Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-05-12

division Of the N. M. a. Some new
safety thoughts were expressed
Continuing he said, in part:
THE use of bumpers on cars, fol
instance, Is evidence Of a trend to-
ward safer and less troublesome
motoring. but the growing tendency
on the part of drivers of bumper
equipped cars to take risks which
they would not take were the cars
unprotected reveals a serious mis-
conception of the purposes of safety
devices"
During the past winter. investi-
gators OF the National Motorists AS
| ISOLATION were amazed at the high
| speeds which drivers averaged when
| their machines were chain equipped
Where motorists were so imprOvident
as to drive without chains, over wet
| and slippery streets, the average
| speed fell just below the twenty
| miles per mark. The average for
J chain-equipped cars was twenty
! five miles per hour. and-on certain
streots.-frequehtly higher"
The purpose in equipping a car
with chains is that by so doing the
man who is driving at eighteen miles
per hour in rain or snow can do so
without the danger of skidding or
obliged to stop suddenly. Thus
the moment a driver equips his car
With such safety device and eX-
cceds this speed he introduces a new
clement of danger: he out drives
the safety limits Of the protective de-
vice"
THE toughest experiment will
show Il driver that in driving thirty
miles per hour. chain equipped. he
: cannot stop any quicker than when
driving eighteen miles an hour. with
bare tires. 1t should be evidence
enough that the purpose of chains is
to make safe driving safer. rather
than to make reckless driving a lit
tie less reckless"
This under recklcssnoss which is
50 frequently observed when a driver
adds some safety devices to his car
the National Motorists Association
recognized as a plain case of over
confidence in protective equipment
and miScOnceptiOn of its real pur-
pose. If automobile accidents are to
he actually curtailcd nothing can
hc gained by standing still; and that
is exactly what happens when
driver adds a safety device and then
becomes n little more careless. The
device may offset this careleSsness,
but that is not improving conditions.
And progress in this direction can he
had only when ear owners equip
their machines with safety devices
and then drive as carefully as they
would were they actually unpro-
tccted."
This thought applies equally we'll
to the use of automatic signaling de-
vices. Since the adoption of direc-
ton signals and stop lights there
has been an increasing tendency on
the part of drivers to stop more
abruptly. commence right and left
turns at unexpected times and cease
hand signaling. which in many in
stances should he supplementary.
In other words. the tendency is to
place too much reliance upon sig
nails. and rather than use these de-
vices for what they were intended.
make them cover a new set of haZ-
ards. AS the National Motorists As
sociatOn has discovered. thc de-
vices are doing their job well enough.
but with the car owners overlooking
their end Of it the Introduction of
the new hazard of OVer-c nfdence
prevents any actual improvement in
conditions"
with safety devices and brains
working in unison conditions would
quickly reach the point which pro-
tcctive equipment was designed to
make possible"