Passing Comments
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CONSIDERABLE help would be given to the gas industry—and, incidentally, to coal mining—if more use of gas were made for running-in engines, etc., and even for warming them up, in big commercial-vehicle garages, as apart from its use while the vehicles are on the road. The success of gas in this connection has already been proved.
OUR congratulations to the Road Haulage .Associa
tion in respect of its Quarterly Bulletin, which is a very ,interesting publication dealing with the activities of the Association and including a very useful list of parking places in 62 municipal areas. DURING the past few weeks there has been much
discussion upon the breakdown figures published by the R.A.C. as a result of its "Get-you-home" scheme_ It is interesting to compare the figures given with those for some of the bus companies which are known to have in operation -proper maintenance and inspection systems. It is no overstatement to say that such methods nip in the bud quite 80 per cent. of troubles. Compare also the number of stranded passenger-carrying commercial vehicles and those which carry goods. It is obvious that the greater average reliability of the former is due to more careful supervision.
TRAFFIC lights are fast springing up in the metropolitan area, but some borough councils are still apathetic in their appreciation of the value of such signals to road users. One council which cannot be accused of lagging behind in this respect is Finsbury, which has displayed commendable foresight in installing traffic lights at a considerable number of busy traffic junctions throughout the area which it governs.
ON certain modern highways, as, for example, parts of the North Circular Road, lines of traffic travelling in opposite directions are separated by a central verge. Where a side turning exists, two passes through the division are formed—each a little way from the turning. These may be a source of acute danger, for drivers are tempted to cross by the first pass they come to when wishing to reach a turning to the right, thus travelling a short distance on the wrong side of the central verge, and against the traffic. The proper use of these passes should be clearly explained by signs, and enforced, or the whole object of the excellent one-way system will be destroyed. INlarge garages it would be as well if a readily available treatment for carbon-monoxide poisoning formed part of the first-aid equipment. For instance, a hypodermic syringe and a solution made up of 1 per cent, of methylene blue and 99 per cent. of water should always be kept handy. It was recently discovered that 50 c.c. of this solution, injected into the veins of a man so poisoned, produced complete recovery in about 15 minutes.
WHEN Mr. 0. C. Power, traffic manager of the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., recently applied to the West Midland Traffic Commissioners for sanction to start a new bus service, he said that the request was supported by the relieving officer, the registrar of births, the collector of taxes, the rate collector, the churchwarden, the secretary of the church council and the clerk to the parish council. An astute rival applicant suggested, through counsel, that all these posts were held by the same person, which Mr. Power had to admit was the case. A little humour in this vein brings a touch of human colour into proceedings that are sometimes monotonously drab.