TRAPPING MOTORISTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 137, 11 June 1926, Page 8

TRAPPING MOTORISTS.

SPEEDING MUST BE CURBED. HOW THE TRAPS ARE WORKED. THIRTY SNARES IN AUCKLAND. Speed traps—those motoring nieh* mares—have been .is much discuseed i the courts lately, as the bus regulatini have been thrashed out on the str corner, on the trains, or round the &■!! side at home. Admittedly, it is an age of speed and the temptation to "travel" on ' t] £ beautiful city roads is a little too muck for the Auckland motorists. Like muscle that is exercised, the cravim? grows ever stronger, but lives cannot be sacrificed for the sake of speed, and this craving must be curbed. Hence the City Council speed traps] * Each Wednesday there is a long proces eion of speeding motorists before two" magistrates in the Auckland Courts. Some bring a train of satellites who will swear that "the speedometer was registering 23—" But the magistrates have implicit confidence in the Chief Traffic Inspector, and the traps skilfully laid by Mr. G. R. Hogan and his squad are never seriously questioned by any other than the motorist who has fallej in. Annoyed always by the thought that they have been trapped, and annoyed still further by the imperturbable complacency of the process server, there are many who stoutly aver, when they -o to Court, that the traps are hotbeds of inaccuracy. Not often do these aversions impress the Bench. How the Traps Are Worked. To-day, Mr. Hogan gave a "Star" representative a demonstration of juet how the traps are worked. "Of course," explained Mr. Hogan, "we use two distinct kinds of traps There is the trap on the bendi and there is the straight trap. In all there are some thirty City Council traps laid all round Auckland. They are all over carefully surveyed distances of 440 yds, and have been marked off by authorities. Now take the trap with the curve. Two inspectors in civilian clothes stand at the same end. When a car flashes past at an excessive speed, both officers click their stop-watches. As soon as the car commences to turn the bend at the other end of the trap, the officers again click their watches. Then they compare the two, and if one happene to show a second or a fraction difference, the motorist invariably gets the benefit of that difference." While the officers were demonstrating their accuracy to-day, they timed seven cars, and on each occasion" their watches registered identically. There wa3 not a I fraction of a second difference between . the two. I When straight traps are in use> one inspector stands at one end and one at the other. When a car flaehes past, the officer instantly waves a handkerchief and clicks his stop-watch simultaneously. As soon as the man at the other end sees the signal, he too clicks his watch. When the car passes out of the trap, the man at that end clicks his watch and gives the signal to his co-trapper. Then the times are compared and always the lowest time is taken. And it is astounding how accurate and efficient these officers become. It is very seldom that their watches show different times. Of course, as the car goes by, each man makes a mental note of the registration number so that the driver can be easily apprehended. Watches Frequently Tested. At frequent intervals the stop-watchel used on this work are tested by jewellere, so that they can always be depended upon to be accurate. They are also tested by comparison with speedometers. Many motorists swear in court that they were "doing only 28." but there are many factors that will effect the accuracy of their speedometers. The little piecee of mechanism, which are worked on a magnetic principle, are easily thrown out a few degrees. If the speedometer is supplied with a car which comes from America or England, there is bound to be a slight difference, because England and America are in different directions from the magnetic pole. If the car is supplied with ordinary tyres and the owner decides, when the car is delivered here, to use balloon tyres, a bip difference will be made to the speedometer. Get Speedometers Tested. "I would sell that speedometer if I were you, or "get your speedometer tested." are stereotype phrases which are frequently used in the courts. The Traffic Department give motorisW every opportunity to test their speedometers. Mr. Hogan and hie squad are always willing to time a car over » measured distance, or compare the speed with one of their own carefully tested and specially constricted speedometers. Gradually the speeding motorist on our city roads is diminishing in num« hers. Drivers think twice of speeding, when there is a chance of falling into a trap which will, in all probability cost them "£5 and costs."