MOTOR NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18849, 20 January 1933, Page 12

MOTOR NOTES.

The new “ electro-matic ” traffic signal control system which has been adopted by the Westminster City Council, London, is at present being investigated in Wellington by the Main Highways Board and the traffic authorities. The system is an automatic electric apparatus consisting of three main parts, electrically linked. There are, first, deteotor units —metal plates let into the road surfaces — which indicate the presence and movement of vehicles. A control mechanism, which is oapable of “ thinking,” receiving instructions, and operating traffic lights, is the second main link, and it operates any standard type of traffic signal.

One puncture in a day is thought by modern motorists to be something of a disaster, but in the days when motoring was very young, to escape with only one would be considered something of a miracle. Speaking at a luncheon on Monday, Mr G. W. Tench, president of the United Kingdom Motor Traders’ Association, recalled the fact that in 1908, when taking part in a trial between Christchurch and Dunedin, the car in which he travelled experienced no fewer than 70 punctures (states the Christchurch Times.) The tyres were carefully examined before the start and a dozen spare tubes were carried, but by the time that they got to Ashburton the whole of the spare tubes had been used. There the party took the precaution of telegraphing to every town ahead asking for a supply of spare tubes to be made ready. Dunedin was reached after 14 hours’ travelling, with the puncture score board at 70.