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

HOW TO DRIVE A MOTORCAR intuition (the statement is verging on a Hibernicism, but the meaning can no doubt be gathered), and the eyes again are an important factor in this work. There are innumerable examples of differentiation between the eye trained to intuitive sight, so to speak, and the ordinary eye of the average driver. For instance, one may be meeting a traction engine and a trailer, and the average eye will see therein a bulky piece of mechanism which has to be cleared, and so long as the road past is free of obstructions that single fact is the beginning and the end of what the untrained eye tells the brain of the driver of the car. On the other hand, the eye which is trained by experi- ence to make use of instinctive sight will picture at the rear of the tractor the possible presence of either a small boy having a joy ride or a cyclist resting his legs at the expense of a little extra strain on his arms—in other words, being towed. Now, the eye trained to this intuitive type of vision instinctively passes on that information to the mind, which is thereby automatically alert for possible eventualities. As one approaches the traction engine the possibility of a small boy running out from the back, or the cyclist swerving out, is a potent factor in the method of conducting the car, and instinctively the hand rests upon the button of the electric horn or the air-bulb, as the case may be, the foot is on the clutch pedal, and the other foot waiting to jam on the brake, if necessary. In addition to this the steering is likewise adjusted to give more room for any possible traveller at the rear of the trailer; thus the whole situation is gauged in- stinctively, automatically, and without any trouble exactly to fit the possible circumstances of the case. Should, then, the cyclist swerve out, or should the small boy be chased away by one of the attendants and run across the rond, the horn is blown instantaneously with the appearance of the very first portion of the person referred to, the car is steered further away, and, if necessary, the brake applied, all these things ...being done instantaneously. 6