How To Drive A Motorcar
A Key To The Subtleties Of Motoring
År: 1915
Forlag: Temple Press Ltd.
Sted: London
Udgave: 2
Sider: 138
UDK: 629.113 How
Written and illustrated by the Staff of "The Motor"
Søgning i bogen
Den bedste måde at søge i bogen er ved at downloade PDF'en og søge i den.
Derved får du fremhævet ordene visuelt direkte på billedet af siden.
Digitaliseret bog
Bogens tekst er maskinlæst, så der kan være en del fejl og mangler.
THE VALUE OF A SECOND
may be that the horse is a little out of control, or it
may be that the driver is a careless one and going too
quickly for safe travelling on a by-road. In either case
the result is the same.
Now for the material advantage accruing to the well-
trained eye. Suppose that 50 or 60 yds. away the
presence of that hidden “ dead ” corner has been
ferreted out by the eye, without for one fraction of a
moment interfering with the main straight-ahead out-
look ; also suppose that as the car approaches the open-
ing it is still held carefully and specifically in the field of
vision. Now, as the horse finally dashes out, the trained
eye picks out its presence the moment its head has pro-
truded beyond the house, wall, or whatever it is which
limits the line of vision. With the untrained eye such
would undoubtedly not be the case, but probably most
of the horse, with some people, even the whole horse
and trap, would have to pass the edge of the wall before
their presence was forced on the eye by their mere
magnitude.
Now, if we assume that the difference in time gained
between the trained eye and the untrained eye in this
simple little case is one second, and then take pencil
and paper, we find that the minute portion of time in
question is the equivalent, at 20 miles an hour, of about
10 yds. It is quite patent that 10 yds. may more than
easily mean the difference between sufficient time to
have applied the brakes and sufficiently reduced the
progress of the car, or to have allowed the cart to swing
out with an accident as the result.
It is not sufficiently well grasped by the average
driver what a huge difference a second, or even a fifth
of a second, makes in any case of emergency. Quite
frequently, however, a fifth of a second is the whole
difference between an accident and an incident.
How to Cultivate Intuitive Sight
There are many kinds of intuition which should be
found in the really expert driver. Some few people
are gifted with such powers by nature, but unfortu-
nately they are a very small minority. Everyone,
however, can, if so minded, cultivate powers of
5