A.A.A. INFORMATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19412, 21 August 1926, Page 10 (Supplement)

A.A.A. INFORMATION.

PRIVILEGE OF MEMBERSHIP. The Auckland Automobile Association's information bureau has been busy answering inquiries concerning the Mercer floods and general road conditions. The service officer has been on the job into tho small hours in order to secure the latest information. It is not uncommon for non-members to make exhaustive inquiries at the A.A.A. bureau, and some motorists who do not think it worth while to spare the nimble guinea for membership are among the most insistent applicants for information concerning roads. For the convenience of A.A.A. members the service officer's residence was recently connected by telephone. Inquiries are now being received late at night from non-members. It is hard to imagine any self-respecting motorist seeking for the advantage for which other motorists have organised and paid. The A.A.A. would not be acting in fairness to its supporters if time was wasted in answering inquiries from those who avoid membership. To check this, the A.A.A. has resolved that when making inquiries at the bureau members should produce their identification cards. When seeking information by telephone, members will be required to give their names. If members will take this trouble to identify themselves, they will have the satisfaction of restricting the service of the A.A.A. to genuine inquirers. The A.A.A. has arranged to supply road reports for radio broadcasting on Friday evenings, but this free service does not entail the trouble that is caused* by innumerable inquiries.

PARKING NEEDS. The A.A.A. has voiced a need in asking the city council to declare a parking area in the vicinity of Fort Street. There is no traffic in this part of the city after 7 p.m. and some leniency might be shown. As long as no comprehensive parking provision is made, the authorities should be content to enforce the regulations to the letter in Queen Street, and such thoroughfares only. It is absurd to prosecute the motorist for night parking in a deserted street merely because the traffic is considerable during the day. There are several,streets in which some latitude could be allowed after 7 p.m. Tho 20 mjnute limit is necessary in Customs Street during the day but this thoroughfare could accommodate scores of vehicles after dark. MOTOR HANDBOOK. A new edition, the twenty-sixth, of " The Motor Manual " has just been infroduced. Its main features are that it has been largely rewritten and illustrated on entirely new lines and will particularly meet the requirements of the ever-increasing numbers of new motorists who require a comprehensive hand book on car construction and management written in simple non-technical language that can be easily understood.

. ACCIDENT CAUSES. The 'director of traffic of ■ Detroit, the most intensely motorised city in the world, sets down accident causes in the following order of importance: — 1. Took right of way from other driver. 2. Skidding. 3. Exceeding the speed limit. 4. Failure to signal intent. 5. On wrong side of the highway. 6. Cutting corners. This general report is based on data from ninety different cities, with a combined population of 37,000,000. SHOOK ABSORBERS. To ascertain whether the frictional shock absorbers on a car havo been tightened sufficiently before starting on a journey, it is necessary to test them by driving the car at usual touring speed over an average road, tightening or slackening the shock absorbers to suit requirements. If one habitually drives fast, the best plan is to tighten them up fairly well, so that there is very little movement when you bump up and down, standing on the front or rear dumb-irons. For town work it will probably be found more comfortable to slacken the absorbers a couple of divisions. NOTES. An analysis of carbon deposits from average engines shows:—Carbon, 67.4 per cent.; oil, 20.4; mineral, matter, 8.1; pitch, 4.1. Motor exports from Britain suffered a slump in April, the total value of £626,348, being only two-thirds of the March value. Worthing Town Council, England, proposes to set apart twenty-three public parking places, providing accommodation for about five hundred cars. Though we carry a spare wheel it is desirable that would-be lifters of this component should understand that it is not literally a wheel to spare. To prevent abuses in state forests, fishing resorts or shooting country, tourists in California are required to obtain campfire permits. The Californian Automobile Association is empowered to attend to the permits for motor campers. i The periodic patching of Grafton Bridge is only causing traffic congestion without achieving a lasting result. The Auckland City Council is no doubt rather chary of resurfacing the entire bridge, but this has been admitted to be the only effective course. In the meantime, pedestrians suffer the discomforts of splashing from carelessly-driven vehicles. Those who drive in. the gutters in wet weather are more deserving of .penalties than the man who might attain an indiscreet but perfectly safe 20 miles per hour. Motor-cycling, Page 12.