NOTES FOR THE OWNERDRIVER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 3 August 1929, Page 12

NOTES FOR THE OWNERDRIVER

PROPORTION OP 1 ACCIDENTS HOW SOON CAN YOU STOP V . Twenty years ago no one coul<l have imagined: that motor ears would ' he placed, on, the road in great numbers with any degree of safety. Yet critics of motoring accidents which occur always neglect the fact of the enormous number of cars that are running daily and the very greaj. mileage covered. Obviously the-greater the number of, (ntrs',’the greater-must'-be Hie number •of accidents. It- is the proportion of accidents in. relation to the mileage run which counts. What is important is that accidentsshoiil'd he avoided at all cost’s. One would imagine that this would he the first thought in everybody’s mind, but the point which strikestone forcibly in connection with the modern motorist—if one can. classify people under the headings' of “modern” or “ancient” —is that very few’ of’them ever consider that there is any likelihood of an accident occurring to themselves. Many drivers appear t 6 forget—this is a very important point—that a car cannot be stopped in its own length from 30 ni.p.h. in ordinary circumstances. It cannot, indeed,, lie: stopped in the available stretch of. road the speed at which some people, travel round a corner.- Admittedly, most' accidents have to be avoided by .'dodging rather than by braking,, but if only 100 ft of the road is visible in front of the ear it is only reasonable to reduce the speed to at least that .-from which the car can be. stopped in 100 ft. ) To drive on the wrong side of the road ought to be absolutely inexcusable. in any ; circumstances, and it is one of-the most fruitful causes of collisions. By driving on the wrong side of the'road, it is not meant deliberately driving on tlie right-hand side of a straight road, but taking a right-band corner either on the right-hand side of the road, or just over the centre of the road, where the nature of the corner affords a restricted view. It " is obvious also that -cross-yoads are real danger points, since very many collisions occur either at cross-roads or, at what are called intersections-of one road ‘ with . another. • Such- collisions

nl-.i very ljif-gely. due to a false sense <f f, security, because the speed of cars Is not; as. a rqlp, reduced sufficiently to give" the driver a fair chance if another car emerges from a side road and its-driver makes a mistake. That is when the real trouble exists, namely, iu 'another driver doing something totally unexpected. A good driver has to lieonJJie alert .for ilio unexpected—this is the direction in which many people, undoubtedly err. Numbers of persons driving to-day are not experts, and are not complete masters .of their.-.ears,' never will lie, and c.ould not reasonably lie. expected to handle thoir machines faultlessly in an emergency. The fact that a driver neither, understands signals nor uses them properly is- not due to Ignorance, lnit'is due to'thoughtlessness. Half the possibilities ..of trouble in modern trailic ,are .due to just simple little faults. ... ■■ ■>