Driving under the influence

“ There are many other forms of careless or reckless driving that might be mentioned, such as, driving too close in heavy traffic, cutting in on traffic—“stealing the road,” turning in the middle of a city block, attempting to turn in too small a space, failure to go slowly near a school house or children’s play ground, failure to be on the lookout for playing children elsewhere, failure to try to anticipate what the other fellow is going to do.
The Car. —The car itself may be the cause of accidents. ”

“ This is of the utmost importance in driving in the city streets, where you may find yourself in serious trouble if, through inattention, you have driven well into trouble, before planning to stop. Your horse's nose, or your pole, has poked into another horse or vehicle, or you are obliged to pull up so suddenly that you throw your horse, or horses down.
In America, where we turn to the right, pull well over to your own side and slow down before you get to the street corner around which you wish to go, whether to the right or left. ”

“ All forms of driving are dangerous, from piloting Dobbin in a farm-wagon, to driving a drag to a race meeting, if the coachman is ignorant, careless, and nervous. Even Dobbin may go down on his knees, or shy, and run away, if he is not looked after. But tandem driving is no more dangerous than other forms of driving, if harness, cart, and horses are suited to the sport, and the coachman is forever vigilant. ”

“ Until the horse is accustomed to the machine, it is the duty—by law and common sense—of the automobile driver to take great care in passing; the care being measured by the possibility and probability of at accident.
The sympathy of every chauffeur must be entirely with the driver of the horse. Automobiles are not so numerous in this country that they may be looked for at every turn, and one cannot but feel for the man or woman who, while driving, sees one coming down the road. The best of drivers feel panicky, while women and children are terror-stricken. ”

“ To those accustomed to it, no doubt, it may be tame enough—I cannot tell; but to those who mount an engine for the first time and dash through the crowded thoroughfares at a wild tearing gallop; it is probably the most exciting drive conceivable. It beats steeplechasing! It feels like driving to destruction—so desperate and reckless is it. ”

“ In passing such a light the eyes should be kept on the road and shielded, if possible, from the glare of the other machine. The precaution of driving slowly under such circumstances goes without saying.
Unlighted Vehicles. —Unlighted, horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles, and animals driven or walking in the street frequently give the automobile driver palpitation of the heart. ”

“ When driving on greasy roads it is always well to keep as far away as possible from any vehicle in front, whether it be a motor-car, a horse-drawn vehicle, or a cycle, as this allows plenty of time to pull up slowly and gradually. ”

“ In England the great grievance of motorists arises from the speed limit imposed by law. To restrict a powerful car to twelve miles an hour is like confining [Pg 251] a thoroughbred to the paces of a broken-down cab horse. Careless driving is unpardonable, but its occasional existence scarcely justifies the intolerant attitude of the law towards motorists in general. ”

“ We can no longer admit the idea of immobility; we experience a sort of ennui when trees, houses and men cease their regular flight along both sides of the road. Then we understand how it is that so many automobilists are happy in driving between moving pictures, without looking at anything, and how they get from it a pleasure which is both careless and frenzied. ”

“ The horseless carriages are upon us, and “going strong,” alike in speed and scent. The odour of the imperfectly-combusted petrol desecrates the airs of the country-side. Already the length and breadth of the land have been explored by them,286 on roads good, bad and indifferent, hilly or flat; and the characteristic rattle of their machinery and the hoarse trumpeting of their cyclorns are becoming familiar even to the rustics of Devon and Somerset.
Let it not be supposed, however, that skill in driving is not so necessary now as in the days of the spanking teams of coach-horses. ”

“ Every humbler vehicle was required to give us the entire road, at least such was the theory. Sometimes we obtained it, and sometimes the approaching drivers were asleep, and the horses kept their own way. When this occurred our driver generally took an opportunity to bring his whip lash upon the sleeper. It is a privilege he enjoys when driving a post carriage to strike his delinquent fellow man if in reach. ”

“ The fundamental principles of tandem driving are much the same as four-in-hand driving, except that the horses turn more quickly, and with less pressure on the reins, especially in the case of the leader. The reins, too, are closer together in the hand, making the fingering more difficult, and the handling of a spirited leader is perhaps as difficult and nice a task as any form of driving affords. ”

“ At night, with the road shrouded in deep black shadows and barely room for vehicles to pass and the likelihood that careless driving might at almost any moment cause a car to topple into a shell-hole, the combination was one calculated to test the skill of the most expert drivers. ”

“ A boulder now and then or rough ledge cropping across the road would tilt the old lady at an uncomfortable angle. Heights and climbs over dangerous switchbacks had become commonplaces of travel by now, and we had gained confidence from learning the tremendous flexibility of which a motor car is capable. We were willing, without taking credit for extraordinary courage, to undertake almost any road wide enough for our tracks. People who confine their driving to perfect boulevards and city roads have no idea of the exhilarating game motoring really is. ”

“ It is surprising to find that if a man who has been used to driving cars which go slowly up-hill changes to a high-powered car the temptation to rush down-hill vanishes. One's view of the road is reversed. ”

“ In modern times, notwithstanding the sneers directed against gentlemen-coachmen and driving-clubs, it is to them chiefly that this country is indebted for the present excellent state of the roads, and for safe and expeditious travelling. The taste for driving produced, between men of property and those connected with the road, an intercourse which has been productive of the best results. ”

“ In the early stages of driving, it is as well always to leave this down when ascending steep hills, so that in the event of the novice missing his change of speed, or if through any other cause the car tried to run backwards, it would be arrested in its early movement and damage obviated. ”

