The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-11
DRIVING HINTS FOR
MOTOR TOURISTS
How to Handle the Car on
Various Kinds Of
Roads.

Thousands of motorists this year will
drive from their accustomed and famil-
lar territory to strange places where the
geographical conditions are unfamiliar
10 them and where they may encounter
roads and road conditions never before
met, Some advice on driving under vari-
Gus conditions will be helpful.
Though it Is generally known by the
sxperienced motorist that IL n hill Is too
steep for even first gear the reverse
NAV be used, the first time owner may
Give UP in despair and try another road
v,thout a steep grade. The reverse Of
Every car is geared lower than first,
hence II the car cannot pull on low be-
cause Of the steepness of the hill or lack
Of power, the driver can back up the hill
II must be done slowly. of course, and a
very watchful eye kept for oncoming
cars
In ascending grades always keep to
tho extreme right This should be done
always, Of course. but on grades cars
coming down usually travel at speed and
the driver takes little more road room
than usual. 1t will be found safer also
II there Is a turn on the grade.
In descending grade various resis-
check and save brake lining. In some
States the grades are so steep that IL
the driver were to use the brakes alone
10 retard the cars movement the lin
ing would be burned when the bottom
81 the grade is reached. The driver
should remember that shifting to n
lower gear always throws in engine
resistance. Hence on low gear there
is the greatest resistance obtaiEable.
II the ignition Is switched of, then the
rear wheels turn over the engine and
further resistance is thrown in. Open
ing the throttle introduces a little more
The brakes should be used only II the
resstances mentioned are insufficient
10 prevent the car from attaining a
dangerous speed.
Sandy roads battle the owner who
Is accustomed to driving in sections
where no such roads exist. The light
car takes the sand easier than the heavy
car but both may find difficulty IL the
sand is very loose. II the sandy stretch
Is quite long and looks dangerous the
tires may be wrapped with burlap and
IL this Is not at hand rope will do.
Debating the tires is often all that Is
necessary. Once a car Is stuck In sand
1t Is useless to try to get 1t out
by spinning the rear wheels. This only
causes them to dig deeper into the sand.
II no progress is made on the first trial
shift 10 neutral and get busy at thu
rear wheels. Boards IL they are OBJ
tainable are excellent in allowing the
rear wheels to grip. The boards SHOULD
be placed at the rear of the tires and
the car reversed out of the difnculty.
In approaching sandy spot 1t Is
best to speed up a little, holding the
steering wheel firmly so as to be pre-
pared for an emergency. In sand the
steering wheels are a little hard to con-
troll.
Muddy roads are negotiated in the
same way as sandy ones. though usually
tire chains will pull a car through mud
that is not too deep. The mud road as
usually found is not soft for many inches
down so that IL the car sinks the chains
will probably take hold on the frmer
ground underneath the mud. The mar
ket now affords a number of devices
which may be attached to the rear
wheels to enable the car TO travel over
almost any kind OF a road. In one In
stance the device allows the car to sink
Just enough to clear the axles.
One OF the very handy devices for the
tourist who expects to meet some bad
roads and get into difficulty. Is an ex-
tractor Of some sort This Is the last re-
sort device which may be handled by one
man to pull the car out OF deep mud OF
sand. Block and tackle is the common
device, but there are many special one;
on the market made for the automobile
tourist,
II may seem like childish advice TO say
that a driver never should cross q
stream without investigating Its deptf
and the condition OF the he'd. but never
theless many experienced motorists for
get and find themselves stuck. Even oui
war tanks could not travel everywhere
for our army had to send men ahead
('bellycrawlers" they called them) II
order TO look over the territory to set
that the tank could travel over It
In addition to observing the simple
rules mentioned the motorist will d.
well to make an investigation Of tn
road conditions in the section Of tn
country in which he expects to drive
The American Automobile Association
the local automobile club. the travel bu
reaus, &c, have Information on the road
in all sections and It would be better u
get 4 report from one of them. TIL
road books are Of course helpful, Blu
they cannot be expected to indicate roat
conditions months after they have beei
puhliahed