CUTTING-IN DANGER

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 82, 3 October 1929, Page 10

CUTTING-IN DANGER

WHAT THE REGULATIONS SAY

A SPECIAL CLAUSE

In an article in last evening's "Post" regarding speeds and driving practices ou the Hutt road particular mention was made of the danger due to the increasing practice of cutting-in, and it was suggested'that, according to those who know the road best, the practice has become much more common and risky since bylaw speeds were abolished. Several experienced motorists to-day commented upon the points, and, while disagreeing very heartily with any idea of returning to the old limit of 30 miles per hour (which was not suggested in the article), were all of the opinion that with the road at its present width, very doubtful practices are becoming regular practices. The Motor .Regulations deal definitely . with .the practice ■of cutting-in. Regulation 11, Rules of the Road, clause 4, says: ;■

Every driver of a motor' vehicle shall, when overtaking another vehicle, other than a tram, pass on the right s:de of the overtaken vehicle, and shall not then move into the line of passage of the other vehicle until clear from it by at least IS feet.

' That-c;ause clearly rules out the growing r,vf ctice of driving rnund ears, lorries, ny buses ahead ou the macadam] i.e., passing on the wrong side. The penalty may run up to £50. THREE ABREAST. Clause 8 provides against the still I more dangerous practice (on a road 24' feet wide) of an overtaking' car passing between two other machines travelling in opposite directions: Two vehicles meeting each other shall have the right of way; and, except on a substantially straight length of road, in boroughs and town districts, no drvier of a motor vehicle to the rear of either of such two vehicles shall pass or attempt •to, pass'either-of such two vehicles while they are passing each other, and no driver of a motor vehicle overtaking two vehicles one of which is abreast of or passing the other shall attempt to pass either of them until they are.clear of each other. . . ■ ;. The meaning is clear enough. Only in a town street may three cars or other vehicles be abreast, two travelling in one direction, one in tho other. On a country road -that is barred. And now a curious position arises on the Hutt road. When the old bylaw was in force the full length of the road was administered as a city street, for a City Council bylaw.applied to its ■full length, but now that the bylaw is dropped and the Motor Regulations apply, the road is a city street only as far as the city boundary sign at Ngahauranga.. " v It seems, then, that this particular clause does not apply on the city side of the boundary notices, but beyond these notices—notwithstanding that tho traffic is much reduced, as much of it turns off to.go'up the gorge road—the three-abreast driving is illegal. This is one more illustration of tho curious effects of endeavouring to apply tho Motor Kegulations to the Hutt road. The whole position is very tangled. ' ,