TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20426, 5 June 1928, Page 3

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

[The mattei under this heading l» pabat the request of. and ia supplied by. the United Temperance Reform Council in pursuance of the desire to inculcate the principles of temperance.] THE MAX AT THE WHEEL. Cora Frances Stoddard. The car has been bought and tested, the owner has won his license to drive, he has secured his license for the car. He has paid the State his license foe. The new number plates hang in the proper position. Headlights and tail lights are of legal pattern. He is ready to take to the road. About 15,000,000 of him take to the roads of the United States in a single year. With a little crowding, the whole population of the United States could be awheel at one time.

Most of these millions of drivers are careful. There are some who are naturally careless and reckless. There are a few who mean to drive carefully, but who are careless in their preparation. Here are a few of the risks they take; — THE MOUNTAIN ROAD.

John B.j while on a vacation trip, had been staying at a hotel on a difficult mountain read. Careful driving would be needed from the moment he left the hotel courtyard. About an hour before he was to start, a friend brought out four pint bottles of beer, and started to place two of them in the car. “ Divvy with me before you go, like a good sport,” he said. ‘‘Thanks, old chap," said John, ‘“l’m not priggish, but I know better than to take anything alcoholic when I’m starting to drive on a road like this. Didn’t you read about the British doctor who was trying out the effects of alcohol and found that an hour or so after drinking about what you’ve got there for me, he was extra clumsy when he began to do some hand 'work requiring skill and wall-con-trolled muscles? He wasn’t dogmatic about it, but he said that it looked as though one who started work an hour or so after taking a certain amount of alcohol might have at the: beginning a special liability to make mistakes and so to meet with an accident (1). And fliers was that American experimenter, who found that quart of light beer interfered with ability required to steer steadily a certain course (2). See that road out there? I’m starting soon, and this Johnny doesn’t propose to take any unnecessary chances of accident. So no booze for mo, old fellow.” - THE BABY’S SIGNAL.

Billy J. was speeding safely along a flat mid-western road. Only one car in sight. They meet, pass, and—a child hitherto hidden by the passing car slips out into the road so intent, on recovering her ball that she pays no attention to Billy’s car. The gleam of the flaxen head was a signal to Billy to do something, and to dn it quickly and surely. A quick turn of the wheel, the car just missed the baby, and Billy sat back white, but relieved. “Good thing, Billy boy, that you didn’t have any booze aboard,” said his uncle doctor from the seat beside him. “ Oh, well, I never drink enough to hurt,” said Billy. “ But for an instant I was rattled as to what to do.” “ Exactly the reason why a driver ought, not to drink,” said his uncle. “The scientific men in their laboratories have made tests measuring the time of answering signals down to a thousandth part of a second. They’ve tested men with alcohol and without it. and find 1 that even an ordinary amount of alcol*ol used by many drinkers slowt a man’s ability to act in response to a signal. If he has to decide what to do he may act more quickly when he has had a drink, but he is more likely to make mistakes, and so do the wrong thing. (3 The midget in the road was a signal to you. It’s mighty lucky for you and foi her that no booze was muddling your reaction time ever so little.” THE CUT-IN.

Dick was driving home carefully in an evening thick with mist. There was a queer noise about the car. He pulled off at the side of the road, stopped, and sat still in his seat till an approaching automobile should have passed. And that saved his life; for crash from behind came another car which would have hit him had he alighted. The offending machine struck an oblique blow, reeled on a few feet with crumpled wheel and mudguard, coming to a standstill at the very edge of an embankment 20ft above the river.

“What was the matter?” asked Mary when Dick had made his investigations. “ Chap miscalculated the distance,” he replied. “He thought he could slide in hetweeen us and the approaching car, and there wasn’t room. Luckily, he hasn’t hurt our car seriously. But he will have to .be hauled home. He had some boozo down. Oh, no, he wasn’t drunk. He had had just enough to dull his good judgment and to make him a little reckless. You know the ability to estimate distances with the eye has been tested with and without alcohol, and it was found that more errors in judging distance were made after taking the stuff (4). It takes a long time to get these facts into the heads of some people,” said Dick, as he turned his car into the road again. “ Sooner or later the fact will surely strike in that there’s no place for drink at the wheel with 15,000,000 automobiles on the roads. Really up-to-date folks understand that already.” THE SAFETY SIGNALS.

It was late in a foggy November afternoon. Down the street of the city came a powerful car. It had the right of way. Suddenly the driver slackened • speed. There in the avenue flashed a red light. So thick was the atmosphere that he was almost upon the signal post before he caught the signal. He must wait now for the green light which meant safety. Later at dinner he casually mentioned the experience and the difficulty of driving that day because there had been successive snow and rain and fog, each of which handicapped vision. “ Say, dad.” spoke up Tom, “ that reminds me of something we learned at school the other day. A chap at a university in Europe tested the ability of people to distinguish shades of red and green in signals. He tested these folks when they hadn’t had any booze and again after they had had some beer or wine or brandy, it was mighty interesting. He tound that after drinking no more than half a pint of beer the ability to distinguish shades of red and green was impaired; it was worse with the red than with the green. And the beer made more trouble than the same amount of alcohol in wine or brandy. . “ Then he did another test, tried 100 people to see whether a glass of beer would interfere with their ability to see a light appearing for only an instant. Almost half the people were affected by the beer somewhat, and 18 of them were considerably poorer in catching the flash of light. The doctor who had charge of the test concluded that there must be at ’east quite a number of people who do not see a signal quite as well after using alcohol (5). “ Seems to me, if this is true, its pretty risky for a driver to put down even a glass of beer before he starts out with his car.” “ Yes,” said his father, he might get through all right, but then, again, he mighnt’t. A man never knows whether that drug alcohol is going to affect him or not in some way that will trouble him. It acts differently with different people, and differently w;ith the same person under different conditions. And one thing is sure about motor driving—you never know what new conditions you may have to meet any minute.” “In other words,” said Tom, the driver needs to he in good working order well as the car.” —White Ribbon Signal.