Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-23
HELPFUL AUTO TIPS
GIVEN FOR WOMEN
Relatively Is Held One of
Most important Fac
tors in Motoring.
BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL.
The wise tourist knows she can't
make q home run on foul driving.

A woman who Is trying to add some
new slants on the subject of safety
points out that relatively is one Of the
greatest dangers on the highway to-
day. People who have little idea how
to handle a car at so miles per hour
60 bliSSfully along at that speed think
ing they are travelling at quite modest
rate, simply because the rest of the
cars are moving at that pace. The
idea that one is speeding only when
going faster than other cars is fall
lacy that annually traps thousands of
motorists into dire trouble.
Some Of these days motorists will be
going to automobile row for the pur-
pose of having their cars "safetied,"
not merely serviced. Today service is
very largely safety. There was a time
when cars would quit on the job unless
regularly and carefully nursed To-
day they will go along surprisingly
well even if neglected, but it is the
owner who suffers. Loose spring
shackleS and wheels may throw the
car into disastrous shimmy. Neg
lected brakes may bring a bad skid
Out-of-focus headlights may blind
the oncoming driver and cause COLI
sion. These can be avoided only by
regular visits to the safety station"
Some day soon it is going to be pos
Sible to lock the glove compartment
without bothering with a key. The
locking device will be a midget combi-
nation type of lock easily set for any
secret number combination the owner
desires and quickly operated without
the usual search for a special key.
Because rubber engine mountings
keep vibration from reaching the
drivers ears there is a temptation to
forget that the motor still is subjected
to considerable disturbance. This is
best demonstrated by having your
service man try wrench on the nuts
which hold the intake and exhaust
manifolds to the motor block. In a
surprising number of cases these nuts
will be found quite loose on cars which
seem much too young to need this sort
of attention. Shock, due to high speed
travel, helps to loosen the manifold
nuts. Baskets will hold surprisingly
well when the nuts are loose, but
there is no point in counting a gasket
blowout when the situation can be pre-
vented in few minutes time.
She always sits well toward the CEN
ter of the front seat in a way that
looks Just abit unconventional if not
actually awkward. Other drivers cape
in surprise; few in amusement. But
there is every reason why she should
drive her car as she does, for by sitting
further away from the left side she is
able to have better view of the road
ahead without having the left front
body post interfere with her vision.
Drivers who crouch in the left corner
are very apt to invite an accident,
placing themselves as they do in po-
sition to run into something. or some
one, shielded from view by the body
post.
One of the biggest advantages In the
newer models is the trend toward sit
ting nearer the windshield. We have
heard lot about the improved riding
due to sitting further forward In the
car, but it takes actual experience with
these cars to realize that by being
further forward in the driving COM
partment one obtains a much better
view Of the road ahead.
A locking cap for the gas tank can
be more than a protection against
having some one pilfer the contents
of the tank Sometimes the lock can
be more useful in keeping things out
of the tank. I am thinking partic-
ularly of friend of mine who had a