Page:Motors and motor-driving (1902).djvu/355

Rh speed, and thus, possibly, an accident of a most serious nature results.

Again, nothing but practical experience will teach a novice the correct speed to drive round a given curve, for the conditions of the road alone may cause a speed perfectly safe on a dry day to be absolutely dangerous on a wet day; probably one quarter the speed possible on a dry day would be too fast and dangerous when the road is wet.

Greasy roads are the greatest danger of all to the novice, and yet when the driver has acquired enough skill to gauge the correct speed to drive over them, and keeps himself within the limit of that speed, there is little or no fear of mishap. Here, again, however, even an experienced driver is sometimes inclined to run the risk of driving the car at a greater speed than the road-surface warrants; and consequently if brakes have to be applied suddenly, and the car pulled up in a short space, there is a possibility of a bad side-slip. The great point on greasy roads is to drive cautiously.

It is an exceedingly awkward and dangerous occurrence when a car runs backwards down a hill, through, perhaps, a chain breaking, or the driver missing the gear in changing speed. This may possibly happen before the novice has ever thought of learning to drive backwards, and the lesson under this nerve-shattering circumstance probably results in his having a big repair bill to face, to say nothing of doctors' bills.

Perhaps in endeavouring to initiate the beginner into the art and apparent mystery of controlling and driving a motor-car, it would be as well to start from the beginning. We will assume that the car has arrived home and everything is ready to set off for the first drive. Although we wish to give all possible hints in this direction, it is well to remember that the greatest safeguard, when you take your first lesson, is to have on the car with you a really good driver so that he may be ready to act if a combination of circumstances should require a rapidity of decision and action that cannot have been acquired by the novice.