THE CROSSING PERIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE CROSSING PERIL.

warning: to drivers. Railway crossing accidents involving motor vehicles «we decreasing, and it is to bo hoped that the campaign initiated by the Railway Department seven weeks ago has impressed motorists with the necessity for a higher standard of care. Nine crossing accidents out. o? ten are attributaolc to gross negligence on the part of the motor vehicle driver. Ihe average foi the year to date reaches the alarming rate of one crossing accident per week for the Dominion. There have , been eight deaths since the beginning of the year, and over 20 persons have been injured in crossing collisions during the same period. There . have been dozens of " close shasves, and 'many prosecutions have resulted tor j a!l ' ure'to obey the ultimatum to btop. Look, and Listen." Altogether, nearly motor vehicles have been either wrecked or badly damaged through collisions with trains at crossings during the last 11 months. The year started very badly | with 18 crossing accidents during the tirst three months, involving seven deaths and injury to 13 persons. During the second quarter there were nine accidents m which one person was killed and six weie injured. Since the end of June a considerable improvement has been noted, and about a dozen accidents have, been recorded in the five months. There was no. fatality, and injury resulted in but two or three instances. There is proof that drivers of lorries and trucks exercise less care at railway crossings than the average motorist. Their greater negligence is probably due to the fact that they are usually driving for wages and do not have the same respect for their vehicles as the car owner. This view is endorsed by records of ordinary city street collisions which reveal that drivers of commercial vehicles are »iot the safest men on the road. It might be saio that the noise of the average truck renders it difficult to hear the whistle of an approaching train, but this does not relieve the driver from the responsibility to. ?' Stop and Look."' Of the 38 crossing collisions recorded by the Hehald thiii year, 18 involved motor cars, 16, lorries and trucks; and 3, horse vehicles, while in one case a motorcycle was concerned. Since motor cars in the Dominion outnumber commercial vehicles • by more than i'our tu one, the toal of 16 accidents to commercial motors does not compare well with 1!J cases in which cars were concerned. ,' The number of narrow escapes reported by drivers of locomotives would provide an interesting figure, and if the Railway Department wished to make an impression oti motorists, the number _of narrow escapes reported by locomotive drivers, aiid the aggregate iij' fines collected, would make an impressive figure on the rather stereotyped warning posters which are being displayed. < ; CONTINENTAL CASS. British motorists are familiar with the majority of French and Italian cars, but there ! were several continental cars of njore interesting origin on exhibition at the Olvmpia ...Since soma of the makes were ii dfeided Jcohtnbution to progressive design, they were •welcome? Tlie German Mercedes was shown.;Sii. four different powers. Several of the cars were fitted with superchargers as standard. A large six, rated at. 33 h.p., ■was stated to develop 180 h.p. when using its supercharger. The chassis was priced at £IBOO, so that there was no danger of this car reducing the sales of British cars of more orthodox design. The AustroDaimler, rated at 22-100 h.p., was a novel Austrian, production, but its price of £IOSO placed it out of ' the running as a serious competitor to popular British makes. An Austrian lisrbf six, the Stevr, was offered at £440 and £BOO. The Belgian industry was,well represented. There was the Excelsior at £SSO, the F.N. at £320, the Imperia at £295, the Metall£s2s, and the , famous Minerva sleeve valvp in various powers, pneed ..- from £420 to £1075. The only Spanish car was a 27 h.p. Hispano-Suiza, priced at £llsO for a six cylinder chassis without a body. Switzerland was represented .by the Martini, a six-cylinder car, for £750. The sole Tri«h. production was the Chambers, at £645. Judging from the prices of these cars, it would seem that the English manufacturer need still regard America, Italy and France as his only competitors. MAGNETO DESIGN. The magneto was originally the production of British inventors, but at the time of revelation which came to Britain in 1914 it was realised, perhaps for the first time definitely, how completely British firms had allowed the magneto industry to pass out of their hands to foreign competitors, principally to the great organisation founded by the wellknown German engineer Robert Bosch. Immediately a need arose for British made magnetos for aeroplanes and army transport vehicles of all kinds, and the British Thomson-Houston Company, Limited, decided! to devote to the production of such magnetos their accumulated experience in the invention and manufacture of electrical apparatus. Modern engine design constantly tends toward higher (speeds and higher compression ratios, so that the service required from a magneto becomes continually more severe and oxacting This is an important point to be taken into consideration when comparing the perform ance of pre-war magnetos with those manufactured at the present day In six-cylinder engines, with the ordinary rotating armature magneto running at times engine speed,, it is not unusual for the normal mapneto speed to be 4000 r.p.m. against 3000 r.p.m in pre-war days. The increased electrical stresses imposed on thd windings due .to the higher compression ratios, combined with j these higher speeds, must naturally have i a serious effect on the life of the mag neto.