“ This element of danger cannot be said to enter usually into the enjoyment of driving at the present day. Though accidents occasionally happen, the pastime is practically unattended by serious risk; and the source of the pleasure it affords the driver must be sought in the skill it requires, combined with the love of the horse which is common to sportsmen, and of exercise of power. The art of driving as practised to-day for pleasure without profit, and without the excitement of racing, is of quite modern development. ”

“ Driving is not knowledge of how to hold the reins, how to give the "offices" to make "points," etc., but real driving is the knowledge and practical experience of all those things which come before you get up on to your vehicle at all. The writer was seated beside the driver of an omnibus in London some ten years ago, at a time when everything pertaining to the handling of horses in harness was a keen interest. The heavy buss with its load of passengers was stopped and started and guided through the heavy traffic of Piccadilly without fuss or trouble and without jar to the passengers. ”

“ By those who dislike them, every imaginable evil is laid at the doors, or, rather, the wheels of motor-cars, whether propelled by petrol or electricity, and recorded accidents are quoted, chapter and verse being given to show that they are the enemies of pedestrian, driving, and cycling mankind. ”

“ Of course we are writing now of those who wish to get practice and pleasure out of their stables, not merely for those who use their horses for purposes of transportation only. Do not start out with the notion that the only way to drive a tandem, or a four, is to have exactly the proper vehicle, the right harness to the shape of a buckle, and horses of just such and such a character. The show ring is one thing; driving for sport and pleasure is quite another. ”

“ It is an important phenomenon in America; it shows that there is a readiness to adopt and utilise any new thing right off, directly it is discovered.
This readiness, however, results in a lack of seriousness. Inexpert driving is no crime; accidents are nothing to weep over; badly constructed cars are driven along loose springy roads with blood-curdling speed and recklessness. The pedestrian is vexed to see a car come towards him, leaping, bounding, dodging, dribbling, like some tricky centre-forward in a game of football. ”

“ When driving in traffic it is a very common thing for the vehicle in front to back, and in this event it must be the work of a moment to slip the speed lever into the reverse notch and run back out of danger. To turn in a narrow road where the reverse is required also calls for some knowledge of handling the car when running backwards, and in the event of the car running backwards when ascending a steep hill the vital importance of being able to steer it safely is obvious. ”

“ Altogether the motorcar must revolutionise our social life in the country, and let us hope before long will lead to the bettering of our cross-country roads. The horse, poor beast, has never been able to tell us what he endures from bad roads, and the pace of a horsedrawn vehicle has been too slow for even the springs to suffer much; but if you get into a motor-car going five-and-twenty miles an hour over a road which you have hitherto deemed good, the engine and car will very soon tell you the difference between what the road surveyor's work has been and what it ought to be. ”

“ This comes sooner or later to every man who uses horses constantly. Eternal vigilance will prevent most all of the accidents that might happen; but human nature is fallible and horses are very uncertain. Carelessness in the driver, however, is responsible for ninety and nine of every hundred driving accidents that happen. The flying automobile, in recent years, has been responsible for a great many. I must say, however, that I never met but once with anything but the greatest consideration from automobilists that I have encountered when driving. ”

“ One of the chief reasons for the opposition shown to the introduction of motor traffic in this country has been that motor-cars have frightened horses. When bicycles first came in precisely the same thing happened. ”

“ We at times encountered a string of waggons at some narrow sharp turn of the corkscrew path, and were whirled by them, with our off-wheels curiously circling the unguarded ledge of a precipice some four or five hundred feet deep, where a wheel-horse suddenly jibbing, or a leader shying or falling, would, in all human probability, have provided the wolves and bears with a banquet, and the journalists with a neat paragraph, headed, "Melancholy result of fast driving, attended with serious loss of valuable lives." ”

“ Remember that because you are driving four horses you have no peculiar rights and privileges over other American citizens, though they be driving only one horse or a donkey. The courtesy of the road will usually give the heavy load a chance, but you can only ask, you may not demand it. On a public coach, making time and carrying passengers for fare, the horn is both a safeguard and a proper signal; but the tooting of a horn on all occasions in park, village, and ordinary road driving is almost an impertinence. ”

“ In testing the driving qualities, take the reins while on the ground, invite the owner to get in the vehicle first, then drive yourself. Avoid the display or the use of the whip; and if he has not sufficient spirit to exhibit his best speed without it, reject. Should he drive satisfactorily without, it will then be proper to test his amiability and the extent of his training in the use of the whip. ”

“ These two points are known to nearly every well-informed person, and the knowledge really constitutes a danger to the unaccustomed controller of a car, as road conditions may entirely upset all the previous experience of the novice, and the apparently great simplicity of control inspiring confidence at much too early a stage of his novitiate, he may become a most dangerous user of the road, although driving the simplest form, or rather the most controllable form, of road vehicle. ”

“ In approaching trouble, where you are likely to need your thong, unwind it and hold only the point under your thumb. A cut in time may save a whole side of harness!
Four horses with a heavy vehicle behind them—a drag weighs from twenty-one to twenty-four hundred pounds, a public coach from twenty-four hundred to three thousand pounds—and loaded with passengers occupies a good deal of space, gathers a good deal of momentum, and needs a good deal of skill in its governor. The very assumption of the task of driving is a great responsibility. No man should undertake it lightly. ”

“ The high degree of restraint placed upon every motorist when the possible capacity has been reached, or even approached, results in driving conditions that are wholly intolerable. Drivers are entitled to exercise some freedom in their selection of speed and their ability to maneuver. The extent to which this liberty may be exercised is dependent primarily upon the volume of traffic using the highway and also, for two-lane roads, upon the portion of the highway where sight distances are adequate for overtaking and passing. ”