A Suggested Reliability Trial for Motor Coaches.
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THE reliability trial, where a number of vehicles are run in open competition under a carefully devised set of regulations, seems, for the past two decades, to have been eschewed by the commercial motor manufacturer, yet it is undeniable that / the reliability trials of motorcars and motorcycles conducted in this country by the ruling bodies have proved an extremely valuable farm of publicity, whilst unquestionably they have served materially to improve the breed.
At a time when there is a revulsion of feeling against vehicles which have seen such service that, however cheaply they may have been bought, the cost of their maintenance is unduly high, a public trial which served to emphasize the merits of the present day productions of Our factories would undoubtedly draw the attention of fleet owners, operators and managers to the economies that could be effected by a change-over to a fleet of new vehicles.
However, we desire to base our advocacy of a reliability trial, urged in oua centre-page article this week, on the need far the improvement of the breed.
In passenger-carrying there is a great deal to be done, or at least to be demonstrated, and proved, in the way of ensuring the complete safety of the passengers of the vehicles, and of other users of the road with which the vehicles may be con cerned. The reliability, trial sets a standard of ex cellence at. which every maker aims, and, curiously enough, which every user, reading the facts arising out of a trial, considers should be attained in practice. If it is proved in trial that the X vehicle, fully loaded, can climb a certain hill at a. certain, , speed, can be held in check on a noted dangerous declivity, attains a certain excellence in petrol con sumption and goes through the performance of the trial with complete reliability, then the' owner of every similar vehicle asks his engineer and his . operating manager why the same results are not reached and,. asking, goads his employees on to better w'ork I . , The motor coach is the type 'of, vehicle a trial of which would be productive of the best results, and, on the experience of such a. trial, tests of buses and of goods-carrying vehicles could later be based. The motor coach is always being taken into .,clifficult districtacand is being stressed often beyond its capacity as figured by ita designers. Reliable data on the
subject would, however, be of value to makers and users, and it could be obtained at none too great an expense, with a return in publicity out of proportion thereto, in such a trial as we suggest.
The matter is one which calls for consideration on the part of certain bodies—the Royal Automobile Club, the Commercial Motor Users Association and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders— and it would be as well that there should be no delay in such consideration, because it might be felt desirable that the trial should be held next spring, thus giving makers ample time in which to prepare vehicles, and being, early enough to enable them to execute resulting orders for the following summer season.
Next Week's Royal Show.
THE• Royal Agricultural Show, promoted by the Royal Agricultural Society of England, will open its gates to the public at Leicester on Tuesday morning next, and on their arrival the visitors will have offered to them the issue of The Commercial Motor for that day containing a full report, amply illustrated and written at the Show after a careful expert examination of the transport, haulage and other exhibits in the Machinery Section appropriate to the sphere of this journal. We emphasize this fact because we wish to make it clear that what will be contained in our next issue will be a genuine report, and not a forecast compiled sfrom the necessarily imperfect information issued by the manufacturers come time beforehand. The Show will be of some importance, not only because the class of visitor is such as would not be expected to visit a commercial motor show in London (although., let it be added, there is none to be prganized there for another 18 months), but because it will include exhibits of outstanding merit which will make a strong appeal to agriculturists. There will be some genuinely new productions in steam wagons, showing substantial advances in design and excellence in production. Everyone of these exhibits will be described and illustrated in our next issue.
Praise for Bournemouth's Coach Drivers.
WE are accustomed to hear praise of the London bus driver, not only from motorists who are
. the persons most qualified to pass an opinion upon motor driving, but from overseas and provincial visitors, but it is new to hear encomiums poured upon motor coach drivers. The usual comment upon the coach driver is that he holds the crown of the road, drives sufficiently fast to render it difficult
for a motorcar to overtake his vehicle and is oblivious to the sound of the warning horn. however, a very experienced motor driver tells us, as the result of a few weeks of experience motoring in the south-west, that he has never met a finer body of men than those who drive the coaches operating from Bournemouth. Each coach driver seems to keep on the left-hand side of the road, he uses the rear-view mirror with which each coach in that district seems to be fitted, and he responds at once to the warning from the conductor of the coach, who seems to maintain a constant look-out. The effect of these precautions and actions is such that our informant never found it necessary, during the time of his stay in the district, to sound the horn asking for a passage past a motor coach. The fleets of coaches at Bournemouth, added our informant, would be a credit to private service. All the vehicles are mounted on pneumatic tyres, and they are very well kept and run sweetly and noiselessly. No one could say that they are slow ; as a matter of fact, a coach passed about 10 mins. out of Bournemouth would reach a town 20 miles away only a few minutes after the overtaking ear had arrived there, which, as we happen to have a fair idea of the speed of the car in question, would be a very creditable performance. We are glad to have this praise of Bournemouth's fleets of coaches and of the conduct and behaviour of their drivers. It suggests that the men possess a manly sense, and are anxious to give the courtesy of the road which they themselves expect from others driving private ears.
New Roads—New Dangers.
WE recently journeyed down the new " Northern Circular Road," which is at present open to traffic from the Golders Green Road to Wilksden Lane in N.W. London, and will eventually link up with the Finchley Road. This new road crosses the much-used Edgware Road at riga angles, constituting a highly dangerous road crossing where
none existed before. •
Now, it is obvious that very many of the new circular or by-pass roads will cut across existing highways in this manner, and it seems to us, that special precautions will have to be taken if a large crop of accidents is to be avoided. The danger lies in the fact that each of the roads concerned is likely to be regarded as the more important highway by the vehieles using 'it, so that, unless special signs are osed to indicate which stream of traffic has the right of way, crashes are bound to ensue.