Smyrna times., 1938-02-24
STATE SAFETY
COUNCIL NEWS
Continued From Page Two)

In other words, you misjudge the
distance available for passing and
probably also the speed of the car
you want to overtake and of the
vehicle facing you. Such judg-
ment can be improved. One way
is to play at passing. Make be-
lieve that you are going to pass
car, with another coming from
the opposite direction. Then esti-
mate at which tree, house or tele-
graph pole the two cars would
meet if you had passed. It's fun
and little practice will do wond-
ers.
A second suggestion is to pass
as little as possible on two-lane
roads. A third is to wait until
there is no car coming before you
pass. And a fourth is to allow
consciously two times the distance
you consider necessary for passing
until you can trust your judgment.
Do you wander all over the road,
crowding other cars off narrow
pavements Or often catch your
self straddling the center line :?
Then it is pretty sure your eye
hand coordination is at fault. You
are weaving too much because you
are driving too fast for your abil-
ity to look at the road and at the
same time steer the car. This
difficulty will Immediately lessen
if you drive more slowly. You
can become good at steering by
practice. See how long you can
hold the car one foot inside the
white line without wobbling Then
practice stopping six inches from
the curb without hitting it. And
finally see if you can take curves
without throwing rear-seat pas
sengers off their balance.
Does headlight glare make your
eyes smart and interfere consider
ably with your driving? Of course,
most people are annoyed by glare
but some suffer a great deal more
than others, and may be said to be
glare-blind If you are one of
these, there are certain things you
can do. One is to paste a strip of
celluloid or other material at eye
level on the windshield to reduce
glare Another is to get a pass
ing mean lamp and train it on the
right edge of the road. Taking of
Vitamin foods, such as cod liver
oil, orange, tomato, pineapple
juice, fresh eggs, fruits and greens
also helps to combat the effect of
glare on the eyes. Avoid driving
at night.
What about sunlight glare? We
all have experienced the glare
from a concrete highway, from
water, most of all from the sky,
when the sun shines brightly. The
best thing, perhaps is to get color
ed glasses Though not for night
driving). Opinions differ, but
lightly tinted amber or greenish-
yellow glasses seem to give relief
without reducing visibility too
much. Glare from any source is
responsible for much eye-fatigue
in driving. Drafts, extreme heat,
long stretches at the wheel also
contribute to eye strain. One way
to reduce it is to avoid having the
wind come directly at your eyes
when riding But don't cover up
the sides so that the eyes get no
ventilation.
What if you have tunnel vision"
can see very little out of the cor
ners of your eyes when looking
straight ahead? You can't change
your eyes, but one method of over
coming this is to train yourself to
turn your face (not merely to
glance) from side to side at inter
sections. Another is to get rear
view and side view mirrors for
your car. Any suspicion Of visual
trouble should send you to an eye
specialist. Many motorists who
need glasses are driving without
them.
The moral Is that the shortcom-
ings that get us into trouble on the
road can be corrected or compen-
sated for-and only by SO doing
can we aspire to become super
drivers.