MOTORING

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1935, Page 17 (Supplement)

MOTORING

USE OF IMAGINATION ANTICIPATING AN EMERGENCY. ' AVOIDING LAST-MOMENT BRAKING. (By "Spotlight”). Imagination is a power that the child possesses to a marked degree, but it is one*of the tragedies of life that with ; advancing years the gift becomes dulled. J Developed and used in conjunction with the driving of a car imagination will save endless last-moment wrenches at j the steering wheel and feverish stabs \ at the brake pedal. It, is sometimes said that a certain r driver has a gift for handling a car; ’ that driving comes to < him as easily . as any other natural accomplishment. . Perhaps that is so because some people [ are gifted in specific directions, . but in • nine cases out of ten the good driver is he who uses his imagination in such a way that he is ready and has a • counter-move already planned for an , emergency that he has anticipated. ’ The exercise of common sense alone will not make a,good driver, for it is an . attribute more applicable to something that has happened. Imagination is a ' quality that can relieve a driver from having to call on his common sense to extricate him from trouble and is worth far more than any rule of thumb method ' of coping with these crises that arise ’ during any run. When one drives behind a tram the ’ fact that a person leaves his seat in the tram means that it will stop within ’ a few seconds and the car driver may . ease up quietly to a stop behind the : tram instead of having to squeal to . a halt with locked wheels. A name plate ’ on a side road will cause the imagina- ’ tive driver to cast a roving eye along ; the hedges and probably catch a glimpse [ through a gap of another vehicle 'approaching the main road. The actions of a pedestrian crossing a side street , up which the main street driver has no J vision will nearly always indicate ’ whether the side street is clear or not. > People bti a crowded pavement, have 5 a habit of stepping on to the road for a few feet to avoid pushing through ' a bunch of others on the pavement. '■ Lorries should be given a wide-berth • while being overtaken as they in turn may swing out suddenly to pass • a \ cyclist or walker whom. the motorist : could not see. A glance' beneath cars ’ will disclose the feet and legs of some- [ one who is about to walk between the i cars from the kerb to the ■ road an 1 invaluable aid in a crowded street. 7 Playing children must be watched [ carefully for there are a hundred and 1 one different reasons why a child may ’ dash from one side of the road to the other. A cow can always be relied on 5 to place itself in the path of an oncoming car, • and a person making a ! dash for a bus, tram or train is oblivi- ’ ous to everything else. Watch railway signals when you are ! approaching a level crossing. A dropped signal means there ’is a train on. that section of line controlled by the signal, but a signal arm in a horizontal position does not always mean that the line is clear. It may be close te a station and may not govern the movements of the train that will catch you at the crossing. _ Farmyard gateways of freshly trodden mud indicate that stock passes in' and out frequently, probably because that ' farmer has land on each side of the road, and in the country delivery vans are likely to stop wherever there is a house and to pull in on the wrong side of the road or park on a blind comer. Railway station approaches may be regarded as a potential, source of danger as drivers of lorries' running to the station day in and day, out are apt to become- neglectful of main road traffic. Instances such as those given could be compiled indefinitely to the extent where memory could not retain a tenth of them to be put into effect. But an active imagination is constantly .with the driver who cultivates it, and every seasoned motorist can recall at least one occasion when he has expected the unexpected—and lived to tell the tale.

MOTORING MOVEMENT ■ ■■ -■ . /: UNNECESSARY PROTECTION. COMMUNITY STILL THRIVES.. ' (By Air Mail—Special Correspondent.) Does the motoring movement.in Great Britain . stand.-in any real danger from the recent trend of motoring legislation? The question is prompted by the advocacy in certain quarters of a “get-to-gether” movement for all car owners, the idea being that motorists should combine against, some unspecified common foe and do something about it—-exactly what is to .be done and how is not made clear. As Britain is, however, a democratic country where no law can be long enforced, which does not rest on popular support, it.seems to me that the common foe of motoring are motorists themselves in their capacity of ordinary citizens. ■ I have always resented this herding ,of motorists into a j particular class, like members .of some semi-secret society who cling jealously to certain privileges and who must combine to defend these privileges. The fact of the matter is that the whole agitation for the protection of motoring is absurd, for the simple reason that we cannot divide ourselves into two separate entities of motorist and citizen. As citizens we must support the administration of the day in any measures taken for the common good. If the measures fail to produce the promised effects a new situation arises, of course, and we can pitch into the administration for all we are worth—by constitutional methods. It is true that motorists pay a good deal in motor tax, that we must not exceed thirty miles per hour in certain areas, that we cannot park our cars wherever we like, that we are not given enough good roads for our money, and that much of this money goes into the ordinary , revenue pool for the benefit of all taxpayers whether motorists or not. THE COMMON GOOD. But when each of these matters is examined it emerges that basically each is intended to serve the common good. For example, what will it profit a motorist if more of the taxation money goes to the making a new roads and his income tax goes up as a consequence? What, again, is the good of being permitted to park a car for half an hour in a busy street when the next day we ourselves may be held up in the same street because of congestion to traffic caused by someone else’s parked car? There is even something to be said in favour of the speed limit. It has yet to prove its worth in reducing accidents, but meanwhile it ought to be given the benefit of the doubt. .

