MOTORING NOTES

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 3, Issue 2, 1 August 1924, Page 42

MOTORING NOTES

SOME HINTS ON DRIVING IN TRAFFIC JUDGMENT AND ANTICIPATION ESSENTIAL UyITPI the ever-increasing power of speed and acceleration of which cars are possessed nowadays, and the unchanging uncertainty in the movements of pedestrians, the motorist has to be more alert than ever if he wishes to avoid accidents. Not only has one to be thoroughly familiar with all the details of the art of driving, of knowing what to do with the controls in a case of sudden emergency, but the driver must also be possessed of a kind of sixth sense, be it called instinct, intuition or prescience, for enabling him to anticipate what other road users and pedestrians will do under various circumstances. True, there are certain people who possess so little of the quality known as judgment, that they constitute a public danger if allowed to handle a car at all, whilst others are fully capable of exercising ordinary judgment as far as their own actions are concerned, but fail when they have to anticipate the movements of others. The development of the latter faculty is derived as the result of careful observation, rather than the result of psychological phenomena. The boy who kicks a ball in front of a car invariably follows to retrieve his possession, and the mere appearance of the ball should be enough to advise the motorist of the probable arrival of the kicker, even should the latter be out of sight at the moment. Old ladies about to cross the road often prove a sore trial for the nervous or highly-strung driver, and as they can seldom be relied upon to do anything very beneficial in securing their own safety, the cautious driver will slow down until he and the pedestrian are well out of danger. By cultivating a keen observation of causes and effects in traffic conditions the driver will develop the sixth sense, and thus avoid the feeling of nerve strain, which otherwise prevails whilst driving in crowded thoroughfares. WHEN TO SOUND YOUR HORN pRACTICALLY all automobile drivers know when to sound their horn, but the majority of them do not sound it quickly enough to allow for the varying rates of speed at which their cars are travelling. Five seconds’ time is proper time for pedestrians or other automobile drivers to know of the approach of a motor car. It is necessary, of course, to translate five seconds’ time into terms of distance. Take a speed of twenty miles, the rate at which an automobile travels usually in the city, when not in the congested districts. At twenty miles per hour a car travels 29ft. a second, and the proper five seconds’ time in terms of distance could be 70ft. This is probably the most important distance to remember, because of the amount of city driving. The next important speed to remember is thirty miles per hour. That or slightly higher is the speed at which cross-country or inter-city travelling is done. At this speed the car travels 44ft. a second. Less than 220 ft. notice is not enough.

THE USE OF FOUR-WHEEL BRAKES |F your car has front-wheel brakes, do not take any more risks than you would had you rear-wheel brakes only. Front-wheel brakes are one of the greatest factors of safety it is possible to have, although at the same time, instead of trying to pull up in ordinary conditions twice as fast as you would be able to with rear-wheel brakes only, slow down quite gradually, so that the fact that you have brakes on all four wheels means that you are using each set of linings only half as much as when you are using those on the rear wheels only. Rather should you look on four-wheel braking as a means of lengthening the life of brakes and brake linings, with, of course, the knowledge that should an emergency arise you can pull up with amazing rapidity, but never forget that the driver following you may not be able to pull up so quickly. Front-wheel brakes are no excuse for taking risks; reliable as are most modern types, they might fail one day, so drive sensibly. SEVEN DEADLY SINS 1. Cutting corners. 2. Beating trains to crossings. 3. Failing to slow down at intersections. 4. Turning without looking to the rear. 5. Crowding in ahead of an overtaken vehicle. 6. Passing a ear recklessly. 7. Failing to slow down for pedestrians. All of these offences are bad, particularly the last. ON BAD ROADS Confidence in the good quality of present-day tyres is the reason why many drivers knock them about unmercifully. Incidentally, there are times when, by saving your tyres, you also save your car. For instance, to continually increase the pace on coming to a rough piece of road, in order to carry the car over without loss of speed, is severe on both tyres and ear. It is a good practice to accelerate, when possible, before coming to a bad patch, and when a few inches off disengage the clutch and allow the car to coast over. @iiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim@