Evening Star Newspaper, June 21, 1925, Page 61

AUTO DEALERSHIT ENFORGED EXPENSE National Association Pro- tests Compulsory Insurance as Burden on Motorists. | Compulsory automobile insur: which would place a burden of § 000 on the motor ey in order to award penalties of | approximately £40.000,000, the mated total of uncompensated losses from automobtle accidents, is being vigorously opposed by the National Automobile Dealers’ Association. “No one deprecates the motor ve- hicle toll more than we who are di- rectly interested in their distribu- tion.” declared C. A. Vane, general manager of the association. ‘“but compulsory automobile insurance presents no evidence to us that itsf adoption would lessen this toll. On | the contrary. our opinion is Stronger than ever that it would increase the | reckleseness and. in addition impose | an inveluntary burden on millions of | ar owners, who are prudent and| eful for the sake of paving the| losses inflicted by those who (ake, chances | “Make the Owner Pay." 1 here seems to be an inclination | on the part of some well meaning persons to the automobile owner pay for g, rightly or wrongly, merely e he is an automobile owner. Because of that attitude: advocates of compulsory | antomobile insurance Lave overlook- ed two important factors in their recommendations that evcrybody be required to take out ~liability in- surance. These factors are embodied in the query ‘How many persons injured. or the estates of those killed. are legally entitled to dama I and How many of those legally en titled 1o damages fail to recover he canse of financial irresponsibility of the automobilist?’ ‘Statistical information presented by the insurance committee- of the Hoover conference on street —and highwayv safety. December 15-16. | 424, disclosed the fact that only 33| per cent of the total accidents in| the country were due to thé sole! negligence of the motorists. In two- |, thirds of the cases, then, the injured | party would be barred from recovery hecause of contributory negligence “Further information was that nearly half of the aforementioned cases were due solely to the negli- zence of the injured party, in which no negligence at all attached to the motorist. Sole actionable neglizence by the motorist does not exist ex- cept in about one-third of the cases. “How many of this number, who are entitled to damages fail to re- cover because of financial irresponsi- bility of the motorist?” Percentage of Recoveries. ““Information in our possession indi- cates that fully 75 per cent of those entitled to recover do so recover. In other words, less than one-fourth of those entitled to recover fail to get damages. Based upon actuarial re. Ports as to the average amount of re- covery, there will be about $40,000, 000 of loss inflicted this year by motor- | ists upon parties who are entitled to| recover damages. but who will not be- | canse of financial irresponsibility of | the motortst. With more than 17%" mil- | Jion motor vehicles in operation. com pulsory’ automobile insurance would impose a burden upon the motor.own- | ing public of nearly $750,000,000 at pres- ent rates. the business could be carried at pres- | ent rates. Insurance companies are! seriously complaining because of the inability to make a profit off the lia- bility department of their companies. Total Excess of Insurance Burden. | “With an insurance burden of $750,- 000,000 annually. a tax burden of an additional $500,000,000 in licenses, cises, registration fees and gasoline levies, the average motorist would be paying in for something whose actual existence he would not be conscious of a sum equal to half the estimated cost of gasoline and oil for the opera- tion of his car. The American public cannot stand such a burden on its transportation. t behooves every owner of a_mo- tor vehicle and every member of” his family to oppose vigorously the effort to saddle compulsory automobile in-| <urance upon him. And it behooves every business man in any other line | of fndustry to oppose this conversion of private capital which otherwise | might find its way into legitimate | trade channels.” LACK OF SHOULDERS IS COSTLY TO ROADS Forces Drivers to Avoid Using That Portion Near Edges. Horner Points Out. < of the coun- esti- | American_highwayvs are less half used. but American car owners pay for as much maintenance as though they enjoved full use of the according to Stanley Horner, Buick dealer. discussing the habits of drivers in relation to the use of the roads. i Tn most roads that require rebuild- ing or resurfacing. he declares. the edges and the centers are virtually unused. Iny his opinion the situation s such that the motoring public, through the method of building roads and the habits of drivers, is paying for millions of dollars’ worth of high- way that s never really used. ! Shouldering Is Inadequate. ““Recause the shoulders of most fine are inadequate.” Mr. Horner explains, “it is necessary for thefaver- age driver to keep at least 215 feet from the edge of the pavement. The Department of Agriculture has also discovered that over the typical 18- foot road the normal clearance be- tween vehicles passing each other is 1.9 feet. Then there is the space be- tween the outer and inner wheels of cars, which is also virtually unused except in emergencies. “With better shoulders on the roads drivers could afford to drive nearer the edges with safety, and thus use portions of the roads which seldom |- ssuming that the roads