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y^\yl —INTER'S icy blasts have sent 

 ^vj 1/ the safety lane, sponsored by 

 Q (f the Department of Safety of 

 the lAA, under cover for the winter. 

 It has been in operation for 151 days 

 in 74 counties. In all, 24,456 cars were 

 tested. Of these, 8,380 were Okeh 

 while 16,076 failed to receive the ap- 

 proved windshield sticker. 



Many of the rejected cars were re- 

 paired and have received approval 

 stickers through the mail direct from 

 the Department of Safety. C. M. Sea- 

 graves, director, reports that owners of 

 three percent of the rejected cars re- 

 ceived approval cards by mail, while 

 12 percent returned to the lane after 

 being corrected and were approved. 



On April 14, the safety lane was set 

 up for the first time this year in Litch- 

 field, Montgomery County. With the 

 exception of 21 days when rain made 

 inspection impossible, operations were 

 continued six days a week until Octo- 

 ber 23 in Calhoun County. 



Procedure in getting a car "through 

 the safety lane is interesting. Let's take 

 a car, through and see what happens. 

 First, you wait your turn. In a few 

 minutes a red-headed chap, Bill tCilgus, 

 comes along and asks you to sound 

 your horn. A good, peep is all that is 

 necessary. 



Next comes the windshield wiper. 

 The wiper must make its way forward 

 and back without a friendly hand to 

 help it along. Is the rear-view mirror 

 okay? The attendant checks it to see. 



Now for the stop light. You press 

 down on the brake while the master 

 of ceremonies runs to the back of the 



DECEMBER, 1936 



car for observation. When a car has 

 two stop lights, so much the better, but 

 the one on the right is disregarded in 

 testing. The left stop liglit must work, 

 otherwise you're rejected. Our friend 

 in the rear suddenly shouts: "Turn on 

 the lights!"- This is to test the tail 

 light. The tail light on the kft again 

 is the only one put through the mill. 



How are your headlights? Both 

 bright and dim are tested! Now you 

 move to the brake testing machine and 

 drive the front wheels on it. You are 



I. A. A. Safety Lane TestB 

 24,456 Cars in 74 Counties. 

 Rejects 16.076, Okehs 8380. 



told to push the brake pedal gradually. 

 Poundage of brakes in the front wheels 

 is then recorded. Next your car is 

 pulled up so that the back wheels are 

 on the machine. The same procedure 

 is followed. 



You then move away from the brake 

 tester. A light testing machine is 

 brought to the car and placed over the 

 headlights. Only bright lights are 

 tested with this machine. It tells the 

 safety man whether your lights are' too 

 high, too wide, too Ipw or okay, ^ow 

 the test is finished. You learn your 

 score. 



Suppose your car was rejected be- 

 cause the stop light didn't register. 

 You hurry to the nearest garage and get 

 a new bulb. Then back to the lane. 

 This time you don't have to wait. Just 

 honk your horn, show your card, and 

 tell the young man in charge you are 



O.K. He trots to the rear of the car 

 to see for himself. If all is well, he 

 pastes an "Okay" sticker on your wind- 

 shield and gives you a card stating you 

 have passed through the safety lane 

 satisfactorily. 



What's wrong with rejected cars? 

 Well, 13,312 had faulty brakes — the 

 most common cause of rejection. Head- 

 light' beam test threw 1,588 for a loss, 

 the head light test rejected 2,326, tail- 

 lights on 1,704 were defective, and 6,- 

 407 cars had no stop light. Windshield 

 wipers are often out of order — 2,596 

 were without their use. You'd think 

 people would know their horn wasn't 

 working,' but 789 cars failed on this 

 test. Rear-vie^ mirrors came through 

 with the best record — only 264 fail- 

 ing this examination. 

 ^ In adding these figures, you notice 

 the total mounts higher than 16,076. 

 On the average, each car rejected had 

 at least two things wrong with it. 



Second only to a drivers' license law, 

 a compulsory car inspection law is 

 needed. Notwithstanding reports of 

 several state commissions, it appears 

 that with the high percentage of cars 

 mechanically unfit to meet emergencies, 

 a big reduction in the accident rate 

 would result if all cars were kept me- 

 chanically safe. 



Co-operating with the safety depart- 

 ment of the Association were the Coun- 

 ty Farm Bureaus, Skilled Drivers' 

 Clubs. Rural Young Peoples grojip*^ 

 state highway officials and newspaper 

 editors. Without their support, opera- 

 tion of the safety lane would be im- 

 possible. 



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