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

 HOW TO DRIVE A MOTORCAR Some General Advice Never allow yourself to become addicted to the bad practice of showing off. For instance, there is nothing particularly clever in causing the rear wheels to spin round at a great speed and so cause a shower of sparks from the steel-studded non-skid tyre when starting up. Neither is there anything particularly clever in driv- ing up to a traffic block or other necessary stoppage at a high speed and then jamming on the brakes so as to effect a spectacular stop. Any credit there is rests with the machine and its maker and not with the driver. Similarly, there is no credit whatsoever in turning round in the road in a half circle at such a speed as nearly to force the front tyre off its rim. Such practices to the expert driver or mechanically-minded person are amongst the heinous sins of the mechanical world. Make a habit of always giving due meed of import- ance to cross-roads, even though they may be of an insignificant, character. Similarly try to cultivate a calm philosophy when finding another car faster than your own, and do not let the fact that a car passes, which one happens to know is about the same power as one s own machine, prove upsetting. Anything in the nature of racing on the road is to be deprecated, as it tends to kill that most desirable characteristic, sang- froid, and excitement will perhaps lead one or both of the parties concerned into taking undue risks with their own cars, or with the safety of other users or potential users of the highway. When meeting other traffic at night, if the car being met has very powerful headlights, invariably slow down and go slowly immediately after passing the other car, until such time as a clear outlook on the road is again attained. The light is frequently so dazzling as partially to cause one to lose the ability of seeing such things as cyclists or small vans which may be a short distance in front on the left-hand side of the road ; one should always be careful in passing a car under these conditions. Never use powerful headlights excepting when you need them, more especially, of course, if a car is fitted 134