are bullt or maintained. With stronger construction along the ‘tracks.” where the roads receive their hardest wear, roads could be made to Jast until the Nation gets some return on its investment in those sections of the roads which are not wasted. “From the motorists’ standpoint much can be accomplished by break- ing the habit of following the leader and driving in imaginary tracks. He should drive up nearer the center of the road when conditions permit and learn to drive nearer the shoulder when the edges are in good condition.” wear out, properly i b Oiling for the Future. Tt is well to enjoy the advantage of brakes that need no oiling, such as hydraulics, but don’t ‘forget a_little oil on the anchors of the bands will serve to make it easler for the re- pair man to remove them some day when vou will want to have the brakes relined. = — .- - - {drawn up a set of comprehensive spec- | And it is not certain that{Out of 10, assuming vou want to get -| down more- easily. { connecting rod bearings. than THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, -D. C. DOWN THE ROAD—The Dog Watch. TRYING TO FOLLOW THE. INSISTENCE OF YOUR GUEST, WHOS NEVER TOUCHED AN YTHING ABOUT A CAR BUT THE —— CUSHION, THAT YOU MUSTNT FRIGHTEN A POOR, DUMB BRUTE BY BLOWING YOUR HORN LOUDLY. — - AGREE ON ‘MOTOR COACH’| INSTEAD OF ‘MOTOR BUS’| Electric Railway Engineers Prefer | New Term for Gasoline Traction Vehicles. Say ‘“motor ceach,” not bus! That is the exhortation of & group | of engineers, members of a joint com- | mitee of the American Electric Rail. | way Association and the Society of | Automotive Engineers, who have agreed that the former term.is pref- erable. The motor coach division of the So- | ciety of Automotive Engineers has | “motor | | ifications covering the construction | and equipment of motor coaches (o insure the safety of passengers and of other nsers of the highways. MAKING A Ol.J_ICK START. Fhree-Stage Plan Faster if These | Rules Are Followed. | Here {s”a rule for starting 9 cars| off to the quickest start with the least strain on the battery: Open the throttle one-half way step on the starter button, allo the engine to crank over a few times. This limbers up the bearings, which stiffen with the congealed ofl in the crank case. . Opening the throttle so wide lowers suction resistance and allows the - pistons to move up- sily. - Then reduce the throttle opening to _three-quarters, pull the choker out all the way and again step on the starter button. Al- low the engine to turn over a few times and then switch on the ignition. Push choker in half way when engine starts. .Making three distinct steps in the starting process may seem like prolonging the agony, but just try it. Be sure to give the battery and starter a rest between stages 1 and 2. Just| a few seconds will do. 0IL HOLE FALLACY TOLD. Reduce Quantity in " Cylinders | Rather Than Improve Lubrication. If you have been shopping for a new car it is not likely you have escaped havinz veur attention called to the oil holes under the groove of the lowest piston ring of at least one | of the engines vou inspected. The MINUTE MESSAGES FOR MOTORISTS “Time to Revise."” the pyblic information committee of the Washington Automotive Trade Association.) (Prepared by If you can’t buy a new car this Spring, at least get a set of ideas for taking better care of what you have. Washington must be overrun with 1910 models in garage equip- ment, judzing from the difficulty many owners have in keeping their carg presentable and in efficlent working order. Quite a number of private garages have no electric lighting, which accounts largely for the number of cars that squeak and groan for grease and oil - With a little light—even a good flashlight of the stationary order— any motorist can chamols the body of his car when he brings it in on a rainy night. In the morning nine-tenths of the car is clean, and it takes but a few minutes to clean off the wheels. It costs about a dollar for a pound of cheese cloth suitable for cleaning nd polishing the car, and it is doubtful whether a dollar can bring greater returns. Watch the average car owner trving to make i * presentable on short notice, and you will sce that what he bui the car owner seems to imagine that a 1910 gzarage will keep a 1925 car looking like A *1925 car. Most new cars need new f{deas in efficient care. and it has to start with the garage equipment. Make the home & attractive to vourself. and it will prove to ha a satis factory way to keep the car attractive to all the world usual explanation, and there is' no|the lowest rinz and its groove. Any time ‘like tha present for casting it|wise engineer will tell vou that the aside in ‘favor of ‘the truth.