SHALL MOTORISTS HAVE MUSIC?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 277, 23 November 1936, Page 10

SHALL MOTORISTS HAVE MUSIC?

EARS ago the Federal ion of Radio Associates peered through long-range field glasses into the future of radio. The picture they saw was that of a speeding automobile leaving in its wake a faintly, mysterious ripple of music, writes W. Clifford in the ‘‘Christian Science Monitor.” Someone banged a fist down on a tal.de. Then like a new and popular jazz song, the idea of the automobile radio spread through the convention hall. And the doors swung open to a new field of accomplishment for automotive engineers. That, in less than the proverbial nutshell, is the story of radio's initiation as an adjunct to the American automobile. To-day. 2,500.000 cars pound over macadamised lanes to the accompaniment of jazz, symphony orchestras, and ‘be high-powered detonations of candidates for public offices. Park anywhere along a city street and listen to the cars click by. One out of everv 10 or so has added a whirl of ”.*idio programmes to lhe customary automobile wake of whirring tires and humming motoru. Now give ihe imagination a free ride up to the congested traffic corner of the future, where, every car will probably be tuning in on recipes for summer salads, latest discoveries in the stratosphere, or the newest dance music. The resultant confusion of sound might well make the police siren sound like the purr of those new 16-cylindcr engines. Of the many possibilities of highway confusion, inherent in the radio, ihe traffic safetv expert is not unmindful. The picture he sees through the lens of the future is somewhat different from the original seen by radio engineers. The motorist has only one hand on the driving wheel. The other gropes for the radio dial. The driver’s eyes have tempararily left the mad. A warning signal sounds ahead. But the motorist’s ears are for the radio. Besides, could he expect to hear the warning in competition with a loud-speaker? Facts are now available either to prove or disprove this picture. Nevertheless, the picture as drawn has thrust itself between the automobile radio and its full and unprejudiced acceptance by the driving public. This public now

asks the pertinent question “What part does radio play in the annual toll of United Slates highway accidents now comparable to American losses in the World War?” So rapidly has the car radio stormed and taken the public citadel that efforts to regulate its use are negligible by! comparison. Hence, for the moment at least, the car radio virtually enjoys the full freedom of the highways. But safety education inarches on. And as this story goes to press, car radios in many communities are running the gauntlet of modernised safety tests, analysing the influence of every new automotive gadget upon the driver’s ability to handle a ton and a half of steel, capable of mile-a-minute speeds. Curiously enough, it is largely the motorists who want to know the effect of radio upon highway safety. This is a distinct tribute to sponsors of attempts to instill safety into the public consciousness. Fifty-six per cent, of New York City’s motorists voting in a poll conducted by the Automobile Club of New York voted against the car radio as a distraction to the driver, a distraction to drivers in other cars, and just another noise in a noise-conscious city. Likewise, New York banned the use of radios in buses, voting for safety in preference to the entertainment of bus passengers. On the other hand, th© Minister of Transports in London recently decided that ‘‘no evideifce has been found to suggest that the us© of car radios should be prohibited on grounds of safety.” With these and other similar conflicting testimonies adding to the perplexity of safety authorities, the need for an official and accurate study of car radios and their effect upon safety grows more apparent-. luiglaud o*uu

RADIOS IN MOTOR CARS

Are They a Danger or Not?

afford to wan, since car radios have not been popular there. Out ot SO(J radio-equipped motorcars recently shipped into England by an American firm, 80 per cent of the radios were removed at the request of buyers. ; A decidedly different picture presents itself in America. One of the largest ; car dealers told the writer that radios . would be standard automobile equipment, like spare tyres, within throe ; years. Lienee, the radio safety issue [ promises an immediate flare-up. ■ Analytical safety machinery has re- , veal that drivers do not react instaii- ’ taneously to highway hazards. It. takes ; three-quarters of a second, at the least. • lor an alert driver to get his foot tc . the brake, let alone push down the , pedal, alter glimpsing trouble ahead. l On that basis, a car going 60 miles an hour covers some 66 feet before the driver even starts to stop. At 60 m.p.h. the average driver requires a stopping distance of not less than 222 feet. Granting all this, how’ much more room is needed to stop by the motorist who mixes his driving with spashes of 1 radioed symphonies and news flashes? 1 Changing the dial requires lifting one hand from the driving wheel and mo- ■ mentarily taking one’s eyes off the road. ; True, this usually takes but a fraction 1 of a second. But braking distances re--5 veal that motorists to-day deal more with icet-pcr-sccond than with miles-per-hour. Emergencies often demand split-second thinking and acting. This implies that radio, like speed, can deteriorate into a serious menace to safety in the hands of the careless. On the other hand, tuning in can lie done safely and sanely at the right speeds and in the right places by drivers [ who have learned the lessons of careful- ( noss. In other words, radio merely constitutes another challenge to the hUeiligence of the driver.

Like a, man eating a liill-eoui’sc dinner, the automobile driver is being led a galaxy of .side dishes which take away his appetite lor the main course. Ou the road, the main course is driving. Side dishes comprise scenery, billboards, talkative passengers, road warn, ing signs—and now the radio Road signs are essential. Scenery is indispensable. Talkative passengers are unavoidable. But the radio, like is open tu .serious restrictions by legislation, provided public de,ina nd warrants such, action. In some places, there is agitation to prevent the use of radios while 1 he car is in motion. In other localities, loud volume is restricted by nuisance laws. Just now, however, the public generally is satisfied to reserve opinions until alter the completed verdict of safety agencies, biisilx prying behind accidents chocked ! against mat tention to find out what I caused t lie inattention. I A Her all has been said against the advamc ol ihusc factors such as radio, which, when used properly and discriminately, make lor human convenience and comfort—the faith of inventors in their inventions seems to hold out against all opposition. It is this faith that enforces progress with diminishing abuses. The faith ot radio sponsors in the automobile radio is deflected in its lightning-like development. In 1930, a good car radio cost £3O. To-day, only six years later, one may be had tor £'e to £l2. In 1934, car radios doubled in number over 1933. In. the last two years, they have become standard optional <equipment. Baffling problems of interference, inherent in the cars, have been solved largely through reconstruction ol the automobile. Something of what the future holds was hinted at in the recent statements of a manufacturer and a retired business man. Said the manufacturer: “The time is not far distant when the man in the automobile will be talking by radio to the folks at home.” Said the retired business man, as his family looked over the new car with its vanity mirror, electric clock, heater, radio and spacious luggage room: “It’s time to sell the house and move into the automobile.”