Or that.
Back in the days when Grandma was a girl I was no such thing as a traffic problem.
The speed limits fix that driving paid.
And why
and grandpa got tired of driving only had to do is tie the reins around the socket
and get home on her head.
Then came a dawn of the motor a horse was transformed into horse power
and imprisoned under Russia China Hood of course the surly horseless carriages
weren't anything but defendable and
when two of these ancient gas buggies met there was a traffic problem only really
nerve than a firm grip on the wheel could avoid disaster
or even on the most fortunate circumstances guiding the temperamental mechanical
grasshoppers wasn't much the matter of luck as skill
or rather the lanes of a generation ago are now smooth ribbons of concrete bringing
one different cities within a few short hours linking the nation together with the
greatest highway transportation system in the world American highway builders have
done their work. Well conquering road hazard controlling the traffic flow
and keeping the driver a constant land so I'm like the engineer of a crack railroad
train of driving conditions I have where ever the road leads.
There you will find the outposts of that great army of protection highway police
and army of national defense trained
and equipped to keep all quiet on the highway of front.
On the job twenty four hours a day with the finest
and best control highway traffic system in the world it would seem almost
ridiculous
that highway accidents should happen while there are still accidents all too many
of them but they are never ridiculous and they don't. Happen. Who is up from here.
Of course. Each driver blames the other
but let's reenact the events leading up to the crisis I'm judge for ourselves.
Here it comes travelling along a superhighway is on his own side of the road is
brakes are good enough to stop within the a short glared at them to have at least
he think they are
and here is the other car travelling slowly toward the intersection at the
intersection of driver stuff he sees the approaching car
but then there is plenty of time but is there right out.
And there is another motoring accident added to the list of more than a million
which occur on American streets and highways every year. Who's to blame.
After all it really doesn't matter. Well.
The important point is
that this tragic accident need never have occurred if one driver had been willing
to spare just a few seconds.
And if the other driver had been sure
that his brakes were equal to his speed analyzing the causes of all accidents.
We find
that the inability to stop in time is by all odds the outstanding reason for moving
mishap how quickly can you stop at twenty mph with the world's safest
brakes this car stops and fourteen feet.
Police say the founders are more liberal demanding
that you'll be able to stop within twenty two feet after the brakes are applied.
But wait a minute. Another element enters into this problem of safe stopping.
The answer both between recognition of an emergency
and the application of the brakes.
For instance after twenty mph your car will actually travel twenty two feet before
you react to the need for stopping. Not just a.
Cover during reaction and braking time equals forty feet. At forty mph.
It requires forty four feet to shift from accelerator to brake
and seventy one feet to stop totaling one hundred fifteen feet.
And at sixty mph.
The reaction time is equal to sixty six feet braking requires one hundred sixty
feet and the total stopping distance is two hundred twenty six feet.
In this era of high speed driving only the best brakes are good enough yet.
Police tests reveal that more than half of all cars tested are faulty
and that's vital safety factor to be trustworthy your brakes must be perfect play
and permanently equalize.
Without properly equalized stopping power on all four wheels.
You are bound to only trouble sooner or later on the open road.
For instance here is a chap whose brakes are good enough for steady driving
and he thinks they are good enough for high speed but in an emergency.
When he stamped on the brakes the cars give them directions with it
and it might have been worse.
Here we are at the Indianapolis Speedway the roaring road the feel of the Oh indeed
wouldn't care to take the risk with these drivers accept as a matter of course then
their record taking indeed some of the driving habits you observe every day on the
highway are too risky for the daredevils of the speedway.
For example the common practice of crowding the center line on the highway would
put a speed champion hair right up on and
when you're traveling at fifty miles an hour the approaching driver is traveling at
the same speed. That's virtually one hundred miles an hour
and within hand-shaking get them
and how many times have you started to pass up some slower car.
And then through by the skin of your teeth.
If that car is traveling up fifty miles per hour.
It represents the same obstacle as Tim Clark car.
The chances not so inviting no is a.
Railroad crossing signals are installed as a warning not as a challenge yet there
is always some impatience motorist willing to gamble.
If he wins it means only the saving of a few seconds
that he loses the second for with the risk of alcohol in the radiator of a moving
car is a necessity
but alcohol in the operator is one of the outstanding causes of accidents.
You wouldn't ride with an airplane pilot who had taken even one cocktail
and a drink on the road may be just as hazardous as a drink in the air.
Public enemy number one always shows up in the most unexpected places you can look
for him to appear on the wrong side of the road passing on the car on a hill.
Another of his favorite haunts is blind turns as usual.
He's on the wrong side of the road on narrow country lanes he takes the whole road
to himself What about you while you can either meet him head on
or take the ditch and take the car.
And on a pleasant Sunday afternoon on any crowded highway
when you see a long line of delayed traffic. You can make up your mind that Mr J.
Rhodes hall Gaz holding up the procession a nuisance indeed
and more important a deadly menace to general traffic.
For anyone who attempts to pass does so at his own risk.
And the risk of all on come cars.
At last the traffic managers remove from the highway
and let's hope they pan him up for good. Hey wait a minute.
Can this be the desperate Public Enemy of safe motoring. Not a bad looking fellow.
In fact if you haven't witnessed the results of his driving you'd say he'd make a
pretty good neighbor something to think about the next time you
and I are tempted to ignore the rules of courteous driving.
As a matter of fact there will be no highway traffic problem if you run by some
thirty or forty million of us observe the golden rule of a open road
and make some horse sense with our horsepower most car manufacturers are doing
their part giving us cars so safe and simple to law parade
that they should make expert drivers of us all.
The most modern of the new cars have powerful sound equalizing brakes
that furnish the stopping power to avoid accidents low center of gravity draws this
car back to work like a magnet.
Even
when tilted to an extreme angle modern design gives a new degree of stability I'm
sure footed performance under all driving conditions.
New scientific weight distribution
and springing makes possible an entirely new conception of riding comfort
and handling heat
and tiredly free from steering wheel fight no matter how rough the wrote
but this is pretty on all merely a demonstration of strength
and safety of a new type of steel bodies by the men who break up automobiles to
build them better.
And that's thrilling testing these drivers are not suggesting
that you try to imitate their performance.
They are experts strapped in their seats and experience
and that's fine art a motor car moment and what does it prove
that in the event of an inescapable accident.
The modern car offers you the safety of a mighty arm
or a tough deal while in this field the ultimate and protective coach craft.
No car. However well designed and built is. And they say for then it's drive.
Indeed as some jokester was remarked the most important part of any automobile is a
knock that folds the steering wheel
and the best rule of the road is be prepared for the unexpected.
On.
The out.