Evening star., 1936-05-03

dim his headlights He knows perfectly well
that other drivers facing him are made help
lessly blind by the full blaze of light in their
eyes. Other dont's of unpolteness include
the unnecessary blowing of horn in traffic
line. AS for the young man who parks in
front of house and disturbs the whole
neighborhood signaling with his horn to the
person for whom he is waiting, why does he
think this more mannerly than to stand on the
sidewalk and yell?
If you would be courteous driver don't
fail to give Others the right of way - even
If you believe it belongs to you - not only
because gentleman is instinctively courteous
but also because there are always certain
number of inexpert drivers and it is neces.
sary that you protect them land YOURSELF as
much as possible.
When driving in city, remember that dis.
courtesy to pedestrians can turn out to be
manslaughter Don't rush traffic lights; that
is, don't start in the no-light interval before
lights have changed to green and frighten
pedestrians and possibly find yourself in the
path of a crossing car whose driver has been
slow in stopping.
Don't fail, at the corner of the street to
stop far enough back to be sure that you are
not blocking the proper path of pedestrians
crossing the street Otherwise they are obliged,
not only to make half circle around you,
but to endanger their lives by getting into the
path of oncoming cars or else going around
the back of your Car and perhaps two or three
others if they are parked close together.
Don't turn around and call an obstinate
driver names after you finally pass him. 1t
really doesn't teach him anything or do you
any good. 1t merely makes your passengers
blush for you. Don't, if you can possibly help
it, run through water puddles and splash
pedestrians or other cars. Don't cut right in
front of some one who is frantically signaling
bus or trolley, when little consideration
requires only few seconds of time.
Having said a good deal about the bad
drivers, let me give a few of the characteristics
of best driver. For one thing, have you ever
noticed the evenness of pace of really best
driver2 On very long distance his total time
is amazingly fast and yet his speedometer
never climbs into the very high numbers. A
man of less skill, taking you over the same
distance in the same time, scares you almost
to death and exhausts you completely by the
pace at which he has seemingly gone.
Furthermore, the outstanding characteristic
of the perfect driver is his consideration for
the people in his car Very best chauffeurs all
have this understanding of passenger cour-
tesy, but very few car owners themselves
practice it - though they exact it of their
chauffeurs. This means looking ahead and
making gradually and smoothly the stop, or
turn, which otherwise will have to be done
suddenly. The outstanding characteristic of
an abominable driver is throwing you forward
on your face every time he starts, and singing
you sideways every time he rounds curve.
We can each of us make personal list of
the things we object to in the manners of
those who drive u.s. In my own list, think
object most of all to the driver who keeps
looking out half the time, waving his hand
toward distant view and paying no apparent
attention to what is happening on the road.
My own personal test of perfect driver,
is one with whom l never find myself driving
the car. 1t seems to me that when you see
passenger involuntarily tensing his muscles
and pressing his own feet on imaginary con-
trolls, this evidence subtracts by just so much
from the drivers rating. But if driver pos
sesses that smooth eel-like faculty which so
easily slides the car into the exacf1v riuht