How To Drive A Motorcar
A Key To The Subtleties Of Motoring

HOW TO DRIVE A MOTORCAR plug, or the loan of a tyre pump, or a valve for a tube, or some other insignificant detail whioh one could supply (and, of course, if of any value accept payment for) with but very little inconvenience. Then again, it may be that the stranded motorist is held up for some very simple little trouble which a few words of advice from a more experienced driver may quickly rectify. The writer invariably makes a point of slowing clown and asking if assistance is required whenever he meets a fellow-motorist—of any classification whatsoever—in a state of distress at the roadside. There might, of course, be odd occasipns when one could not possibly spare th© time, but these are rare exceptions which would only emphasize the value of the general rule. Not so very long ago, the writer was stranded through lack of petrol, the spare tin which was thought to be in the car not being there. It was broad daylight and five successive cars which were signalled to with requests to stop took absolutely no notice whatsoever, not even to the extent of shouting out “ Sorry, but I’m in a hurry.” Now, it is neither more nor less than a bare absolute fact that such behaviour is entirely foreign to the character of a gentleman. It is to be hoped, then, that this spirit of free- masonry may revive, and those motorists not disposed to help others in such cases should remember that on some occasion they may be similarly stranded, when time is a matter of considerably more than the average importance, and that then they would certainly be the first to think they were illtreated if they could riot obtain some simple little roadside courteous assistance from passing fellow-motorists. Some Common Mistakes Both petrol and benzole being of a highly in- flammable character, one should always guard against smoking when filling a tank or even in the garage itself. Smoking, per se, is in the writer’s opinion so far re- moved from the possibility of causing an accident that if can be discounted from the realms of practical politics, but, nevertheless, the advice should be 132