TOUBLESOME OIL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20511, 1 September 1936, Page 6

TOUBLESOME OIL

TRAFFIC GOES FOR A SLIDE

CONCERN IN STAFFORD STREET Oil has a quietening effect on troubled waters they say, but when a quantity of it is applied to bitumen, and that bitumen happens to be a busy thoroughfare, there is scope for plenty of trouble. This was the case in Stafford Street North about 7.45 last night when a fairly early model car, apparently In need of attention under the bonnet, was wheezing its way along Stafford Street in a southerly direction. Suddenly, when practically opposite the Dominion Hotel, there was a crack as though a connecting rod had poked its way through a crankcase, and out flowed the trouble-making oil. The car was pushed to the side of the road, but the oil, gushing freely, immediately found its way down the natural slope of the hill on the darkest side of the street. The first victim was a motor cyclist. As soon as his front wheel touched the treacly surface he applied the brakes hard and the fun started. The machine was soon unmanageable and the erstwhile rider found himself clutching the rear portion of his machine as he slithered down the unexpected track. Fortunately he was uninjured, but his clothes were in immediate needs of a dry clean.

Push cyclists were the next unsuspecting victims, and two or three of them registered cries of amazement as the rubber tyres of their machines were in doubt as to which way to go, and an oil bath or the big slide was definitely on. Cars also gave exhibitions of broadsiding and tail swinging in quick succession. The drivers were bewildered. The area was fast becoming a danger trap and as the traffic increased tyres picked up a certain amount of oil and carried It further. Soon there was easily a chain of greasy road surface.

Timely Traffic Signals

The wife of a nearby shopkeeper was seized with the seriousness of the position when she emerged from her doorway in time to see a well-known citizen give an unrehearsed exhibition of trick cycling, only to ruin a perfectly good overcoat. Oil soaked through a cuff to his shirt. She decided after this a few traffic signals were called for. Motorists and other users of the road might have been amazed at her shouts of “keep off the oil,” but they soon realised that they were being given “the right oil.” In the meantime her husband communicated with the Timaru Borough Council.

A quantity of earth from the flower plots at the top of the bay was brought into commission to de-oil the surface of the street, and after this was done traffic was able to proceed as serenely and as safely as before. Owners of oily coats, it Is said, would have given anything in the heat of the moment to have laid hands on the owner of the car. But how could he help it? It might be cheaper to buy a new overcoat than a new crankcase, or, as someone suggested, a new car!