Better Road Illumination at Night.
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IN a recent issue of The Commercial Motor there was published an illustration showing "an effective 'lighting system," consisting of a powerful nearside searchlight, which clearly illumin ates the edge of the road. This interested me, because it is plainly stated to be a " searchlight " and very evi
dently is so. Therefore, according to the reading of the letter of the present regnlations, this is illegal. I am particularly interested in this point, because I have advocated for years the use of swivelling headlights, which move automatically with the steering and throw a light round curves which the car is taking, instead of lighting up the hedge on the side and leaving in darkness the road itself along which the car is "about to proceed."
This system of lighting is assumed (erroneously, I believe) to be illegal because the regulations prohibit the use of " searchlights " and, for some unknown reason,. both motorists and . the authorities have assumed that 'swivelling. headlights, because they are mov
able, are " searchlights. But, if the regulations be read again,, it will be seen • that another clause specifiCally requires that a ear should carry a light illuminating the way in which it is going "or intended to go." Renee it follows that the ordinary fixed he'dlights, which are taken to be correct, do 010
not really comply with the Taw at all, because they only show a light in the direction in which the car is going, or intended to go, when travelling in a straight line. When travelling around curves—all those spots where danger is found at night—they do not fulfil the purpose for which they are used, and which the law most certainly enjoins.
A farther anomaly is found in the, fact that what are termed " spotlights ''—which are movable lights of less power
than the usual headlights—are apparently accepted by the authorities as being within the law ! It is to be hoped when the new Regulations which it is understood theGovernment are preparing appear; that this absurdity will be remoVed . and that the matter will be
made clear.
Speaking of swivelling ,headlights, I may mentionthat one of these, which Would appear to combine the movable "
spotlight" with the swivelling head light idea, has made its appearance in America, being made by the Folk Light Bracket Mfg. Co., of Tacoma, Wash. This would appear to be quite useful and to meet the difficulty in very much the same way as is indicated in the Illustration above referred to In this device, which is termed "Folio-light," the ordinary fixed headlamps are retained, but a single spotlight is mounted on the right-hand dumb-iron and is in connection with the steering, so that, whilst it may be set normally to illuminate the near-side road edge, it also moves with the wheels and throws its beam to right or left in the direction in which the car "is intended to go" when on a curve. I do not suppose the authorities could very well hold the use of this to be a breach of the regulations as they stand to-day ; because, if a spotlight is permitted to be moved by hand, there is logically no reason why it should not be moved automatically with the wheels, in which way, indeed, it cannot be used as a "searchlight," the essential feature of which is Independent movement at the will of the driver or other occupant of the ear. Moreover, when all is said and done, the headlight of a motor-bicycle, equally with that of a bicycle, moves with the steering and fulfils the law: In this matter, hitherto, the law has been truly "a hass " over automatically operated headlights, the movement of which, synchronized with the steering, would make for safety and not otherwise.
Our illustration shows the bracket fixed on the right-hand dumb-iron, which in the States is on the driver's near side. In this country it should, accordingly, be mounted on the left-hand dumb-iron, but the right-hand side seems just as suitable.
HENRY STUAMEY.