Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-12-30 | Page 46 | Maxwell Dealer Tells How to Drive

' ; MAXWELL DEALER TELLS HOW TO DRIVE Advice for Beginners and Those Who Imagine They Are Experts. SAFE AND SANE PLAN Expert Gives Few Practical Hints on How to Become Be-come Proficient. Len ruing In openilo a motor car j-imimrl.v unl with a certain rlnjjreo of Miil'rtv is a vorv (.prions prabl nm, anil vul a very aimpln unrlrrtaUiiiK when t-hp snfty'lirst slogan is kept in miml. The average driver lelieves himself very expert after a few weeks behind the wheel, bius to hit 'er up uneon-Heiously, uneon-Heiously, disregarding tho safety of the public,' and very often conies to grief, according to Manager J. B. Midilleton ' of the Wun Motor Sales i-ompany, local Maxwell distributors. Middlet.oii has just received a letter on' ''Learning j-Jow to Operate an Automobile" from Ray McXaniara, road engineer of the Maxwel? Motor et,Tiipaiiy, whot having drirrit some-: some-: ivheie ,,nearyS'007H''niiTeH iu the last few years, Maxwelling through every '.' r Htate in the union, eight transcontinen-; transcontinen-; till trips in the United States, also eov-; eov-; nring a large portion of Canada, is still ' learning something new every 'lay about tno operation of motor ears and ; tho Maxwell iu particular. M'eNamara says: "In my opinion : taere would bo fewer accidents and less : e.Tpense to motorists in general, aud nnre joy to life for both pedestrians and motorists if the latter would exercise exer-cise the same amount of care about ) learning to drive a motor ear as he i does about, going into deep water when ' . learning the art of swimming. The ' i - risks are very nuieli alike, except with t the .uotor ear tho studout and the other , fellows ' safety is in the. balance. ,j '"While this article aims to instruct Maxwell owners, any motorist follow- ing the liint, gium will profit. ' ' We wilT call, just for instance, school districts, high speed and congested con-gested traffic, deep water. They should not. be trespassed upon "by the student until he has that same confidence confi-dence that would carry him into deep water with safety. "Select a wide city block, or a good country road free from dangerous curves, at a time of the day when traffic traf-fic is light, for your first lessons. The general practice is to familiarize the student with the steering of the car first,., lett ing him get acquainted bv chance with the. brakes, clutch' and gears, which is all wrong and dangerous. danger-ous. "Dealers giving Maxwell buyers instructions in-structions should see that the new owner own-er gets a general idea of just what each lever is for. Then take his position po-sition at the wheel aud learn to start and stop first. A dozen even a hundred hun-dred attempts should be made uiitil the owner is thoroughly confident that he can make a quick stop without getting get-ting rattle. 1. When this is accomplished, accom-plished, then it is time to move a)onf at a moderate speed not exceeding fifteen fif-teen miles per hour. During this "trial acquaint the driver with the sKeerintr of the car, judging distance, traffic" etc. r ' "The instructor imvh' "'acquainted Jh-2rjUL1J-i'-n operation of gear j i' tS and throttle, practice 1 stopping at imaginary objects along m" the road, turn corners slowlv, turn ' around in the road, and go the other way several times. ' ' All of this will aid the owner materially ma-terially iu learning the most important feature of driving, which is nudging distance. You will find yourself very uwkward at this for a time, but as long as you keep your speed down and learn just how much space it takes to bring your car to a dead stop, vou will avoid accidents and gain confidence very rapidly. "The Maxwell owners should learn more rapidly because of the easy starting and stopping of their ear. "For the sake of experiment- and your own information, draw two lines across the road fifty feet apart. Then move the Maxwell car toward the lines : , at twenty miles an hour, crossing the ; first, line, apply the brakes and see just j how many feet, it takes to bring vour ear to a dead stop. Unless vour brakes are 100 per cent efficient, vou will find it. very difficult to stop well within the lines. This trial will give you an idea of just what speed is safe' in approaching ap-proaching railroad crossing and intersecting inter-secting streets and how near vou can go to traffic obstruction before stopping stop-ping the .Maxwell. "Making a dead stop in thirtv feet from a speed of tw-entv miles per hour is very good brake performance for any ear. To stop in fifty feet is considered con-sidered O. K. However, nine out of ten cars will not accomplish this feat without some preparation, excepting some light cars under -000 pounds. "Short tours of a few hours' duration dura-tion each day are splendid practice be-- be-- t'ore exDosing your family or friends to busy city traffic and dangerous railroad crossings. These tours should be made over roads free from steep hills, dangerous turns, and at an hour when traffic is light. "Reliable information 'of the Maxwell Max-well company tends to show that tragedies at railroad crossings, sharp turns and ditches, in nine cases out of ten, happen to the inexperienced driver! or to high speeders. "1 always make it a practice to cross railroads on second gear. "With this practice there is less d'ingci of stalling your motor. Never ' ' crO'-s a railroad unless positive that the tracks are clear, even if necessarv to get out of the car and walk ahead. In Mid about our large cities there are nia.jy crossings where the gatcmau or i;a.,rn:in is off the job after 6:30 p. m. Ti s.ich cases it is necessary to be extra c.nretul and you are almost compelled to ytt out of the car to see if the road is clear. "Almost every driver of motor cars experiences a narrow escape or bad mishap before realizing the dangers of wet or icy streets. Anti-skid tires shnuid be on the rear wheels of Mas-M'dl Mas-M'dl rrs anil anti-skid chains should be brought into use, too, esper-iailv wl.cn traveling on snow or icy streets r pi ct dirt roads. ''