SAFETY FIRST ALWAYS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 248, 10 January 1928, Page 7

SAFETY FIRST ALWAYS

CAUTIONS IN A HOLIDAY CROWD Given fine weather new records for road travel are certain to be set up this week-end, when the zenith of tho motoring season is reached. Thanks to the skill and industry of motor engineers the open road has become the premier holiday attraction of modern times. It may well be called the national playground. It is to be hoped, however, that all those who take to the highway during the next few days will not forget their great responsibility to one another. Let them not forget while they are enjoying themselves that disaster is ever dancing attendance upon the unskilled, negligent or over-daring driver. Seconds suffice to turn joy into tragedy. Where there are hundreds of thousands of moving machines, the “wise ones” tell us, we must expect to have accidents. Anyone who has given any time to the study of the causes of road accidents knows that this is not the case at all. Although most of the beds in our cottage hospitals all over the country are at this moment filled with people hurt in motor smashes—the Prince of Wales h. week ago was astonished to make this discovery in a hospital he visited —it cannot be denied that a great percentage of the patients lie there as the direct result of their own, or someon© else’s folly or negligence. If every road user, whether motorist or cyclist, would resolve at the outset of his daily journey this holiday that he w r ould "play the game” all the time, observe the rule of the road in the spirit as wrell as in the letter, and never take a risk that would endanger the lives of others as w r ell as himself, it is safe to say there would scarcely be an accident to report. Bad smashes still occur as the result of cars getting out of control on ! hills. * Though coasting down a long hill with the gear lever in the neutral ! position is a most enjoyable experienev,- it is one that should only be indulged in when both hand and pedal operated brakes are known to be in faultless condition, and only then on a •hill well known to the driver. The correct procedure on approaching a steep descent is to engage a lower gear and keep the car well in hand all the time until the level is safely reached again. To do this hand and foot brakes should be used alternately to avoid any possibility of burning out the linings of one or other of them. In the event of a downpour of rain it should always be remembered that our modern road surfaces are ini stantly transformed into veritable i skating rinks, and the utmost caution ■ is required to overcome the peril of i skidding. Heavy rain following upon a spell of i dry w'eather never fails to find a crop !of unfortunate motorists who have J neglected to adapt their driving to the ' greatly changed conditions. Always be strictly careful about the i giving and observing of the recogi nised hand signals. | To get there —and back—safely should be the great endeavour of all this holiday.