Blind Corners and The Agony Rule

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 5, Issue 1, 1 July 1926, Page 60

Blind Corners and The Agony Rule

IN Great Britain powers have been given to the Minister of Transport to clear away any obstruction that forms a "blind corner" of the King's highway. A writer in an English exchange writes in this connection : "A large proportion of accidents will no longer take place, as it is well known that more accidents occur at corners than anywhere else, and particularly those at which drivers cannot see other approaching traffic. Why a great proportion of accidents occur at corners is mainly due to the habit (so often indulged in by bad and careless drivers) of cutting across them whether they are blind corners or open ones. So much is this the case that our legal luminaries, in connection with matters of this nature, have evolved in the Courts of Justice what is known as the "agony rule." This rule is so designed that, although an accident may occur in which one of the parties has deliberately ignored the rule of the road and crossed over to his wrong side, he is nevertheless excused from what might otherwise be the legal consequences of his act. Thus, if a motorist is driving a car on the proper side of the road, an,!, coming to a corner, sees another

car almost on him cutting this corner on the wrong side, and in the "agony" of the moment, wrenches the steering-wheel and swerves to the right, while the other driver also attempts to swing over to his proper side, and they crash, the driver who was on his proper side originally is freed from hlamc hecausc he swung over to the off-side of the road. This is due to the fact that if the other driver had not hecn originally on the wrong side of the corner there would have been no need of any "agony of mind" to disturb h'm. Why I refer to this subject, which is of importance to all motorists, is that recently a friend of mine was nearly killed because of a similar type of accident. Though he succeed ed in the action, thanks to the "agony rule," my advice is to stickto your own side of the road always, put your brakes on hard, and hope the other fellow will clear you in time in trying to get back to his proper side. In any case, it is safer and better for you to hit another car with your radiator than to be hit broadside on or sideways by the other car, so hold on to your course if there is no safer way of avoiding a smash."

Electric fans now include a new type which oscillates with both vertical and horizontal movements through an ellipse which permits agitation of a very large area of air. Even more numerous are the electric fires designed to temper the cold of winter evenings. These range

from the most ornate and expensively finished ones to some quite plain which tilt horizontally so that a kettle may be boiled or toast made upon them. A MONG . electric devices more *■ distinctly for her own convenience milady now has available for her a dryer on a stand which dries her hair (and any delicate handwashed garments), and an electric curling iron which waves her tresses into any style she chooses.

with an accessory in the shape of an aluminium comb to be slipped over the curling iron which dries milady's hair after a shampoo. Then, too, there are domestic sewing machines in four types, each with its motor, which is started and has its speed regulated by a

mere pressure of the foot. While electricity, which is destined to be all-powerful in human affairs, is, in the matter of cost, now within the reach of all for lighting, the appliances which the genie animates into the service of women are as yet beyond the means of the general public; yet month by month the circle in which those appliances are used is extending, and as it extends so is the domestic drudgery of some woman lessened.