ROAD RACING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 114, 15 May 1924, Page 4

ROAD RACING.

It is good to sec the Automobile Associations coming into line on the subject of record-breaking on roads. The Auckland Association had before it last evening a letter from the New Zealand Union drawing attention to the fact that soveral affiliated associations objected to the practice, and this Association properly added its name to the list. There is nothing to be said for this road racing. At the last meeting of the New Zealand Union one member defended it on the grounds that with a careful driver there was no danger, that no one had been killed yet, and that "reliability trials" were necessary for the progress of the motor industry. Most people, however, will agree with the other member who said that even on a clear road a speed of eighty miles an.hour was dangerous. 'As for the second argument, it is notorious that in many other respects the world is content to wait until someone has been killed before it deals with a danger, and it is common sense, when the danger is so patent as it is in this instance, that prevention should be promptly applied. The contention that these races against time benefit motoring is weak. Speed is only one factor in a reliability test, and as Henry Ford points out in his book, its value in motoring has been greatly overrated. Besides, all the testing needed is done in the countries where the cars are made. This tearing along highways in a race against the clock is a form of advertisement that should be stopped in the interests of public safety.