ROAD SAFETY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 November 1940, Page 7

ROAD SAFETY

IMPORTANCE OF WINDSCREEN WIPER & SPEEDOMETER. "Two items of motor-vehicle equipment which have an important bearing on road safety and which are not always as efficient as motorists think they may be, are the windscreen wipei and the speedometer." says the latest road safety message of the Wairarapa Automobile Association. "It is essential for obvious reasons that an error in the instrument recording speed as well as distance can have a considerable influence on the judgment of some drivers in complying with the speed limit restrictions. Distance tests are easily carried out on the road with a check on accuracy, and if there is any variation it may be worth while having the speedometer assembly checked by a person competent to deal with such mechanism. It is work for a specialist. A thoroughly accurate speedometer reading is essential where speed limits must be observed, though all drivers know that speed which is safe in the circumstances is not governed by the instrument panel. It is based on driving conditions, such as visibility, surface, weather, tyres, and hazards of travel. The speedometer should be the useful, reliable servant of the motorist, and not his master. “Many drivers are meticulously careful in ensuring that the mechanism of the windscreen wiper is in proper working order, but it docs not matter how sweellv the wiper works 11' those important blades are perished through long use in all kinds of weather. I J is imperative that the blades be renewed from time to time so that thcii track on the windscreen will be com-1 plc-tely effective. Unless this is don' ] the blades leave on the glass an almos’ imperceptible film which militates 1 against the maximum visibility for the; driver, and causes increased trouble' for him from approaching headlights. Do not wait till you need the windscreen wiper before discovering that it is faulty. ’ Play safe in advance.”