Evening star., 1936-08-02

cAoCt PoP04dtlou III WdouuI6tou pcl
THE fixing of time schedules by mo-
tor touring vacationists is an in
evitability and not necessarily an un-
happy one, save when the schedule Is
figured too closely and leads to dan
gerous driving. This is the opinion Of
George E. Keneipp, manager Of the
Keystone Automobile Club. In setting
any schedule, Mr.. Keneipp points out,
the motorist should bear in mind that
the actual and the ideal bear no rela-
tionship.
1T is all very well. for instance" !"
he says, "for the motorist to think Of.
say, New York and Washington being
nine hours apart by automobile-or 10
hours-n he managed to make that
journey in that time. It does not fol-
low that he will encounter conditions
that will make possible the repetition
of the same trip in the same time in
terval.
Many, however, overlook the pos
sibility Of changed conditions. The
trip once was made within a certain
time interval; therefore, the man who
made it will assume that the time is
fixed. Between the two cities, he will
race the clock despite the fact that
the weather and traflc conditions may
be different. If he finds himself fall
ing behind in the race, he will take
| dangerous chances.
This State of mind afflicts too
large a percentage of Summer trav-
elers.
"The other face of schedule making.
one equally evil from the standpoint
Of safety, is that of setting mileages
to be covered in a single day. This
practice is beyond criticism II it Is
kept within bounds, but there are mo-
torists who insist that 400, even 500
miles day, Is necessary.
"The modern car is capable Of such
performance, but its driver frequently
demonstrates that he Is not equally
capable.
Some 100 miles away from his goal,
after hours Of sustained high speed
driving, fatigue begins to diminish his
efficiency as a safe driver. He recog-
nizes his exhaustion not as a menace
to his own safety and that of others,
but as a challenge to his ability to
keep a schedule he has set for him
self.
His disposition is to make that last
100 miles If they kill him-and too
often they dol"
"In the fixing Of schedules" the
Keystone official warns, "the motor
tourist must remember that he does
not fix the conditions of any days
driving. They are determined by CIR
cumstances over which he has no con-
troll. On the contrary, the circum-
stances control him. The sooner he
adjusts his schedule to conform, the
safer will be his vacation road"
Despite the lateness Of the season,
passenger car and truck produc-
ton in the United States and Canada
for the current week will reach an
estimated 96,907 units and actually
show slight gain over the 96,807 units
manufactured in the previous week,
says Automotive Daily News in its mid
week digest released today.
Spurts Of from $50 to 872 units over
their previous weeks output were reg
istered by number of plants.
It is believed that when the fac
tories do close down for inventory and
tooling up for new models, the closing
will be abrupt rather than the long
drawnout decline which has been a
feature Of other years. Contrary to
past experience, a strong retail demand
for new cars is still apparent and as
result the makers will keep the
changeover period as short as possible.
Dealers stocks Of passenger cars, in
cluding those in the show rooms or in
transit, have been dropping steadily
for the past five months. They are
estimated at about 10000 cars or be-
tween four or five weeks supply at
the present rate of sales.
June registrations are not as high
as was previously anticipated by Auto
motive Daily News. A. D. N. has re-
vised its figure downward to 375,000
cars. This is due to an error in the
New Jersey registrations last week
which made it appear that the total
would be higher.
In a number of States the accumula-
ton of delayed registrations is not as
great this year as it was In 1885. This
fact may make 1t appear as If these
States had more registrations last year
than at present. This condition is due
to the fact that there were fewer de-
linquent registrations at the end of the
first six months this year than in 1885.