Evening star., 1927-12-04
MOTORING
BY WILLIAM ULLMAN.


the introduction of the balloon.
| This does not mean that ther,
have been no innovations in design
Improvements in composition or sim
plihcation and greater efficiency il
what might have happened had TIL,
chemist and engineer been free tc
| devote their attention to these sub
jects. what has happened is not sc
impressive.
The passing of a great many oi
the old cars which are equipped with
| high-pressure cords eventually viii
| effect a slight remedy in the situa-
ton, according to some, but the only
real solution is seen to center ir
what the automobile manufacturer
does. At present, producing a null
| tiplicity of models, sometimes on two
or even three chassis sizes, he calls
upon one tire maker for as many as
| six or seven sizes of tire.
In addition, the small wheel trend
is becoming more and more emphatic
and this is having its certain delete
rious effect.
The six sizes most generally used
today provide an excellent basis for
the simplification process, in the
opinion of Ray NJ. Hudson, chief OF
the Division OF Simplihed Practice
of the Department of Commerce.
These are listed by the department
as the % by 440, 81 by SIS, 80 by E,
81 by E, % by AIS and the so by 5.25.
Convinced that the automotive in
duStry ranks first in its progressive
ness, those in favor of a simplihca-
ton of tire manufacture foresee i'm
mediate results once the leaders of
the motor car field fully realize the
advantages of a change from the
present program.
The motorist who thinks that the
United States is rather slow in get
ting around to the abolition of the
arbitrary speed limit law for auto
mobiles will find something to con-
sole him in the new law proposed
for Italy. The government there
offers traffic code that makes the
most rigorous of regulations in the
United States look appallingly lib
eral.
1t proposes, for instance, to limit
the speed of all motor vehicles in in
habited areas to nine miles an hour.
But that is not all. In addition, it
provides a penalty of fine of 1000
lire or one year in jail for every one
who exceeds this limit, whether any
ones life is endangered or not. The
maximum penalty is 10000 lire fine
or two years Imprisonment.
But far worse is the fact that all
that is necessary to lay the motorist
open to these penalties is the word
of an underpaid policeman, who is
to be given 10 per cent commission
on all fines collected on the basis of
his reports. The motorists chance
for a happy experience with his au-
tomobile seems to be remote when
the speed law is considered in con-
nection with other aspects of the
code.
From 10 to 20 years imprisonment
awaits the car owner who has fig
ured in an accident in which a pedes-
trian is seriously or fatally injured.
In the light of the trend to lift re-
strictions which fetter the use of the
automobile, visible in all parts of the
United States, the proposed Italian
code is amazing. Leaders of the
Italian automobile industry declare
it means the doom of their field. If
the same criteria apply there as in
the United States, they probably are
nearly correct.
Public garages have been defined
by cynical motorists as places
where they ruin tenders" But if
the public garage occasionally is the
scene of high-class job of fender
dentlng, the private garage is not so
very far behind. For, as every one
knows, even the careful driver be-
comes careless on his own property.
where he, himself, is the law and its
enforcer.
Many motorists who can steer
flne course on the crowded street
and go for years without so much as
grazing fender seem to cast discre-
tlon to the wind when they turn into
their own driveways. Having driven
over the route from curb to garage
so many times, one becomes an au-
tomaton and drives 'by ear"
This let-down is responsible for
many accidents involving tenders.
running boards, bumpers and other
such units. Doors have been torn
OFT or sprung. In the aggregate, the
damage thus caused runs high.
Another manifestation of the fact
that familiarity breeds contempt" IS
the way one psychologist explains it.
AS hundreds of motorists will
testify, it is very costly form of