MOTORING
America on Accidents A few days ago I was invited to see The March of Time news film which deals principally with the manner in which the United States are coping with the accident problem. The system 'comprises The Three E's, Enforcement, Education and Engineering, and the topical illustrations of it make interesting watching. It is claimed that accidents have been reduced by 15 per cent. over the whole of the United States for the first six months of 1938, and that in those States where special measures have been taken the reduction is as much as 28 per cent. Frankly, I was a little disappointed, not with the film, which is excellent, but with the methods adopted. This is quite unreasonable of me on two 'counts ; the first that they produce good results ; the second that they differ only a little from our own. Ever since I saw our own special " courtesy police " demonstrating their training and methods.I have felt fairly certain in my own mind that the results would be satisfactory. Few Government " shows " I have seen equal the Hendon Police College for efficiency, common sense and vision combined. The American Hendon as shown on the film is certainly no better.
Where Hendon Scores There was the " crash " class, where the force is taught all about mechanical disaster and its causes ; the models of dangerous roads (not so good as Hendon's, I thought) ; and the cops being efficiently courteous in a slowly moving conglomeration of traffic, miles and miles and miles of it, that would try the nerves even of our most equable specials ; but I did not see anything like our own school of maintenance, repairs, construction and driving. It seems ungracious to criticise what is after all a successful venture, but I suppose it is drilled into us so deeply that American traffic methods are so infinitely better than any other, that to find them much the same is disappointing.
A Solemn Farce One feature, however, I should like to see copied over here, and that is the one under Engineering, by *filch every vital part of a car, from brakes to lamps, has to pass a rigorous test before being let loose on the road. What amused-me but did not impress me very much, was the juvenile court, in which children try offenders against traffic regulations of their own age, with judge, jury, counsel and all. It struck me as too solemn for assimilation in Britain, too solemn and at the same time too much like theatricals. I think the English child has too much or too little sense of the stage for these fantasies and perhaps too little respect for the judgement of his own peers to benefit by them.
A Sensible Car That term sensible is now so widely misapplied in motoring that it is approaching, in sheer meaninglessness, the word genius as applied to the last novel. Yet I am obliged to use it in describing the 28-h.p. (Six) Oldsmobile because neither Roget nor Fowler offer me any working alternative—and, betrayed by those law-givers, who shall dare any synonym ? The Oldsmobile is one of the most sensible cars I have ever driven because it does exactly what you are told to expect of it and because it has a very wide working margin. That expression would probably be thrown out at sight by both Fowler and Roget, but I stick to it. It means, so far as I am concerned, that while this car will go very fast uphill and on the level, move very quietly and very smoothly, ignore rough surface as if it did not exist, it is so made as to ensure that pleasant state of affairs lasting for a long time without per- ceptible falling-off. • Oldsmobile Suspension You do not have to decarbonise oftener than every 20,000 miles, which is at least two years' running. It will do 8o miles an hour but you do not have to flog it to make it do it. It is just as suave at 75 as at 5o or 3o. You do not perceive any effort in any normal circumstances. The independent front- wheel suspension is of such a kind that the passengers in the back seat ride as unbounced as those in the front. I proved this for myself, being driven at 75 miles an hour over the worst of the Sutton bypass without any discomfort. If I had not known by a great deal of painful experience how very rough that stretch is, I would never have guessed that it was not a freshly-laid cement surface.
For the Worst Drivers The engine has a cubic capacity of 3"1 litres, with side valves and one carburettor, a plain, accessible job. The gear-box has only three speeds, and no overdrive, but the synchromesh gives it a swift, easy and scrapeless change. Neither this nor the engine make any noticeable noise. The foot-brake is very powerful, the hand-brake of the usual parking order. The six-windowed saloon is very roomy, well-ventilated and fitted with an immense luggage-boot. It is sensible. The price is £465, at which figure you get what its maker says is a car built not for the discriminating driver but for the ioo,000 world's worst drivers. A refreshing slogan.
Culm Head It is one of the best vantage points in all England, approached by one of the most lively hill-climbs. The top is not more than about Boo feet above sea-level and from many other crests the view must be wider. Yet Culm, with the climb up Blagdon Hill, ranks with the best for the same simple reason that lifts so many apparently ordinary places out of the nick of the English scene. It is preceded by violent contrast. When you leave Taunton you are at about the same height above the sea as Madeira Drive, Brighton, or the main street of Dover. In two miles you have begun to climb and in five you are on the crest of the Blackdown Hills.
That you might, for your sensations, be halfway up the St. Gotthard, is merely due to that useful delusion that transforms so much of English scenery from the commonplace to the magnificent. It is only a matter of comparison, of proportion, of perspective. To all intents and purposes the stuffy town of Taunton lies not 700 feet below you but twice as much again. You are among the mountain-tops, and as you look north over the Quantocks and south over the hills into Devonshire you might comfortably be on the edge of the Pyrenees.
Theatre To your left lies the spur of Staple Hill, with an alluring byway twisting down off the top of it into the dense woods below, woods that hold Buckland St. Mary and Street Ash and Combe St. Nicholas. Beyond them you would come to the Exeter road, at Chard or Whitestaunton. To your right the road leads you to Wellington Hill along a ridge that is, at the right time of year and day, theatrical in its style. It runs between a double row of ancient trees, a colonnade of peculiar beauty. On the north side it is protected by heavy timber, but on the south, where the hillside drops away from the edge of the road, you can see a succession of little views over the wooded hills, each framed by trunk and bough. It is like a picture gallery, a very old and decrepit balustrade, a stairway—there is no lack of imperfect similes. Most of all it is, for one traveller at least, like the scenes on a revolving stage. Behind you the wide outlook over the Vale of Taunton Deane and the marshes that surround Sedgemoor : in front of you the dense woods which clothe the Blackdown hills. No more than a hundred yards or the time to swing a stage [Note.—Readers' requests for advice from ow Motoring 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 be given on the purchase, sale or exchange of used cars.]
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