Evening star., 1935-11-03
DRIVERS BLAMED
FOR BRAKE ABUSE
High Speed Stopping Uses
Extra Braking Power
Built Into Car.

1t is too early in the battle against
the automobile accident invasion to
expect highway officials to take down
the speed limit signs and erect in
their place signs limiting the maxi
mum speed at which automobiles may
be stopped, but. with humanity car
rying the burden of accidents, some
thing that will emphasize restrictions
on braking must shortly come into
the highway picture in an impressive
way. 1t is far cry from safety
analysis and safety engineering to
the collegiate "crate" gayly marked
-Four wheels-no brakes" but these
words carry a vital message that needs
national circulation.
Motorists who pay brake service bills
and safety advocates who strive for a
reduction in the great national acci-
dent debt are rapidly coming to
realization that an outstanding
menace to safety today is the average
drivers conviction that his brakes
are capable of almost anything in
deceleration. Daily he is indulging
in the extra braking power which
engineers offer for emergency use,
employing the 60-mile- -an-hour stop
for 30-mile- e-an-hour travel, whereas
the situation in today's street and
highway traffic actually calls for
handling his car so that only mini
mum of brakin& is necessary.
Bad Habits Encouraged.
High-speed stopping not only brings
on expensive and highly dangerous
mechanical trouble with the hraking
system, but encourages a destructive
habit Of misjudging speed, distances,
steering and-worst Of all-the ability
of other drivers to act quickly and
the capacity Of the braking system
of other cars to match such abrupt
stopping.
Tests have demonstrated that 1t is
possible to operate a car with q very
minimum of braking and that by
driving in such way the operator
can make good average speed
through traffic as well as on the
open road. Because he spends less
time in the service station. seeking
remedies to overtaxed brakes. and
figures less often in collisions, he
makes a better time average over a
period of years than the driver who
relies on his brakes to compensate
for errors in judgment. One test
where the operator was required to
use only the hand brake showed that
it was possible to cover an 80-mile
stretch of hilly country with braking
only for actual stops and to assist
in checking speed on down grades
when lower gears were used. Over
this same course the average operator
uses his brakes from 1000 to 1000
times.
The trouble is largely one of too
rapid stopping at any speed. and al
most invariably at a speed that Is out
of step with traffic or road surface
conditions. Easy braking. like super
power. is an invitation to excess speed.
Most drivers feel so certain of their
ability to stop that they do not bother
to consider the appropriateness Of
their rate of speed.
II car is accelerated from a modest
speed of 80 miles per hour and is
stopped within 73 feet the energy de-
veloped, assuming a car-plus load
weight Of $500 pounds. equals 140
horsepower. That Is enough energy
to toss the car 30 feet into the air in
1.8 seconds. This gives a fair picture
of the wastage of an average stop with
brakes in first-class condition and the
driver losing 80 feet Of stopping space
just reacting to the warning to stop.
Many stops from moderate speed are
made in shorter space, not only be-
cause some drivers react quicker than
others but also because of the differ
ence in available braking power.
Rely Too Much on Brakes.
Excessive confidence in brakes be-
comes a license to ignore many simple
rules of driving. II the worst comes
to the worst, many operators grow to