Evening star., 1933-09-03
In the Motor World
BY G. ADAMS HOWARD.

i, Col. Brainerd Taylor, United States
Army engineer, in urging standardiZa-
tion of motor vehicles. He addressed
the first session Of engineers from the
United States and seven foreign coun-
tries. The congress IS being held under
auspices of the Society of Automotivs
Engineers
All motor and rail transportation
should be co-ordinated, Lieut.. Taylor
said, and to achieve this there should
be national Standardization in motor
transport laws, operations and equip.
ment.
He said the principles Of wartime
transportation were equally applicable
to those of ordinary commerce, that
lack of Standardization in motor trans
port equipment was the chief deterrent
to railway recognition and adoption Of
motor transport in replacing obsolete
branch railway lines.
In a rather large portion Of the
world the automobile Is about as useful
as boat on the Sahara Desert. Lieut.
Col. Brainerd Taylor stated that in the
United States the average ratio Of good
motor roads to areas Of land Is one
mile of highway to one square mile. Ir
France the ratio Is two miles of road
to one mile of land. The figures fol
Mexico and South America are one tc
500. The motorist in China and many
sections of Asia and Africa will find
just one mile Of road in every 1,70l
square miles.
Fair Tours Successful.
With the Chicago Century Of Prog
ress already past the half way mark
the American Automobile Association
announced today that 250,000 automo-
biles, carrying 40 per cent of all outside
visitors, had already made successful
motor tours to the exposition.
The A. A. A. statement was based on
reports direct from Century of Progress
officials, from the Chicago Motor Club
and from other A. A. A. motor clubs
Motorists visiting the Century OF
Progress have come over all roads from
North, South, East and West, encount-
ering splendid facilities not only while
en- tour, but also while in Chicago it.
SELF" the national motoring body de-
clared.
Economic Speed Shown.
Speed demons take note.
At IS miles per hour motorists get
the greatest value from their gasoline
dollar, tests at Iowa State College re-
veal. These tests are reported in q
recent issue Of Civil Engineering.
At that speed these tests show q
mileage Of las miles per gallon Of gaso-
line.
At speeds Of more than IS miles per
hour the economy Of driving decreases,
the tests revealed. At the speed gen.
eral among motorists on the open road,
so miles per hour, 125 miles were OBJ
tained per gallon.
Traffic Aided.
Northwest Washington. and Maryland
motorists who travel Wisconsin avenue
have carried their long-fought point
for modification in the traffic light
installation at the intersection Of that
thoroughfare with Massachusetts, ave-
nue.. Their persistent refusal. much of
it the product of not knowing the loca-
ton of the left turn signal detector.
to drive in the proper lane, has resulted
in the installation Of second detector
in the street car tracks.
The Department of Vehicles and
Traffic made the change when all
methods for getting motorists into the
proper lane-that Immediately to the
right of the car tracks on the downtown
journey-proved unavailing.
The auxiliary detector now counts
left-turning vehicles IN both Of the
inside lanes.