Evening star., 1936-08-09

Oh LNeSe meetings may IolliC AiSoiA
schemes for traffic safety, and lower
death rate from vehicle collisions.
Programs of the Street and High
way Traffic Section, following the gen.
eral plan for the entire congress, in
clude lectures. round-table discussions,
and demonstrations designed to send
delegates home filled with ideas on
preventing crashes. Presiding at each
group meeting will be men outstanding
in their fields, and any delegate to
the convention may attend any Spe-
cial meeting.
Although not essentially controver-
sial. one of the subjects to be argued
will be, What is a safety zone?"
II j. Seburn, Kansas City traffic en-
gineer will recommend that safety
zones be constructed with ends abutted
with stone.
Another kind of safety zone, pre-
eumed to give the greatest protection
to motorist and waiting pedestrian,
will be discussed by Howard F. 1lgner,
Milwaukee traffic engineer. This type,
consisting of a platform elevated about
6 inches, gives physical protection to
the pedestrian with four short warn
ing light posts at each corner.
Two joint sessions of the Street and
Highway Safety Section will be held
with the Commercial Vehicle Fleet
Section. One session will consider
mechanical inspection of commercial
vehicles and passenger cars, and to
the other has been assigned the sub
Sect, Dealing with drivers and
handling bad actors"
Although the congress does not meet
until Fall, committees report that
most of the space in the giant con-
Vention exhibit hall has already been
reserved and that hotel reservations
have been made by hundreds of dele
gates along the famous boardwalk.
AS insurance against "kibitzers," it
has been ruled that every delegate
must pay his registration fee and OBJ
tain his identifying badge under pain
of being refused admission to con-
gress sessions.
I EARNING to drive an automobile
latest wrinkle in American education
Lane Technical High School, Chi
cago, Is offering instruction in safe
driving when it opens next month.
For this course, the Chicago Board of
Education has tossed the text book
out Of the window, and in its stead
movies, dummy automobiles and real
cars will be used.
What delights prospective students
most Is a model driving course being
constructed this Summer. 1t has 1000
feet of real macadam roadway, 20
feet wide, with signal lights, IS"
curves, winding roads, intersections,
alleys for backing practice. banked
curves-a practice course, which, in
short. will embody all the hazards of
real traffic.
Courses in safe driving are being
given in hundreds of schools, but
this is the first time in the United
States that high-school students will
be able to learn how to operate a car
safely on a practice field, without en-
dangering themselves and other drivers
In traffic.
It all started when the Keep Chi
cago Safe Committee recommended
driving instruction in the schools, be-
cause Of the high accident rate
among drivers of high-school age
Ninety per cent of the students at
Lane Technical High School admit
ted they didn't really know how to
drive.
THE tumble-block brake tester, a
simple homemade device, provides
a quick easy scientific test of stop
ping ability of motor vehicle brakes,
according to its designer. J. S. Baker,
secretary of the Committee on the
Driver of the National Safety Coun-
Gil. Baker gave the first denonstra-
tion Of his invention recently in Chi
cago. He states that it is not pat
ented and is available to any one who
wishes to make use of it.
How to tell whether brakes are
powerful enough to meet the demands
of the law or the desires of the driver
for stopping ability is question that
has puzzled many a car owner and
deet operator" Baker said when dem
onstrating the device.
The tumble block brake tester can
be made by any amateur carpenter
IN few minutes at cost for mate
rial OF less than 5 cents" he pointed
out. In explaining the principle of
the tester, he said:
Everybody knows that a SQUAT.
rectangular parcel on the floor of a
car will not tip over, no matter how
hard the brakes are put on, but that
q suit case standing on edge croSswise
OF the car will fall forward if the
brakes are put on hard enough.
The tumble block brake tester is
Simply a block of wood, the pro-
portions of which are such that when
placed on the floor of the car it
will tip over if the brakes are strong
enough to meet the law, but will
remain standing if they are not
Thus, if the law requires q vehicle
to be able to stop in 80 feet from
20 miles per hour Gas the uniform
vehicle code does) the brakes must
be able to exert a stopping force
equal to 44.6 per cent of the cars
weight. The block to test this must
have its width just 44.6 per cent of
its height. These are not very strong
brakes. If excellent brakes are
wanted they must produce a stopping
force of rs per cent or more of the
cars weight and the width of the
block must be rs per cent Of its
height.
"A single block may be used to test
for two different stopping rates-good
and excellent-simply by turning one
of two faces forward. Such a block
has q width rs per cent of its height
for length and thickness 446 per
cent of its height. When stood on
end, flatwise forward, it will tip over
for the legal stopping rate, and, when
stood edgewise, it will take pretty