ONE DEATH PER DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 227, 25 September 1930, Page 7

ONE DEATH PER DAY.

TOLL Or ROAD ACCIDENTS.

LEVEL-CROSSINGS NOT WORST.

(By Telegraph.— Parliamentary Eeporter.)

WELLINGTON, Wednesday.

While admitting that level crossing fatalities were regarded by the Department as a serious problem, the Hon. W A. Veitch, Minister of Railways, made the point in the House to-day that moat road fatalities did not by any means occur at railway crossings. The average number of fatalities on New Zealand roads was one per day, said the Minister, and it was such a serious problem that there was a responsibility on both the House and. the Administraiton to deal with it. Railway finance was in such a condition that any expenditure would simply fall back on'the Consolidated Fund.

'■"With, all respect to the travelling public," continued the Minister, "I do not think it is the duty of the Railway Department to provide funds to carry the motors over the railways, for the rails were there first." He suggested that perhaps something could be done through Highway Board funds. The Department had spent considerable sums on safety devices, and was providing red instead of green warning lights for crossing keepers.