THE CAUSE OF SMASHES

NZ Truth, Issue 1237, 15 August 1929, Page 19

THE CAUSE OF SMASHES

First Should Be Golden Rule of The Road .

MANY DRIVERS ME CARELESS Twenty years ago no one could have imagined that motorcars would be; placed on the road m great numbers with any degree of safety.

/CRITICS of motoring accidents which \w» occur always neglect the fact of the enormous number of. cars that are running daily, and the very great mileage c.o,vered. . - • , Obvio,usly.;.tli,^.greater the number of cars,.-.^sVgr&aton::itipst be the number of ! 'iT|^sj fe tli.e proportion of accidents m rel&tio.n^vto the mileage [run which counts?' iAVhat is important is that accidents, should bo avoided tit all costs. -..-. ;>^ : .-^ ■ \'%\- ■ '.'■-.

One vypuld :..imaoi.pe that this would be'the first thWght m everybody's rrlirid, but^he point which str{kes.;;brie fprpiblyiin connection with the; 'modeirn^imotorist-— if one can classify pe'bple.funder the headings of "mod^rn^^pr "ancient"— is that very few. 'of vthem ever consider tha^ th^f6|iis', ; :any likelihood of an 'accidentl^fccurring to themselves. '■ x &\*-'; t '

Many drivers appear to forget— this is a very important pomt — that, a car cannot be . stopped m its own length from; 3o m.p.h. m ordinary circumstances. It cannot, 'indeed, be stopped In the available stretch' of road visible at the speed at .r-vyhich, some people travel round a corner,. „ .. ■'• Admittedly, mosi;, accidents -have to be avoided by, dodging: rather than by braking; but if only 100 feet of the road i is visible, m, front of the car lit is only, reasonable to. reduce the speed: to at least:, that from which the car can be stopped m; 100 feet. . To drive on the -wrong side of the road, ought to be absolutely inexcusable m 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 the right-hand side of a i straight road,. but taking a right-hand corner either on the right-hand side of the rpad or just over the centre of the road, where the nature of the corner affords a- restricted view. It is obvious also tnat cross-roads 'are real danger points, since very many, collisions occur either at crossroads or, at what is called intersections of one road with another. . Such collisions' 'are very largely ; due to a false sense of security, because the speed of cars is not, as a rule, 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 trou- ■'. ble exists, namely, m another ' driver doing ' something totally unexpected.

• A good driver has to.be on the alert for the unexpected — this is' the direction m which many people'undoubtedly err.

Numbers of persons driving- to-day are not experts, and are not complete masters of their car's,, never :\vill be, and could' riot reasonably be expected to handle- their machines faultlessly m an-emergency^ . ■■•■-./' ■ .."

The fact tnat a driver neither understands . signals nor-' uses them properly is not due to ignorance, but is due to thoughtlessness. Half the possibilities of trouble 4n, modern- traffic are due. to .simple • . -. :