Birmingham Urges National Use of Dipped Headlamps
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AT a conference held in Warwickshire last week by the Birmingham Dipped Headlights Committee, a strong plea was made by Alderman Ernest W. Horton, JP., deputy mayor of Birmingham, for the use of dipped headlamps in urban streets during the hours of darkness to be adopted on a national scale. To this end, Birmingham's Lord Mayor, Alderman Louis Glass, had recently written to the Minister of Transport asking his co-operation in launching a national campaign, if only for a trial period.
At the time of the conference, the Minister had not replied, but Mr. E. R. Raworth, speaking on behalf of the Ministry, said that the Minister was very interested in the accident-reduction results obtained in Birmingham, and was studying the experiment closely. Mr. Raworth suggested, furthermore, that the Ministry would consider introducing regulations or leading a national campaign when it was convinced that they had the best answer to the night-driving problem.
Figures released last week show that Birmingham's night road accidents increased by 4.2 per cent during the first 14 weeks of this winter when compared with the same period of the winter of 1961/62, and that night road deaths fell by 12 per cent. The averages for the six towns taken as a control (Bradford, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool and Nottingham) showed an increase of 19.6 per cent in respect of accidents at night and 26-8 per cent with regard to night deaths alone. At the same time, the traffic flow in the cities under consideration rose by between 13 and 30 per cent.
None of the figures published, however, shows the split-up between cars, goods vehicles and p.s.v. in terms of the vehicles involved in accidents.
On the face of it, however, it would appear that Birmingham's success with its experiment so far could be repeated throughout the country, and this would certainly bring Britain into line with most countries in the rest of Europe, where vehicles must use headlamps at all times when moving—even if only to show that they are moving. Admittedly, most Continental vehicles have headlamps with a sharper dipped-beam cut-off than is used in Britain, and police action is often taken against the drivers of vehicles whose lamps dazzle, but even so, dazzle should not be a problem in this country to
drivers with normal eyesight. J.F.M.
OLLO WING the news (The Commer cial Motor, February 14) that French (Paris-Rhone) electrical equipment is available in the U.K., Bosch Ltd., 20 Carlisle Road, Hendon, London, N.W.9, has announced the introduction of a 4.5-in. diameter 3 h.p. starter suitable for B.M.C. 5.1-litre diesel engines, Perkins 4.270 engines, Bedford 300 and 330 cu. in. diesels and the EN.218 four-cylinder diesel engine as fitted in the Albion Claymore.
The new starter—ref. EJD 3/12 BR 4 BL—is a solenoid-operated axial type, is dustand splash-proof and has an S.A.E. No. 1 mounting flange. Weight is about