MOTORING
The Prevention of Accidents Of all the widely variegated -evidence that has been heard by the House of Lords Select Committee on the Prevention of Road Accidents during the six or seven months it has been sitting none has been so interesting as that recently given by the Association of Chief Constables, so interesting, so much to the point, so practical, or so provocative.
The Chief Constables, very efficiently represented by Bradford and Manchester, .spoke their mind in a manner purged of all hesitation and circumlocution. They said what they thought, and what they thought, provocative as some of it was, is what, within reasonable limits, most sensible people think. Very much to the point. Mr. T. Rawson, Bradford, held that while the penalties for dangerous driving, driving when drunk (I cannot appreciate the distinction—in motoring —between being drunk and " under the influence of drink ") and other accident-causing behaviour were generally sufficient, he thought dangerous driving so serious an offence that conviction should invariably imply licence-suspension and—a highly contentious point—that the driving test should be imposed before renewal.
A First-Class Deterrent Myself, I think that an admirable plan. Although your dangerous driver is often perfectly competent to pass any test and the penalty should theoretically have no terrors for him, in actual practice the threat should prove a useful deterrent. Very few people, even those so devoid of imagination as to allow themselves to get even moderately drunk when driving on the roads of today, are so self-confident as not to funk any sort of examination, and the knowledge that after a year or more of not being allowed to drive (one imagines that the suspension would be for at least three) they must pass a test that is even now a tricky business calling for a cool head as well as the requisite knowledge, should be very useful.
Mr. Rawson's view was that five years' penal servitude should be the maximum penalty for conviction of dangerous driving. It is easy to conceive of circumstances in which such a sentence might be unduly harsh, but again the widespread knowledge that they may at any time incur it could not fail to have a salutary effect on the hogs.
The Case of the Cyclist These were good, fighting points, but the best were those put forward against the cyclist danger. It was urged that pedal cycles should be registered, have efficient brakes (I should have thought most of them had), carry the famous rear red light as well as the usually futile reflector, be insured compulsorily against third-party risks, prevented from riding " wilfully " more than two abreast and from overtaking on the near side, and be obliged to report accidents as motorists are. One agrees with Lord Alness' suggestion that these proposals would not be received with enthusiasm by the cycling community (though I dislike the word applied to cycling as much as to motoring), and with Mr. Rawson's reply that we are concerned with the large number of acci- dents that are caused by cyclists and, by implication, nothing else.
A very cheering piece of evidence was supplied by Mr. John Maxwell, Chief Constable of Manchester, when he told the Committee that since the " courtesy patrols " had been at work in his area (six months, 5o men) there had been 441 fewer accidents and 855 fewer summonses than in the previous six months. These are facts and ideas that convey definite meaning to the suffering public. They are not of the usual stuff of committees.
The 14 Morris I was considerably impressed with the performance of the 14 h.p. Morris which I tried a few weeks ago. Although the average 14 h.p. model of today goes as fast as the zo h.p. of five years ago, and a good deal more suavely, its behaviour is still a pleasant surprise tome. I don't know whether that particular power-class is luckier than any other but it always seems to me that apart from providing a singularly happy mean between the " moderate " family car of 12 h.p. or so and the more arnbitious and imposing 8o-mile an hour tourer, a 14 of the 1938 class does the work of two cars very successfully.
The Morris combines several essentials. It will do some- thing like 70 miles an hour in the ordinary day's work, it climbs steep hills fast, it runs quietly, and, most important of all, it has a really roomy body capable, of carrying four large people or four and a child without discomfort to its occupants or difficulty to itself. It belongs to the new Series III, which means that it has an overhead-valved engine which is certainly a considerable improvement on the older type. The chief things I liked about it as I found them on a trial thoroughly representative of average road conditions today, were its steering, firm, light and safe ; its excellent brakes, springing and road-holding ; its liveliness and smooth- ness of engine-running and, very important in these dangerous days, the admirable' outlook the driver has.
It costs £248 Jos. (tax to guineas), and at that price I really found nothing of importance to criticise.
Cefn-tan-y-graig Perhaps the 'Sportsman's Arms' would be a better identi- fication of this magnificent Welsh solitude, but I hardly like to use it as a headline. For one thing, though it is plainly marked on the :half-inch map, I do not remember seeing it the last time I climbed up over that enormous shoulder that separates the Clwyd from the Conway valleys. That does not mean that it has no existence, only that after pushing your way slimly up 'through the grimmest mining district in this area to Pentre Voelas and watching the aneroid on the dash top the t,000 foot mark and the next Soo, all in a splendour of empty hills rolling to a very distant horizon, you do not easily remark any work of man. In pointof fact on the stage between Pentre Voelas and Bylchau, just above 'Denbigh, a matter of some ten miles, I cannot recall anything larger than a but and not more than a couple of those. Looking:more carefully at the map now I see where the Sportsman's Arms ' lies, and as it is off that long Winding road and above it I may be excused for ignoring its existence.
A Great Solitude • The summit of that hump is a place worth driving many miles to see, and it does not matter very much from which side you climb to it For the going up I like the West-to-East way, because I think you get a bigger impression of space and light and air before you, but going down the other way is just as good. Whichever way you choose you get the conviction that you are a pioneer, that at any moment the well-laid road will disappear into the heather and you be left solitary among the Little People who quite plainly inhabit those parts. And again it is like meeting an immense Atlantic wave, one of those rugged mountains of water that arise in orderly proces- sion the day after n gale about halfway to America. You are quite sure that when you reach the crest there will be an end- less range of them before you for hundreds of miles. It is one of the greatest places I know of for anyone who is thoroughly sick of crowds and noise and the smell of stale petrol. Here the cleanliness and vigour of the air are of the true deep sea sort. Nobody has used any of it before you.
It is halfway between Denbigh and Pentre Voelas.
JOHN PRIOLEAU.
[Note.—Readers' requests for advice from our Mobring Correspondent on the choice of new cars should be accompanied by a stamped and addressed envelope. The highest price payable must be given, as well as the type of body. required. No advice can-]m given on the purchase, sale or exchange of used cars.]
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