating a similar by-law. Motorists who ignore the _ regulation may bo immune from prosecution, but it should be remembered that in the event of a collision between vehicles at night, tho question of dazzling lights is usually raised. It is then an adequate defence to the allegation to- establish that tho headlamps havo been tested on tho council ground. AUTOMOBILE STATISTICS. AMERICAN PRODUCTION. There wero 3,833,000 automobiles produced in tho United States last year. This was an increase of 19 per cent, on tho figure for 1924. ' Closed cars were represented by 56 per cent, of the total for 1925. The wholesale value of the automobiles produced last year was two and a-half billion dollars. The average retail price of tho cars was 866 dollars. The number of cars- exported in 1925 was 550,000, or approximately one-seventh of tho output. The export business was an increase of 44 per cent, over 1924. The wholesale value of tyres produced for tho vear was 886,700,000 dollars. Parts and accessories were % r alued at 1,000,000,000 dollars. There were 3,200,000 persons employed in tho motorvehicle and allied industries. Taxes collected by tho government from the industry totalled 126,552,000 dollars. There aro now seventeen and a-half million cars registered in the United States. This is about 80 per cent, of the cars in the world. There aro 47,000 car and truck dealers in America, and 55,000 public garages, service stations and repair shops number 75,100. THE BRITISH OAR. INCREASE IN AUSTRALIA. It will surprise most motorists to learn that Australia imported 74,939 automobiles for the year ending June, 1925. This moans that during that twelve months cars were imported for every 100 of the population. A striking feature of this big importation is the remarkable jtimp that the British car has made in public estimation during the last two years. For the year 1922-23 only 1406 British-made cars were brought into the Commonwealth, whereas in 1924-25 the number had moro than trebled, to 6017. During these two years imports of cars from U.S.A. have doubled, while those from Canada have declined. For the year 1925 New Zealand imported 2882 British cars, as compared with 1015 in 1924. CONCRETE ROADS. THE IDEAL SURFACE. Visitors to Auckland comment on the short section of the Great South Road under the jurisdiction of the One Tree Hill Road Board, where the continuity of concrete is broken by a stretch of indifferent metal. It seems a pity that the One Tree Hill Road Board did not fall into line with the policy of the Otahuhu Borough Council and the Mount Wellington Road Board, and push this work through six months ago. Statistics reveal that the concrete road ensures the most economy in petrol consumption. Tests with a number of lorries in America showed that they achieved 11.8 miles to the gallon on concrete, and only 9.5 miles on bituminous macadam. On an earth road the figure fell to 5.9 miles. Records of roads carrying over 2000 vehicles daily, showed that the maintenance costs of concrete roads were only 27.4 per cent, of those of macadam surfaces. Tho skid risk is also less on cement concrete. # English custom is to cover concrete surfaces with a bitumen carpet. In wet weather it assumes a glaze which is conducive to violent skiding. There are only 300 mile 3 of concrte roads in Britain. America has 44,000 miles. UNLAWFUL CONVERSION. CONVICTING THE JOYRIDER. Legislation in Britain dealing with the unlawful use of motor-cars is still unwieldly. The futility of prosecuting every offender for straightout theft was appreciated several years ago in Now Zealand, 1 as a result of which the charge of "unlawful conversion" was provided for. This makes it possible to punish tho unauthorised user of a car even if he only borrows it for a few hours and leaves it undamaged. In a recent Sussex police court case a man charged with stealing a car, successfully offered tho defence that he had "borrowed" tho car only for a joyride. The admission would have probably earned the joyrider a month's imprisonment in a New Zealand court.

Motor-cycling;* Page 12.