OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
Page 29
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The Editor invites correspond,ence on all subjects ccranected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on one side of the paper only and typewritten by preference, The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for views expressed is. accepted.
A Reliability Trial for Motor Coaches.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2272] Sir,—I have waited for some weeks for the appearance of comments regarding the advocacy of a reliability trial for motor coaches, which appeared in your issue of June 24th, for, in my opinion, there are countless reasons for supporting this, and I ant greatly surprised that these have not been put forward by users.
One has only to reflect upon the zealous enterprise displayed in the innumerable reliability trials which are regularly held to appreciate, both from the manufacturers' and owners' point of view, the vital necessity for a modern vehicle to possess the ability to accomplish what was at one time considered almost the impossible. Hundreds, if not thousands, of small and large coaches convey their passengers to the coves of Cornwall. the hills and bogs of Dartmoor, the mountains of Wales, the Yorkshire Wolds, the Cheviot Hills, the Grampians and other of Nature's beauty spots, access to which is often undertaken under dangerous conditions.
How elated would be the coach owner who could conduct such tours and give what would practically amount to a guarantee of safety. How happy he would be without that "I wonder if they will return all right " feeling, or the fear of the third-party claim. The driver also in charge of a vehicle thoroughly tested and proved reliable would look forward to running across unknown ground with a feeling of comparative confidence.
The quantity passenger transport vehicle must of necessity be immune from all unpleasant and dangerous occurrences if it is to continue to enjoy the patronage and confidence of the public, and it is certain that a trial of the nature you suggest would have the effect of improving the status of this form of transport—enhancing its general prestige and offering to the coach owner an opportunity for conveying to potential patrons advertisements of the safe travel ensured by his vehicles, and to the manufacturer the hitherto non-experienced privilege—and a very valuable one at that—of comparison with other vehicles of competitive manufacture and equal capacity under the same conditions.
It is to be hoped sincerely that such frials will be promoted, as you suggest, by the Commercial-vehicle Section of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in co-operation with the Coach Proprietors Section of the Commercial Motor Users Association, and that the route be as hazardous as is compatible with the most exacting conditions which it is necessary to meet. Such trials should take place in the autumn. because coach Elwriers can then most conveniently release their vehicles.
Manufacturers should be given the opportunity of incorporating any refinements and modifications found advisable, and each vehicle EhOUld carry its full quota of passengers or their equivalent weight. Time checks should be arranged at suitable places, and no repairs or other adjustments permitted. The usual marshals and observers should be appointed in the same manner as in any M.C.C. or other reliability event, and baulks should be allowed, when proved justified, under certain imposed conditions.
The entrance fee should be nominal, and the awards, if any, should be in the form of gold, silver or bronze medals.
If a trial of this nafure be arranged, the entry of Several Lancia vehicles by private owners and this company can be Counted upon, and we look forward, in common with other makers and agents, to its inauguration, and if by any assistance its success may he ensured our services will willingly be given.
—YoUrs faithfully, W. HUDDELL,
• Sales Manager, Commercial Department, The Curtis Automobile Co., Ltd. London, W. •
Police Tests of Brake Efficiency.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[22731 Sir,—After reading the interesting article by Mr. Legros on the subject of police activity in testing brakes, in your issue of July 29th, I shall be pleased, in view of the following incident, to know what a driver should do.
A loaded heavy vehicle was stopped on a falling gradient just outside a town by a policeman for the _purpose of testing the brakes. This was done with the gear lever in neutral, and one brake, the foot brake; was found to be inefficient. Both the owners of the vehicle and the driver were fined.
The policeman, in evidence, admitted that had the driver refused to put the gear in neutral he would have had no power to compel him to do so, but stated that he might then be liable for obstructing the police.
Every time I have been stopped (very often on the same gradient, although always by two policemen) the formula of the sergeant in charge has been : "I want this test to be quite fair to you, therefore put your kirry into neutral and take oil your brakes." A ruling on the question of whether to put the vehicle into neutral or not would interest many drivers in this neighbourhood.—Yours faithfully,
Burnley. HEAVY LORRY DRIVER.
Emerging from Side Roads.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[22741 Sir,—In your issue of July 29th, at the top of page 741 you have a paragraph headed "Emerging from Side Roads." To anybody reading this paragraph it would appear that it is laid down that main road traffic had priority over all other traffic. Is it not the ease that this decision was one given in Scotland, and does not apply to England?
The reason that I ask is that when my committee was drafting the series of " Safety Hints for Drivers of Motor Vehicles," to which you kindly gave considerable prominence in your recent issue, several representatives of the motoring Press, who assisted us in drawing up these hints, pressed very strongly for inclusion therein of a reference to the fact that main road traffic has no right of way over other traffic. Apart from the difficulty of always discriminating what is a main road, and what a side road, is it not the fact that as the law now stands no class of traffic has any legal precedence over any other traffic, whilst, as some of my members :pointed out, there is a very common belief that main road traffic has priority, which is asfallacious as the belief, quite prevalent, that the 20 miles per hour speed limit has been abolished. If the facts as I understand them are correct, might I suggest that you return to the subject in a future issue and make the position clear, as otherwise many drivers may aSsurne that if they are travelling on a main road they do not have to consider any other traffic which may be on converging roads I—Yours faithfully, J. A. A. PICKARD, General Seefetary,
London. Nation& "Safety First" Association.