MOTORING NOTES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4042, 2 May 1938, Page 6

MOTORING NOTES

ROAD ACCIDENTS. BRITISH ANALYSIS. APPORTIONMENT OF BLAME. The British Ministry of Transport has issued an analysis based on police reports of 200,000 road accidents which occurred in the twelve months ended last March. These accidents resulted in over 6500 deaths and 230,000 cases of injury, ancL they have been analysed according to the kind of accident and the causes to which they were attributed. It is the first report m which nonfatal as well as fatal accidents have been analysed (states the “Daily 4 Telegraph”). Of the total number killed or injuied, about one-third were pedestrians, nearly as many were pedal-cyclists, and 11 per cent, were motor-cyclists. About 60 per cent, of the fatal and 76 per cent, of the non-fatal accidents happened on roads subject to a 30 miles an hour speed limit. While, pedestrians are held responsible for nearly 40 per cent, of fatal accidents—in which the evidence of the victim was usually lacking—they are blamed for only 30 per cent, of non-fatal accidents. Pedal-Cyclists are blamed for 23 per cent, of nonfatal cases and 17 per cent, of fatal. Otherwise the conclusions closely follow those of previous analyses. More than half the accidents occur on straight roads or open bends; most happen in daylight; they tend to be more severe though less numerous in open country than in built-up areas. Road conditions as a cause are found to be negligible. Of accidents attributed to drivers, the first of the ten principal causes is “emerging or turning from one road into another without due care.” Second is skidding; third overtaking improperly; excessive speed in the conditions rank sixth. The same first cause is given for pedal-cycle accidents, and inattention second. Of the accidents to pedal-cyclists, 37 per cent, of the fatal and 40 per cent, of the non-fatal occurred at uncontrolled junctions. Nearly half the pedestrian accidents in which pedestrians themselves are blamed are found to be due to “‘heedlessness of traffic” when crossing or walking in the road. The numbers recorded as crossing otherwise than by the marked crossing places represent 60 per cent, of those killed and 51 per cent, of those injured. The numbers killed on marked crossings were 3 per cent, of the killed and 5 per cent, of the injured. A total of 14,500 accidents is attributed to the fact that child pedestrians under seven years of age were unaccompanied or unguarded.

Saturday is the most dangerous day of the week, with—in summer— Sunday second. The most dangerous hour is between 5 and 6 p.m. The total number of accidents in which road conditions are given as the sole or chief cause is 2388, or a little over 1 per cent. More than 200 deaths and 9000 cases ">f injury resulted from accidents for which some failure or defect of the vehicles or their equipment was held responsible.

WINTER LIGHTING NEEDS. The need for efficient headlamps equipment is far more pressing on the dark, and sometimes wet, nights of winter than it is in the summertime, when a motorist can often drive quite happily with lamps improperly adjusted, and without causing much inconvenience to other road users. The important thing is to have the lights properly focussed. It is extremely common to find lamps in which the light beams themselves are reasonably well adjusted, but one or both of the lamps may be tilted, so that the beam or beams are improperly projected into the air. This is a condition which is extremely dangerous to other road users, intensifying the normal dazzling effect of the lights, but directing the beams straight into the eyes of approaching drivers. The traffic regulations call for lights with a beam that is flat and horizontal at the top. Anotner point about which th? motorist should be sure, is that the dipping mechanism is working properly. It is now being realised that frequent use of the dippers is essential to road safety. They are possibly the best solution of the dazzle problem which has yet been devised. The other requirements for a fully efficient equipment are a few but extremely useful spares, in the shape of a pair of extra headlamp bulbs, a spare tail light bulb, and some spare fuses. Sometimes a fuse will fail because of old age. CLEANING DISFIGURING MARKS When a car mudguard grazes some other object, usually another car, so lightly that the metal is not dented, but a streak of paint from that other object marks the area of impact and

disfigures the car, it is usually rather a simple matter to remove the blemish. It should be rubbed well with liquid car polish, briskly, using plenty of pressure on the cloth, and after a while the foreign paint will disapear completely. Another method is to rub the area affected with the special cutting compound used by coachpainters for brightening faded cellulose paint. CAUSE OF FLOODING. A most annoying and costly trouble is continual flooding of the carburettor, so that fuel constantly overflows the float bowl, and the rate of petrol consumption rises alarmingly. There are two usual causes of this the most common of which is wear between the needle and its seating, so that fuel can flow past when the valve is supposed to be closed. Frequently this trouble can be cured by dismantling the float operating mechanism, and gently grinding the needle into its seat with some fine abrasive such as that compound used for. cleaning kitchen utensils. The other cause is a punctured float, a small hole appearing through some fault in manufacture, so that petrol enters the float, makes it heavy, and • prevents it from rising with tne fuel level in the bowl, and closing the valve. The cure nere is to remove the float, make another small hole in it so that the air can get in as the petrol is drained out, and then to fill both holes with solder, using as little as possible, so as not to interfere too much with the original weight.

SCREEN WIPERS. WINTER NECESSITY. MAINTENANCE POINTS. Within the next few months, every motorist will find the screen wiper an absolute necessity for safe and comfortable travel on the many days of inclement weather which may be expected. Wipers must be kept in perfect condition in order that they may work satisfactorily whenever they are wanted, not only the operating mechanism but the wiper blade or blades must be efficient, and the wiper should be examined and, if necessary, put into good condition before the winter weather sets in. First of all, the blades themselves should be examined. It is possible that after last season’s use, the rubbers will be worn to such an extent that they are no longer wiping the screen efficiently. It is possible sometimes to correct this. Bend the metal frames of the blades so that they make a good, firm contact on the glass for their entire length. On the other hand, these blades cost only a shilling or so each, and possibly the most satisfactory measure is to replace them. There is a new type of blade on the market, in which the rubber wiping member consists of a tube with radiating ribs. This is considerably more efficient than the old single lubber strip type, and as it costs very little more than the standard form, it is worth while investigating its possibilities. Efficiency of Mechanism. When satisfied that the blades are really wiping the screen efficiently, the next step is to make sure that the operating mechanism can be depended upon to work without trouble when it is required. In many cars produced during the last few years the wiper is operated by an electric motor placed in an extremely inacessible position beneath the scuttle, behind the centre of the instrument board. In most cases, this motor is a reliable design, but when it has been out of use for a considerable period—such as during a long spell of fine weather—the fine oil in the bearings is apt to become gummed, or a light sprinkling of dust will settle on the commutator, and when the wiper is switched on it will not work. To clean the motor is a matter of extreme difficulty, owing to its inaccessible position. It is necessary to remove the cover on the end and clean the commutator and work the armature to free it from the gumming oil. When the wiper motor is placed under the bonnet and drives the blades through flexible cables, this difficulty does not arise. In order to prevent such trouble, the motorist should make a practice, winter and summer, of cleaning the screen thoroughly every morning, and then operating the screen wiper. By this means, gumming will be prevented and dust will not have a chance to settle. The Suction Type. For a year or two, the electric wiper was practically the only type in use, but, beginning vzith last yea£, many manufacturers returned to the suction type, operating from the vacuum in the manifold. The latest designs of this type of wiper are very good and reliable, but most still suffer from the old objection to t.iis type that they go out of action when the throttle is opened for acceleration or hill climbing. This eliminates the vacuum in the mani-

fold, which exists when the throttle is held at a steady partial opening, but the fault can be largely eliminaed by fitting some sort of reservoir between wiper and manifold connection to retain sufficient vacuum to keep the wiper working on those occasions when the throttle is opened. This reservoir is standard equipment on some of the more expensive models.