MOTOR COACH DOINGS AND DEVELOPMENTS.
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Matters of Topical Interest to Proprietors of Chars-a-bancs.
Coach Proprietors in Conclave.
WHEN, in the summer, the daily Press made its outcry against the obstruction caused by the motor coach, the Ministry of Transport considered the question of at once framing and bringing into force some regulations on the subject,but wisely seeking the advice of those who had experience in the running_ of motor coaches, the Ministry deferred action until the end of the season, so that the winter
months could be devoted to the consideration of the problem prior to the framing of regulations which would come into force next year.
Our own suggestion in the matter, appearing in our editorial pages in the issue of September 7th, was that the presence in London during the Commercial Vehicle Show of a large number of motor coach proprreters would provide tha opportunity for a meeting where this matter could be discussed, and the chairman of the. Commercial Motor Users Association adopted that suggestion, and convened a meeting a which was held at Olympia on Tuesday last. There was a very large attendance, Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, 0.13.E., occupying the chair.
The chairman outlined the reasons for calling the gathering together, went over the whole of tho ground very briefly, and ' then confined the discussion to two matters, which he deserilbed as urgent.
One of these matters dealt with the need for stating a case in order to prevent either the general nr local closing to chara-bancs traffic of roads under 16 ft. in width, 'whilst the other dealt with the question of provision for receiving signals from overtaking vehicles. There has lately been a great increase in the representSitions-frcen local authorities to the Ministry of Transport on the question of traffic over narrow •roads, and its must be remembered that under the Meter Oar Act local authorities have the power, on complying with certain 1Vquirements, to ceder the closing of certain roads against motor vehicular traffic. The Ministry of Transport is new called uponto advise on this matter, and the purport/ of the discussion on Tuesday teat was to secure arguments to put forward in oppositien.
Amonget, those who. took part were Mr. Chaptna•n, of Eastboarsie, Mr.. A. F. French, Mr. Wilkes, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Harding, Mr. Reynolds, 1VLr. Gosling, Col. Oromp?on, and Capt. Lyon Thompson, and it was the general opinion of the meeting that Motor coach proprietors should stand out for no control whatever of motor coach traffic over first and second class roads, but that they should express their readiness to agree to digcues the conditions under which such traffic should be taken over third-class roads. The third-class roads should not he closed to motor coach traffic, because so many of them lead to the beauty spots of this country, and it was a sound argument that the great masses of the workers
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of this country having discovered that • they now have access to these beauty spots will want to go to them, whether they go over roads which are wide or narrow.
Wherever it is passible, traffic should go in at one way and, out at the other ; where, however, there is only one practical road to and from a spot, then passing *aces should be made. Again, should motor coach traffic be prohibited over these roads, it was illogical npt to prohi
bit goods vehicles, yet the passage of goods vehicles might be absoliftely vital because of the need of taking foodstuffs into populated places where there is no direct railway communication ; it was also illogical to close roads to what, might he termed the third-class passengers of the road and leave those roads open to private motorists, who can be placed in the category of first-class passengers. It is a fact that the proportion of accidents in third-class roads during the past summer has been extraordinarily small. It, Was generally felt that the matter was one which should be left for discussion between the users and the local authorities, and that every effort possible should be put forward to get the roads widened to suit the traffic. A good deal could be done by the piping in of the road drains at the sides of existing roads, whilst no local authority should-have power to clogs any road unless it could prove that every effort possible had been made to utilize all the space between the edges.
It was finally agreed that the motor coach section of the C.M.U.A. be extended, and that a request be made to the National Council of that body to deal with the Government for the protection of the motor coach owners that any legislation in respect of roads of 16 ft. and under should be opposed.
With regard to provision for receiving signals from overtaking vehicles, there was a certain amount of discussion and various methods commonly employed were referred to, and it seemed to be generally a.greed that during the winter each proprietor should make some effort to improve -upon the present system by 'the adoption of rear view mirrore and of any suitable device for receiving and transmitting to the driver signals from vehicles desirous of overtaking.
The Charaphone.
TEE difficulty experienced by the driver of the faster type of road vehicle who desires to overtake the motor lorry or char-a-bancs is very great. The noises coming from sources adjacent to the driver of a heavy vehicle are sufficient to drown any warning signal from an overtaking vehicle, unless seine means can be devised of collecting the sound and tranemitting it without interruption to a,receiver close to the driver.
The Charaphone Co., of IIillidge Roan, Ilunslet, Leeds, 90e2111 successfully to have solved the difficult problem in the Charaphone, which they have placed on the market, and for which Jas. Bartle and Co., Ltd., of Lancaster Road, Notting Hill, London, W. 11, hold the agency.
The Charaphone consists of a, sound collecting cone fixed to the offside rear of the vehicle, the mouth of the cone pointing rearwards. Covering the cone is a sleeve with its mouth directed forwards, thus enabling it to pick up the current of air created by the forward passage of the motor vehicle. `lids air current is again defleoted forward by the outer face of the sound collecting cone into the mouth of an intensifier cone, thus imitating, as it were, the steam injector process and getting a current of air to travel up the pipe with which the cone is connected, this current of air therefore assisting the conveyance of the sound which is picked up by the sound collecting cane. At any bend in the pipe it is necnsgary to pace a deflector diaphragm in order to avoid eddycurrence at that particular spot. The receiver is brought close to the ear of the driver, of the heavy vehicle, thus enabling him to hear quite clearly, despite the sound surrounding him, the • warning from .the overtaking vehicle,
It is claimed that the apparatus is an entire success, and if this is so it is certainly right that it should be described as an essential fitting for every commer cial vehicle. It, therefore, should be fitted to all lorries, wagons, motor coaches, and such omnibuses as travel over country roads. Complaints are rife concerning the difficulty experienced by drivers of vehicles whirls are entitled to travel at 20 m.p.h., of paesing the heavy vehicles which, of course, are not entitled: to travel at any greater speed than 12 m.p.h., and it is becoming quite evident that, unless proprietors of vehicles make satisfactory provision for receiving signals from overtaking vehicles, regale.tions will be imposed which will be restrictive, and must naturally result in annoyance and waste of time arising from police court summonses.
Local Control Over Coaches.
The Ringwood Rural District Council has made the suggestion that ratepayers of the district should have a voice in the licensing of chars-labancs passing through the village.