HIGH ROAD AND BY-ROAD

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16152, 29 November 1924, Page 20 (Supplement)

HIGH ROAD AND BY-ROAD

A COLUMN FOR MOTORIBTS. CONSIDER PEDESTRIANS. fßy "CranX.”) A good driver is nothing more than ~i considerate one, and where is the motorist who would not like' himself to be styled a really good driver? The good driver considers his passengers, his car, and every one else on the road. No passing on blind corners. No dashing through hazardous openings. Pedestrians are usually regarded as unmitigated nuisances from the driver’s point of view, on account of their idiosyncrasies, and failures to see the immediate intentions of the man at (he wheel. They should not be unnecessarily honked out of the way and made to run like startled hens. When some motorists become pedestrians they confess to the impresion that every driver on the road seems to be wanting to run them down. It is only then that they get the pedestri?.n’s viewpoint.

Perhaps the worst type of road pest apart from the reckless and drunken person is the would-be speed merchant, who endeavours to race everything on the road. At the approach of a car he will accelerate until he Is just keeping ahead, his speed being varied to suit that of the other car. In this way he appears to glory in the sensation of having "mopped up” another car.

Quite as annoying, and perhaps more dangerous, is the road hog, who shoots across your bows on corners or when you are about to swing right to pass A slower vehicle. Then there is the man'who races for right-of-way past a horse-drawn vehicle, forcing you to pull-up to avoid a collision. On the other hand, there is the midVictorlnji type, of driver, who firmly believes that 15 miles an hour is a sane maximum speed, and holds to it right in the middle of the road. Incidentally, one notices that inexperienced drivers resolutely claim this position, and take a surprising tirhe to get over to the loft of the road when a car essays to pass. With the varying types of cars on the road, it is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules as to what does or does not constitute a “safe” speed.

POINTED WARNINGS. Motorists who can read Englkh will have little excuse if caught evisding speed laws in the United States Hi is summer. Towns throughout the country are very active in putting up warning signs, both with the aim of enforcing better traffic conditions and of reducing the number bf accidents. The following signs have a varied appeal, and all were seen by a motorist during a single trip:— “This is a good road. It will cost you money to burn it up.” “Slow down. Look before you weep.”

“Don’t covet your neighbour's side of the road.”

“Look out! You may meet a fool around the corner.” “Stop! Look!! and Live!!!” “Don’t speed. It is ‘Good Morning Judge!’ here as hereafter.”

CORNERING. Take a corner rather faster than your usual speed, advises a northern scribe. You will note a certain stiffening of the jaw, a wriggling of the spine, a tickling at the back of your neck, a sensation as of vacuum in the stomach, a watery feeling around both knees. See a crack rider on that same corner, showing how fast it can be taken and then try again. You will shut your throttle and brake hard twenty yards short of your rush at it, but no matter. You will begin to perceive what fast cornering is really like. Repeat the test, this time on a series of corners, preferably on a road which you know well, at a standard touring pace 0f.25 miles per hour. Speed up over that same stretch to 30 or 35 miles per hour. You will discover that what you regard as a pleasantly meandering lane is converted into a succession of highly perilous corners. Get a genuine speed merchant to pace you over that same section. You will be hopelessly left. That goes without saying. But if you are half a man you will stick at your amateurish efforts till you can take it a great deal faster than you ever did before, though not yet in the Coleman style.

THE RISK IN RACING. Motor track racing has taken a heavy toll this year, no fewer than four of the world’s leading drivers having lost their lives. In England Daria Resta was killed at Brooklands (Eng.) whilst travelling at 122 miles per hour when record-breaking, whilst Count Zborowski, a noted Continental motorist, also suffered the same fate. In America J. Boyer, who was one of the successful drivers in the last Indianapolis “500,” was killed on tile Altoona Speedway (U.S.A.). Resta was also winner of the rich Indianapolis event in 1916, and was the champion driver of America that year. Another American crack and Indianapolis victor to meet his death recently was J. Murphy, one of the greatest drivers the U.S.A.

has produced, and winner of the French Grand Prix of 1922. The lure of motor racing was too strong for all these cracks, and all succumbed to the sport In which they won worldwide fango-

SPARKS. It is sometimes puzzling to trace the cause of a sudden “miss” in cold weather. If the magneto is fitted with the spark gap type of distributor, moisture may have formed inside the distributor and so be preventing the proper discharge of the spark. If the distributor is thoroughly dried the trouble should disappear.

The Influence of the late President Wilson is said to have had much to do with the original exclusion of automobiles from Bermuda. When he was a professor in Princetown and a sojourner in Bermuda in the winter of 1908, he drafted the petition to tho Colonial Parliament, which resulted in the enactment in April of that year of the present law forbidding tho operation or importation of any form of motor vehicle, including motorcycles, in Bermuda. For the first four months of the present year 3223 cars were imported into India, as compared with 1608 in the corresponding period of 1923. A specimen main highway directionpost is being erected in the Public Works yard, Wellington, for the Main Highways Board. In the post a substantial iron pipe embedded in concrete Is used with the sign clamped on to it. The Safe Drivers’ Club is the name of a new body recently formed in the U.S.A., the members of which bind themselves to drive carefully at all times, keeping in mind the rights of pedestrians and other motorists, and generally to aid in the reduction of the number of accidents.

Although Great Britain continues to be the largest individual market for German pneumatic tyres, British purchases of covers declined from 28,469 in the first four months of 1923 to 11,490 in the corresponding period of the present year, and those of air tubes from 13,508 to 8355. A driver of a car should always keep his eyes straight ahead when driving forward and look back when in reverse. He should be on the constant lookout for traffic coming from sidestreets which may block his path. When making a turn his eyes should be kept on the course the car will follow. Do not be annoyed if a valve spring should break and no extra spring be available. A metal washer with a hole larger than the valve stem should be placed between the two parts of the spring. This prevents their coiling round eaph other, and so will serve until a new spring can be obtained.

MOTOR CYCLING NOTEB. Many motor cycles which have been laid up for the winter months are now beginning to rc-appear on the road. Most of them have been overhauled and e'eaned, and in quite a number of cases a fresh coat of paint has been applied. In answer to a question In Parliament recently, it was stated that the Army has now only 849 motor cycles and side cars compared with 34,865 at the time of the armistice; the Admiralty 10 against 92, and the Air Force 399 against 1922 motor cycles and 2622 side cars.

Perhaps the most common abuses to which tho modern motor cycle is subjected are overloading and trying to “do it on top.” The average owner seems entirely oblivious to the strains imposed and the consequent damage to his engine and excessive tyre wear. Gears are provided to enable a rider to save his engine, so why wait until the machine starts to knock and labour before changing down? Rapid acceleration is costly. Ninety per cent of engine trouble arises from inefficient lubrication. Black smoke issuing from the exhaust Indicates that the mixture is too rich.

The risk which underlies the necessity for the careful running in of a new motor cycle is twofold. In the first place the bearings require to be run in gently if they are ultimately to operate with a minimum of friction. The surface, which has been ground to the smoothest possible finish known commercially, looks like a ploughed Held under the microscope. Gentle treatment, however, will cause the rubbing parts to smooth over just as though a heavy roller had actually passed over the hypothetical ploughed field. The result is a smooth surface causing little friction.