HIGH ROAD AND BY-ROAD

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19911, 13 June 1936, Page 24 (Supplement)

HIGH ROAD AND BY-ROAD

I A COLUMN FOR MOTORISTS.

I moi-I1- SPEEDS. I THIRTY FxOR SAFETY. ’ The maximum sate speed at which a car can be driven at night is thirty kmiles per hour. In the absence oft glare from oncoming cars it can be‘ increased to forty miles per hour. ‘ Such are the results obtained byi \Varrlng and Moore, two scientists. who have just completed a lengthyl research for the Massachusetts High~ way Commission. They found out by actual experiment the greatest dis—tance at. which a person walking on the road could be soon. They then carefully observed how the drivers re— l acted. l There was always a lag of between ' half and one second, during which they did nothing at all. “'arring and Moore suggest that pedestrians, \Valk— k ing on country roads, should always! show an area oi' white—for instance” a handkerchief. This increases visi—bility by 50 per rent, while the use of . three reflector buttons doubles it. E The best way. however. of increas~ ing visibility is really brilliant highway . lighting. The stretch of_ road between I Ville d'Avray and Versailles, in France, 5 was recently lighted with sodium lamps. lmmecliatelyuthe number of accidents after dark dropped by three- . quarters. i ——._—. l BRAKES. ‘ Never put off adjusting the brakes» of a car. Good brakes may save human life, possibly your own. . After heavy rain, or nosing the car. . test the brakes before they are needed. Avoid braking on a corner. , I ‘ Brake very gently on wet roads, and x i release at the first sign of a skid. : ‘ \Vith four-wheel brakes steering may disappear if you apply them hard on a curve. Don‘t brake if a tyre bursts at speed. Concentrate on steering. and brake only when the car is travelling at less than 25 miles per hour. l EVEN LOADING. l When carrying an uneven weight oil passengers or luggage try to distribute the weight as evenly as possible at the outset of the journey. Putting a heavy passenger on the same side of the car as a heavy driver, when the other two occupants are light‘. weights. will not only cause more dif— :‘ flcult handling, but will promote bad ‘ riding qualities 'on an uneven road; the more uneven the loud and the more softly sprung or lighter the car, , the worse the effect. I The same remarks apply to loading luggage. I mm- .IN THE sump. ' Many motor drivers who servicel their own cars or trucks are, no doubt ' surprised when draining cit long‘used oil from the engine sump at the amount l oi.‘ foreign matter contained in the oil, I and at the some time wonder how the impurities get into the oil system. l As a matter of fact, there are three different sources from which foreign bodies get into the oil current: (1) Dust from surroundings, especially from the air; (2) formation of srolid residues of combustion; and (3) metal dust resulting from wearing by friction of the machine parts. ‘ The dust particles from the air are by their nature the most harmful, as they are composed mostly of sand or earth or great hardness. Fortunately the use 01‘ tine oil filters enables much of this dust to be trapped, but all the same a small percentage of very fine dust does get into the oil circulation, constituting a disadvantage in lubrica< tion, as the minute patricles break the oil-film on bearing surfaces. The evil cannot be remedied by the introduction of clean oil, but only by draining off the old oil and replenishing with a fresh supply. The presence of metal dust is often found to be considerable, as. for in-i stance. when cleaning after repairs have not. been thoroughly carried out.l But even apart from this cause, there i is 111 every motor a small percentage of i dust from iron and other metal, re- ‘ sulting from wear, etc. ‘1

SPARKS. i " i ”I passed the driving test. with alll ‘the honours that were available at the l ltlme.” said a motorist at a London‘ iPoiice Court I [ ... ; ” The day will come," says a ManiCheSter coroner. “when there arel tguard rails along every footpath“; i\Vhat a pleasant vista in store! i J “Son of an Automobile," is the] literal translation of a native word; used for the motor-cycle by the Nat—raho Indians. Descriptions of cars out the same lines have been heard else—l i where. l l A laundry van measuring 70ft. 6in.’ 'in length, lift. in height, and "lit. in width. will shortly be seen in the! streets of Berlin It is the largestl lmotor vehicle in the \\ orld. I I " You may he quite in the right, but i you may be killed all the same." said Judge Prorter at Liverpool, in refer—i [ring to pedestrians who thought they! had an undisputed right of way at , crossings. I | .._.. i According to American experts, radio l sets in motor—cars are a help, not a hindrance, to safe driving, as on long journeys they relieve the monotony land avoid the possibility of the driver lialling asleep. ; My chauffeur was revolving at the ,ness at Higligate Police Court. At the end of the starting handle, said a \\'it—. same court a woman witness in an—‘other car case said: “1 was going east, the police car north, and the shouting lorry driver was going west.“ ’ __ v E “I refuse to plead guilty or note ‘guilt}'," said a motorist, in Glasgow Southern Police Court when charged with leaving his car unattended. “I: do not mean any disrepect to the‘ court," he continued, “but I do oh—, ject to appearing with a lot of com-f man criminals." l Boris Tong, of the Hermitage Club, [Portsmouth road, Kingston-on-Thames was fined £3 at Kingston for driving a, motor car in such a posit-Koo as not 1 to have proper control of it. states the ‘London Evening News. The police stated that he put his arm around a woman passenger sitting beside him and kissed her while driving the car in an erratic fashion, the vehicle travelling from one side of the road to the other. “ You behaved in a very ‘foolish way,” commented the chairman, Sir Stanley Maohin. I It is now'said that two preliminary signs of poisoning- by carbon monoxide are. a slight swelling of the small arteries which anyone can feel heating: in the temple and a slight weakness, of the muscles of the backs of thel ilegs. Carbon monoxide has no smelli and gives no ordinary warning. The' victim merely faints and dies unless rescued immediately. The remedies are fresh air and artificial respiration and other treatment which must be applied by a physicist) as soon as pos— ’ sible. i M. I

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CURE FOR OAR SICKNESS. The form of sickness to which many children and some adults are prone when travelling by car has long been a problem to motorists. Even on firstclass roads the sickness occurs. Sittl‘ns by an open window sometimes gives relief, [but the ehlef cause of the feeling of nausea is said to 'be the speed and continuous sway of the car. In a recent letter to the Autocar a motorist wrote as follows :—“My daughter, aged eight, has alxx'ays had had headaches and sickness after an hour or more of fast travelling. I was recently informed by my chemist. that sucking a. piece of barley sugar as soon as the journey commences and every 20 minutes or so thereafter would be a. remedy. I am pleased to infonm motorists in similar trouble that this has worked quite well on several occasions in conjunction with a minimum of food and a. two or three—minute break every hour."