It is possible to be an enthusiastic motorist without taking up the attitude of an Ishmael with everybody’s hand against one. My own view is that not only is the motoring movement not in the slightest danger from legislation, so far as it has gone, but that it is thriving under modem conditions as it is inevitably bound to thrive. As the prosperity

of the people increases so do also the registration figures of private cars, the reason being that no form of locomotion can replace a mptor-car from the points of view of health, convenience, comfort and cheapness of transport. When I say cheapness of transport I mean, of course, the occupancy of a car by two or three people. It is sometimes suggested that a car is a depreciating. asset. So it is, but so, also, is a pleasure cruise ticket. Yet a pleasure cruise, like ownership of a car, may mean the adding of years to one’s life. The truth is that it is impossible to compute the benefits of car ownership in terms of money, though a good test may be furnished by comparison of doctors’ bills for some years before carownership and some years during carownership. The wider interests, the recreation and tlie convenience made possible by car-ownership more than make up for actual depreciation in monetary value. LEGISLATIVE BOGEY. It is because most motorists know these things that they decline to become unduly agitated by the bogey of possible restrictive legislation. They know that their enjoyment of a car cannot be sensibly lessened by anything any Government is likely to do except, of course, make car ownership impossible by reason of high special ’ taxation. But the tendency in this connection is the other way about, at present, for the car tax has been reduced by 25 per cent. In any case it may be taken for granted that no Government would desire to harrass an industry which contributes so lavishly to the national revenue and which gives employment, directly end indirectly, to a million people in Great Britain alone. Because of all these considerations I, and many more like me no doubt, decline to have anything to do with “get-together” movements directed against imaginary enemies of motoring. It will be time enough for motorists to combine when a more positive threat of restrictive legislation is forthcoming. So far it has not even emerged. It is probable that the 30 rn.ph. limit ■presses more on the sports car owner than on any other class of motorist, for the modem sports car is not designed to proceed for miles on end at less than “30.” It has a high-compression engine, necessitating “hot” plugs. Traffic stop's, followed by rapid acceleration at an ample throttle opening, do not trouble it, but a continued “crawl” on a whiff trottie, results in oiled plugs and consequent misfiring. A burst of speed at the end of the limit area may clear away the oil, but as often as not it comes too late. The Lodge company suggests that in the interests of running efficiency drivers of sports cars should keep a set of tour- x ing plugs for use when travelling in town, and a set of touring plugs for speed work -in the open country. The idea is not-to keep changing the plugs during the course of a day but to fit the touring plugs for the week-end.

BATTERY EFFICIENCY ONE WAY TO PRESERVE IT. QUESTION OF TEMPERATURE.. A motor-car battery is not nearly so efficient when it is cold as at normal temperatures. Although it may he fully charged, it is not capable of delivering its maximum power on days and nights when the thermometer is low. This is unfortunate, because it is in the winter that the battery is needed much more than when the days are long and warm. In the winter, lights are used more; engines take longer to start, and great is the consumption of current. Nothing drains a battery more effectively than an engine that is slow to start. Batteries may be to a large extent preserved for their important jobs of lighting the way, and of starting the engine, and of sounding the horn, by the simple procedure of draining out the, old engine oil and refilling with the correct winter grade of oil. A summer grade of oil is too heavy for winter use. It clogs the cold engine, making the job of turning it over to start a difficult and frequently a long'one. But an oil that is fluid at low. temperatures permits an easy and rapid turning-over of the engine—an essential to a quick start in the cold. With such an oil as the correct winter grade' of Mobiloil, there is no danger that the oil will be too “light” once the engine has thoroughly warmed up. Ordinary light oils may! give easy starting, but there their advantages cease, for they are apt to break down at high speeds and temperatures. The winter grades of Mobiloil, however, have a double-range quality, and do not thin out unduly even at high engine heats. They' give thorough protection at all times. '," The use of such oils throughout the winter saves the battery, at a period when it is most needed.