SPEEDING THROUGH

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 172, 11 October 1927, Page 6

SPEEDING THROUGH

Albs well that’s oiled well. Traffic police, pedestrians and other vehicles bear careful watching. * * * More than 2.700.000 American families possess more than one automobile. The poorest nations in the world today are those who spend the least on road construction. In 1926, 35,000 miles of road were surfaced in the United States. Motor taxation totalled over £142,454,000. Cars capable of 80 miles an hour have been built for Scotland Yard to help the police in their intensive warfare against motor bandits. The motorist who faithfully makes it a rule to stop at every railway crossing may lose a few miles a day at most and save lives. It is a small thing that means a great deal. A car equipped with accessories, bumpers, spotlight, shock absorbers, a good horn, and a windshield wiper will always give one more real pleasure on an extended outdoor trip.

The most important tip of all is this: Start a tour with your car in the very best possible mechanical condition, and with new or very nearly new, tyres.

Countries having most highway mileage are:—U.S.A., 3,001,825; France, 397,000; Germany, 200,000: England and Wales, 153,198; Australia, 104,764; Irish Free State, 54,000; Yugoslavia, 44,590; Italy, 43,337.

The first motor-car was driven from Adelaide to Darwin acros Australia, not by any noted explorer, but by a station owner and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Dutton, of Adelaide, who made this their honeymoon trip! If you find that, after working on your car, dirt which cannot be removed has accumulated under the finger-nails, on the next occasion fill them up before you start by scraping them along a piece of soft toilet soap. The feeling is an uncomfortable one, but the results are highly satisfactory. * * * A novel fitting has been installed ana sealed by police on Parisian taxicabs to prevent excessive speed. It maintains a discreet silence so long: as the cab maintains a discreet pace, but once the driver exceeds the speed limit the vehicle becomes a shrieking nuisance and advertises the drivers guilt. The whistle shrieks like a fire-siren. Approximately 250,000 cars, estimated to be worth about £43,000.000, were stolen in the United States during 1926, A fair number were recovered, but rarely were they in good condition, many being wrecked; and usually they were completely stripped of equipment. The loss was said to average at least £4O per car. . • * Apparently New Zealand is not the only place that is perturbed over the insufficient punishment for motor thiefs. Mr. P. W. Heath, acting-chair-man of Automobile Insurance Co., of Australia., Ltd. (Melbourne):—“As the volume of motor traffic increases, the number of claims increases more than proportionately, so also does the average of the amounts claimed. One of the chief causes of this is the laxity of the law concerning motor thefts."