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OPINIONS and QUERIES

9th August 1935, Page 31
9th August 1935
Page 31
Page 32
Page 31, 9th August 1935 — OPINIONS and QUERIES
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ANOTHER DRIVING-HOURS PROBLEM.

[9607] • Is it legal to drive a contract carriage for 11 hours on a Saturday—that is, in driving to the South Coast, allowing two half-hour breaks for snacks, etc., and one hour break for lunch? No driving to he done the following day (Sunday).

We come home on the Friday, and the day previous we do not drive, so may we drive 11 hours again on the Friday, have eight hours' rest, then go back again on the Saturday anti drive 11 hours as in our .first question? If this be not clear to you, what are the maximum legal driving hours on a Friday and Saturday, two days in any one week, provided we have eight consecutive hours for rest?

In the above questions none of the periods will exceed 51 hours' continuous driving.

Although under the above table the driver does not drive for a total of more than 11 hours in any period of 24 hours, commencing two hours after midnight, it appears to us that the table does not comply with the requirements of Section 19 of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, because the driver does not have at least nine consecutive' hours for rest during the 24 hours commencing at 6 a.m. on Friday, when he starts from the south coast. The general rule is that a driver must have at least 10 consecutive hours for rest in the 24 hours, but the 10 hours can be reduced to nine consecutive hours if the driver has at least 12 consecutive hours for rest in the next following period of 24 hours. This he has, as he does not drive on Sunday. The further reduction of the nine cOnsecutive hours to eight consecutive hours applies' only if between two periods of driving an express carriage or a contract carriage there is an interval of not less than four consecutive hours at a. destination, during which the driver is able to obtain rest and refreshment. In our opinion the two periods of driving referred to above are two periods of driving in a period of 24 hours. For example, if a driver starts in the morning and drives for 5/ hours, or less, to a destination where he remains for a least four hours and is able to obtain rest and refreshment, and then drives back it is sufficient if he has only eight consecutive hours for rest in the 24 hours calculated from the time when he started in the morning. This applies on any one day in a period of seven days, or en two days if that period includes a Bank Holiday The maximum legal driving hours on any day are 11.—En.j

THE LENGTH OF ARTICULATED EIGHTWHEELERS.

[4608] Will you please tell me what is the maximum overall length allowed for an eight-wheeled articulated vehicle registered after January 1, 1931?

In the Motor Vehicles "Construction and Use" Regulations, 1931, it is stated that an eight-wheeled articulated vehicle registered before January 1, 1931, may equal but not exceed 36 ft., but this is the only enact

ment I am able to trace. ,F. EDLIN. Leicester.

[The maximum overall length allowed for an eight. wheeled articulated vehicle registered after January' 1, 1931, is 33 ft. This is in accordance with the first paragraph of Regulation 5 of the Construction and Use Regulations, 1931. As you are aware, special provision was made in the case of eight-wheeled articulated vehicles registered before January 1, 1931. No further provision has been made regarding those first registered after that date, and therefore the general limit of • 33 ft. for any articulated vehicle applies.—En.1 UNSPLINTERABLE GLASS AND VEHICLE SAFETY.

[9609] The article that appeared in The Commercial Motor dated July 12, under the heading of " Unsplinterable Glass and Vehicle Safety," has been brought to my notice from several sources, and it is clear that some misapprehension has been engendered.

I feel sure you will share my desire that any misunderstanding should be removed and that you will give this letter the same prominence as your article received. Your article related to a coach in Morocco which was overturned in an accident, and in which nearly all the passengers perished in the fire which followed, because of being unable to break their way out throtigh the windows, which were of safety glass. I understand that the glass in question was not of the usual laminated safety type, such as is manufactured by this company and others.

It is well known among those conversant with the properties of laminated glass that it can be broken through with tolerable ease, without inflicting severe cuts, and such a disaster as is referred to in your article could not possibly have occurred in these circumstances. In other words, it is not unreasonable to state that passengers in a vehicle fitted with laminated glass are afforded the advantage of the safety factor, without being subject to the danger so tragically emphasized in the case to which you refer.

C. W. REA, Director, for LANCEGAYE SAFETY GLASS (1934), LTD. THE LIABILITY TO CLUTCH SLIP.

(4610) My brother and I have recently had a little argument and we wish your expert opinion on the points in question.

While discussing the possibility of a slipping clutch, I maintained that it was more likely to slip in one of the lower gears when the engine was " revving " and actually putting out somewhere near its maximum b.h.p, than when in top gear and, as my brother put it, pulling hard.

He, however, said that if it did not slip in top it would not slip in any gear, as the reduction of the gear ratio automatically eased the clutch, but my contention is that it is possible for a vehicle to be moving at a comparatively slow speed in bottom gear while putting out its maximum power, but seldom, if at all, possible for it to do the same thing in the top gear for the same length of time; thus the strain and slipping tendency are not apparent to the same degree.

Belton. CLUTCH.

[Your brother is correct in his contention. Clutch slip is more usual in top gear, the reason being that the biggest loads are usually imposed upon the engine at its speed of maximum torque, when it is pulling hard at moderate road speed in direct drive. When a lower ratio is engaged, the torque exerted by the engine usually may be less, owing to the advantage afforded by the reduction, but it is, nevertheless, quite possible, given a steep enough gradient or sufficiently rapid acceleration, for the full engine torque to be required in any of the indirect gears when, in consequence, clutch slip may occur. Your brother is, however, right when he says that, if a clutch cannot be made to slip in top, it will not slip in any of

the gedis. On several occasions in the past, before clutches became more reliable, we were able to get home on the lower gears and climb fairly steep gradients in cases where drastic slip occurred when the vehicle was running in top gear.—ED.]

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People: C. W. REA
Locations: Leicester

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