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

DRIVING IN TRAFFIC Speed in Traffic It may, perhaps, be somewhat of a platitude to state that the main factor of safety in traffic driving is care, and the constant guarding against too great a speed. Taking a journey in London, for instance, say from the Bank to Marble Arch, it will be found, on a careful test, that the difference in time between absolutely careful driving, studiously avoiding sudden acceleration and sudden brake application, and then, on the other hand, using to the greatest possible extent the acceleration powers of the car and its braking abilities, is wholly negligible from the point of view of being any real saving. With the proper method of driving one is courting safety, whilst with the other there is a distinct inclina- tion towards encouraging«accidents, to say nothing of the extra wear and tear of the car and one’s own nerves and those presumably possessed by the public. Another point which may be cited here is that of the proper way of driving in traffic, subject to direct con- trol by the police, and when, subsequently, traffic blocks keep occurring. It is all too prevalent a custom, when a traffic block can be seen ahead, say a hundred yards away, for the average driver to career along merrily without reducing speed until the last few yards, when the brakes have to be applied more or less harshly to arrest the car and stop at the rear of the vehicle in front. The pro- per way in such cases is to declutch a good distance away from the traffic block, so that the car’s momen- tum takes it up to the vehicle behind which it is necessary to stop, and then only a very slight brake application is required finally to stop the car. Obviously, no time is saved by the former and harsh method of driving, as in either case it is necessary to await the policeman’s signal before the cars congre- gated in the traffic block can proceed again. It might be suggested against this dictum that if one does so drive, there is a possibility of some less mechanically- minded taxi driver, for instance, dashing in front of one and pulling up suddenly, and so securing a premier position. Even assuming such a thing to happen, it 13