Evening star., 1932-10-23
In the Motor World
BY G. ADAMS HOWARD.

- AvE-A-LIFE campaigns are being
conducted in Maryland and Vir-
ginia. A similar campaign has
~ been urged for the District OF
Columbia by william A. Van
Duzer. director of the Department OF
Motor Vehicles and Traffic. Exac'
details have not been worked out, put
the plan is being pushed by MI. van
DuZer. ~,
It is to be hoped that the plan VIII
be carried into operation ana IN tne
rear future. While it is by no means
necessary to have the campaign mere
at the same time as the neighborlng
States, it would be more eff1caclous.
OF Simple Nature.
The campaign to aid safety is OF
simple nature A regular Inspection
of all motor vehicles would be required
once a year. This inspection Woulo
call for correction of any brake or
steering defects and probably proper
focusing of headlights. A number OF
service stations throughout the city
would be designated to make these in
pections. No owner would have to
have the work done there, but he
would be required to have one OF these
places give him a bill of good health
after the work had been completed
somewhere else.
The cost of putting the essential
parts of ones machine IN good ORDER
would be nothing in comparison to the
costs that a defective car might cause.
No one really wants to drive car IN
moor condition. but motorists, like many
other people, are prone to procras-
Scve-a-life campaign is properly
named. A properly adjusted brake can
save many lives in comparison to
defective one. The city wants safe cars
and safe drivers. May the Natlona!
Capital go forward in the interests OF
safety!
Best Combination.
In this regard the following is OF
interest:
A careful driver in dependable car
Is the combination which must lead the
way to maximum safety on highways
of the United States, in the opinion OF
N. E. McDarby, vice president IN charge
of sales of an automobile company.
Reviewing the major factors which
make for greater safety in motor car
oneration, Mr.. McDarby stressed the
individual driver as the most important,
hut only slightly more SO than the
individual automobile. He said:
although the driver and the automo-
hile usually are regarded as separate
and distinct elements in the promotion
of safety on the highway. 1t really IS
impossible to view them in their true
Importance except in comoinatioh
There can be no doubt that the driver
is the more important single factor.
This is true because he is human. ana
because the driving of car is human
oneration. A machine can be built
to do one job we'll, and it can be
tuned periodically to keep 1t at max
inum efficiency A man must do many
iobs well. and his efficiency is variable.
For this reason the quality of the
car he drives becomes an increasingly
important factor. For maximum safety
the car must not only be absolutely de-
pendable under all conditions, but 1t
must be designed and engineered to
supplement the ability OF the driver
to help him keep his efficiency at
peak every minute.
1T is obviously impossible for man
to operate an inefficient, unreliable
automobile with maximum safety, re-
eardless of his skill. He cannot be
sure that the car will respond instant
" to his commands; he doesn't have
confidence that the car will not quit
on him in the face of an emergency,
and the strain. mental and physical,
of driving such an automobile must
necessarily tax his efficiency and rob
him of those qualities which make him
a careful, skillful operator"