The Coconino sun., 1926-07-09
HOW QUICKLY CAN YOU sTop?

The lives and safety of the motoring public in
Arizona depend to a greater extent on the eff
fectiveneSS of brakes than on any other factor in
the condition of their automobiles. Times with
out number life may depend on matter of feet or
inches in avoiding collision making a curve or
stopping quickly enough to prevent disastrous
crash with some object ahead.
Motorists generally understand this and realize
that should their brakes fail at some critical time
to function accurately, their lives may be the
price of their neglect Despite this, after the
manner of Americans, there is a tendency toward
ignoring the condition of brakes, allowing them
to remain unadjusted or without needed repair so
Icng as they function just enough to be satisfac-
tory or at least passable under ordinary circum-
stances.
But, should the time come when brakes which
VIII function little better than just pasSabiy are
necessary disaster may result and the matter OF
brakes may not again trouble the carefree motor
ist
With problems of mountain highways where
grades are long, often sharp, and turns frequent
and sometimes unexpected the motorst needs
be insured with brakes which he knows are in
such condition that they will always meet the
test Of hard quick usage. Brakes which will
function in level country or in the city, will not
always on long mountain grades and the motorist
may endanger his life and that of many
others.
The Arizona motorst needs take painstaking
precautions about his brakes before driving eX-
tensivey on Arizona highways By driving with
consideration of his brakes continually he may
preserve them from undue wear and damage.
Practically every motorist is familiar with the
possibilities of shifting gears and using compress
sion when going down grade, thus saving rapid
destruction Of brake Innings. Motors running
against compression alone suffer an infinitesmal
amount Of wear and will be undamaged, whereas
ogeIhcating and continued use of brakes on long
grades viii subject them to overheating and I'M
usual strain which will quickly make the most
efficient of brakes undependable and weak.
The peculiar conditions of motoring in the
mountainous states call for peculiar attention to
the problems Of brakes.
This phase Of safety for the motoring public
has been painfully overlooked on the statute
locks in Arizona, and may well receive The
prompt attention of lawmakers to the problem
Requiring that motorists in Arizona should re-
port TO designated stations once every month for
an inspection of their brakes would go far in So
luton of the problem and could be the means of
saving many lives. The number of accidents
caused directly through unsatisfactory brakes, or
that could have been averted had brakes func-
toned perfectly is impossible to check or esti-
mate, but that it is high is a certainty.
Some means for assuring that motorists pro-
tect themselves and others by maintaining de-
pendable brakes may be worked out with COM
parative ease. Those familiar with the problems
of motor traffic and legislation affecting it will
find a fertile field in an investigation of this
question and in solving it may accomplish vast
benefits in making motoring more popular, and
most Of all in increasing its safety inestimably.
Prescott Courier.