~ These |auper-lubrication value of the idea is holes are designed to relieve the oil {entirely- secondary (o the desire to pressure on the cyinder walls, and reduce the quantity of ofl that works particularly the oil pressure between |past the rings into the cylinders. e r JUNE 21, —By BECK. |S. DAKOTA PLANS HUGE STATE ROAD PROGRAM |Cement From Commenwealth Plant and Prison Labor Will Be Factors. | With cement from its State plant and labor from its penitentiary, South | Dakota proposés to launch a paved- road program this Summer that will |span “the State with hard-surfaced highways. | _A plan has been worked out by Gov. Carl Gunderson which provides for utilization of convict labor in the building of paved roads. The cement plant, the property of the State, would be operated at fits capacity of more than 2,000 barrels a day and all sur- {plus cement turned highway commission for paving. In the event of legal obstacles Gov. | Gunderson proposes 1o have the State Legislature sanction the program im- mediately. Too Rich a Mixture. It is very pleasant to have a cold motor start off with very little chok | ing. but anything abnormal in the way of starting may be a indication that the engine is operating on too over to the| 1925—PART 3. THE OLD MECHANIC SAY That steerin’ wheel on your car can all the time. It's the constant repeti steer you out of trouble as well as out | tio; of danger. I've got plenty of evi-|alw dence around this shop that thousan of motorists steer right into mechan ical problems when they could just as well avoid them. First there are the fellows who run into all the holes in the road just be- cause the car is equipped with bal- loon tires. They aim for roads they wouldn't go over with high-pressure cords, and, so far as I can see, it just balloons their repair bills. Cars that wouldn't develop squeaks in a year of runnin’ start to worry their own- ers ima month's time. 1've even had | a lot of jobs where I had to repair and adjust the spring-control devices. Ordinarily these things pretty well take care of themselves. Watch some of these fellows who always keep too far over to the ditch, and you'll find that they're makin’ their car do a lot of extra work. In | order to keep fxom goin' off the road | they keep steerin’ up to_ the crown | "HOW TO CROSS A DITCH. One-Wheel-at-Time Method Puts Undue Strain on Auto. In driving the car off the road. as in driving across a ditch, the usual habit is to attempt to let one wheel at a time take the depressions. ‘This is a bad habit, because the car | gets a crosswise strain that it was not bullt to withstand. It is best to run straight across such places, going into them first with both front wheels and then with the two rear wheels. If this is done gently there should be no | strain on the chassis. s runnin’ Batteries. The superiority of LIGHT- NING is in evidence in its quick and resourceful adapta- bility to every emergency of the road. It will conceivable give you speed—that goes without saying. Better still, it both throttles down and opens up with instantaneous, hair- trigger responsiveness. “Your Motor Knows!” i FUEL OIL of the thing that keeps the car | car by & Hitle b little uphill and goin’ | ¢ Scearin downhill mechanically. The smoother the path you select | past the ne. The New Price Is with your car, the less wear there is on the universals and the clutch. All this depends upon your steerin’, be- cause I've yet to see a road that couldn’t be made smoother for the Just try this idea sometime and | maybe vou'll find you can steer right repair shop. Thru economy of manufacture and new methods of distribution, the Prest-0-Lite Com- pany thru its local agent, the Potomac Battery Company. again announces what is probably the ‘lowest prices ever quoted on Columbia Storage 11 r a full-powered, brand-new, rubber hox battery A low price, quality battery, backed by our service, makes this the best battery buy. Potomac Battery Co. 1236 12th St. N.W. Phone Main 8134 Prest-O-Lite Batteries—Bosch—Delco—Remy—Eisemann DeJon—Dyneto—Chum E A—Bendix—Klaxon MOTOR FUEL 2510359 MORE POWER MORE MILES LIGHTNINGS Prove It by Filling Up at the Filling Sta- tion Nearest You Our Fuel Oil Department specializes in Quick Service Ol for all type Burners. Phome Frank. 391. rich a mixture. Supreme Comfort and Performance This New 4-Door Sedan—*1195 HOUSANDS have preferred this new Cleve- land Six Sedan to any two-door —or even four-door—closed car built: - Cleveland Six quality—and the smoothest, snap- piest, and most agile six-cylinder motor you ever salesman, in-all probability, referred to these as the ofl return holes, per- | haps explaining that the principle of the thing is to prvide more direct lubrication for the piston pins and | This is the | DEHCO Baked Enamel On Automobiles Doggone if it ain’t Better than Paint DEHCO PLANT 1724 Kalorama Road Columbia 7163 handled. Cleveland Six beauty — graceful rakish lines, smart Duco finish, and full balloon tires. Cleveland Six comfort—four wide doors; and a spacious, luxuriously upholstered interior. Cleveland Six econbmy, durability, ience —provided only by the and conven- “One-Shot” Lubrication System : (Licensed under Bowen Prodwects Corp. patonts.) W ith this exclusive high-pressure system, simply step on the plunger and every moving part - is flushed clean with new live lubricant. Buy on a basis of comparison; and this is the - .closed car you will own! See it today. Touring car *895. ; : ; ‘Quality Sixes from *895 1. 0. b. Cieveland to #1725 WARRINGTON MOTOR CAR CO. Established 1912 1727 Connecticut Ave, North 9860 Dealer ‘Barton Motor Company Clarendon, (Va. S CLEVELAND SIX CLEVELAND AUTOMOBILE COMPANY v CLEVELAND West * 166 PENN OIL CO. “Rosslyn, Va. Franklin —————— sturdy vehicle.. exceptional value. 613 G St. N.W. Dopnee BROTHERS COMMERCIAL CAR Ten years of skillful and conscientious engineering have béen invested in this Dodge Brothers will always protect this investment by steadily enhancing the car’s There can never be any relaxation in ‘the policies, practice and ideals which have been the corner stone,of Dodge Brothers success Screen Commercial Car $910, f. 0. b. Detroit 3960 delivered SEMMES MOTOR COMPANY MAIN 6660 R RS R oo s et 2 C.JJOHNSON CO. |55 ST o0ms