Motor Road Transport For Commercial Purposes
(Liquid Fuel, Steam, Electricity)

CONSIDERATIONS OF MOTOR SERVICE 121 machines slogging along bad roads, bumping, swaying and groaning, as may be seen any day, they would undoubtedly be surprised that the machinery stands up to its work, year in, year out, in the way that it does. The wise despatch manager will be he who keeps his eye on the changing condition of the roads, and who, when one gets badly worn, and the deliveries allow, changes the route for one of which the surface is in better repair. A great deal necessarily depends upon the driver of the van, but this has been discussed in the Chapter headed “ Drivers and Driving.” Overloading Gourts Disaster. One of the commonest mistakes made in the working of commercial motor transport, and one of the chief sources of unnecessarily high upkeep expenditure, is overloading. Invariably to load a van in excess of the maximum weight for which it was designed and built, is to court disaster. The temptation to put on board an extra quantity of goods when the space is available is great, but those responsible for the van must remember that by doing this constantly they are, without a shadow of doubt, increasing their running expenses disproportionately, and laying up for themselves trouble in the fut ure. A chassis is designed throughout for a given maximum load, and if this is exceeded the extra stress caused to all parts of the mechanism becomes too great, and deformation or shear occurs, or, put untechnically, wear takes place long before it is legitimately due. This entails lengthy workshop repairs, even if breakdowns on the road are avoided. It is difficult to bring this point home without figures or without becoming too technical, but let those who are interested in the matter remember the