Opinions from Others.
Page 18
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Driver-Owner Insurance.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,454] Sir,—I should like to draw your attention to certain matters in connection with the insurance of motorcabs which have come to my notice.
The General Motor Cab Co., Ltd., has now ceased to effect insurance of any kind on its machines with any company. The premium for taxicab insurance was originally ten guineas per annum. This rate, which was a " standard " rate for all the insurance companies in 1907, was, in 1908, increased to fifteen guineas. I believe it is a fact that all the companies are nowadays nervous about accepting third-party motorcab risks without a very heavy premium.
You may remember that the General Motor Cab Co., Ltd., at the time of the increased premium, charged its drivers 6d. per day, which was returnable if the driver had to account for no accident during the year. It was urged that, in legal cases which arose out of this demand, the company's practice involved an illegal imposition in accordance with the Truck Act ; in 1909 the payment was discontinued. The G.M.C. would, under that arrangement, with
a £2,000 limit to the third-party risk, have incurred a liability of approximately £51,000 per annum for premiums alone on their cabs. In conversation with one of the company's officials, I am left with the impression that it is likely this company will reap considerable advantage by carrying its own risk.
In this connection, I think it is surprising that no insurance company has, so far as I am aware, made a special feature of an owner-drivers' third-partyrisk policy. The premium charged is now 217, with an additional £1 10s. per annum for personal injury. The risk of accident is very much less, it will be admitted, in the case of driver-owners than it is with the employees of large companies. As there are now close on 1,000 small owners, such insurance should prove a good commercial undertaking.—Yours faithfully,
" MUSH-TASH.
Non-skids for Steel -tired Wheels.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,455] Sir,—Referring to the letter by " Skidding " in your issue of 16th November, in which he states " one must, however, regret the paucity of the catering by manufacturers for the owners of steel-tired machines, and the small amount of effort made to help them to overcome the difficulties of winter transport," we should like to point out that we are making special sections of our Farnell solid band tires for winter use.
In our opinion, the twin rubber is the only reliable solution of the problem, and, knowing that many owners of steam vehicles do not consider that they can afford to run ordinary-section band tires, we put this special-section winter tire in at much below the ordinary band-tire price. Spare wheels fitted with these tires can replace the ordinary steel wheels during the bad weather, We give a guarantee with them of 5,000 miles of running, or up to three seasons use.
We do not care to go into full particulars of our tires in this letter, as it might look too much like a free advertisement of our goods, but, as our tires and wheels were not mentioned in your article of the 9th inst., we consider we are justified in drawing your readers' attention to the matter.---Yours faithfully.
E. FARNELL AND SONS.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,456] Sir,—I have read "Skidding's" letter, which appeared in your issue of 16th November. with much interest, and I ask your permission to add my lamentations to his own respecting the lack of an efficient y intar wheel for use on steel-tired motors during the winter season. This lack, however, is not due, as Skidding " suggests, to want of enterprise on the part of manufacturers, but to the serious difficulty of producing a composite-treaded wheel which will rigidly comply with the letter of the Act. I think it, only fair to state the general causes which to my knowledge retard the development of a winter wheel. In the first place, road surveyors and their local authorities have in many cases shown considerable temper on account of the extra wear and tear to which their roads are subjected, due to the rapid growth of mechanical road transport. Their first duty, one would think, under such circumstances, should be to adapt their roads to suit this modern development, and where their funds were inadequate to apply to Parliament for financial aid. They have, however, in many instances simply contented themselves with insisting upon having their pound of flesh out, of the cause of their troubles. In so doing, they have neglected their proper functions. , The case of winter wheels tor motor wagons forms a striking example of what I mean. Motor-wagon owners in my district made a serious effort last winter to overcome the dangerous practice of skidding about the roads, by the adoption of winter wheels. The Bauly winter wheel was the one most generally adopted. The road authorities " discovered " that the treads of these wheels did not wear down with a mathematical degree of smoothness and evenness, and forthwith issued an edict that the wheels were illegal! This may have been correct, or it may not, but to my
mind it was very foolish of them. The actual facts were these. The tread is built up on steel channels with wood and rubber blocks pressed in between ; as
they wore down, the steel channels became from I in. to in. proud of the wood, and the rubber blocks remained slightly proud of the steel. I quote an out side example. This left marks on the road of the
steel rims and the rubber blocks, but these could not have been deeper than I mention above, and road
surveyors cannot pretend that their road surfaces are greatly affected by this result. The road authorities, none the less, took fright at the steel rims ; it never seemed to occur to them that these rims could not perform a very considerable amount of work on the road without destroying the effectiveness of the wheel as a non-skid.
It is my belief that the Bauly wheel came as near perfection as has been known, and that, if it had been given time, it would have been improved to approxi mate to the requirements of the law in a, manner which would have satisfied the most-severe critic. I personally agree that the wheels were not strictly legal, but, as a first serious attempt to overcome a public danger, they were deserving of greater con sideration than they received from the road authorities in my district. I could cite a case in which these Bauly treads were accused of ploughing up the roads and smashing up the setts, whereas their action was far less harmful than the ordinary straked steel tire.
"Skidding" refers to the weight of composite treads. I believe the wheels fitted with these Bauly rims, etc., weigh about 4 cwt. per pair heavier than the ordinary steel-tired wheel. But, here again, I maintain that, if these wheels were recognized as only for special ,service during the winter months, and the gross weight imposed on the road were not increased, their extra weight should be no bar to their use. I wonder how the Egyptians dealt with their road problems. I fancy that our road surveyors of the 20th century would find the answer very instructive.—Yours faithfully, C. LE M. GOSSELIN. Preston.