UNIFORMITY URGED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 124, 7 March 1936, Page 3

UNIFORMITY URGED

NATIONAL LAWS FOR TRAFFIC. PLANS FOR ROAD SAFETY. (Pei- Press Association.) WELLINGTON, March 6. National by-laws for traffic control and more drastic penalties for offenders are aimed at by the Minister for Transport (the Hon. it. Semple) who, in an interview, emphasised his determination to reduce the number of road accidents in the Dominion. He described the frequency of accidents as really staggering. “You can take it from me that I am right after the ‘ speed hog ’ and the drunken driver. I intend to take steps to improve the position,” he said. In the year ended December, 1935, there were 168 fatal accidents, involving 1,78 deaths, compared with 171 accidents and; 175 deaths in the previous year. “I am satisfied that the lack of complete control of our transport system contributes to the number of accidents,” said Mr Semple. “We have in New Zealand 303 local bodies, and these local bodies appoint traffic inspectors, some of whom are only parttime, acting as sanitary inspectors, pound-keepers, and so on. Traffic control is looked! on by them as a sideline. Each one of these bodies, too, has its own by-laws for traffic. (Such a position is absurd. There should be one national set of by-laws, governing the control of traffic from North Cape to Bluff, and, in my opinion, to police the roads as they should be policed. Traffic control should be entirely under the direction of the State, either by the police Department, strengthened by the appointment of competent inspectors or by the Transport Department. This would give a greater measure of national control under a uniform set of by-laws or regulations and would no doubt minimise the nunibei of road accidents that take place today.” . . Mr Semple said that in his opinion the penalties for “speed-hogs” and drunken drivers were far too lenient. When' these men were brought before the court the penalties should be severe and their licenses should be cancelled for life. “Men who ignore the rules of the road are potential murderers and should be dealt with, he declared. “Men who are found intoxicated should have their licenses cancelled. They are a menace to life.” “What we have to aim at is to reduce the appalling accident figures, and that can be done only by severe penalties and by national control. 1 am not going to sit here and allow people ‘to be needlessly slaughtered; it must be prevented and it is going to be prevented. Of course, some unforeseen accidents might happen, however cautious you may be, but the present proportion is really staggering and I seek the co-operation not only of motoring people but of tho community to help to prevent this needless slaughter.” , The Minister said that the most striking prima facie conclusion emerging from a detailed analysis of the position was that a little more than 60 per cent, of the major causes o fatal accidents involved breaches o the traffic by-laws.