POLICE TOLERANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 304, 26 December 1933, Page 12

POLICE TOLERANCE.

MOTORING IN FRANCE. AN EWGI/ISHMAIf'S TRIBUTE. CONDITIONS .SAFE AND PLEASANT. During a recent motor tour ip France, in the course of which myself and a companion (Mr. K. H. Tootill, the chairman of the Cheshire Industrial Development Council), made an almost complete circuit of the country, I was especially impressed by the" attention which the motorist receives at the hands of the police and public authorities, writes Captain E. A. Spencer, M.P., in the "Motor." I do not mean the kind of attention to which we in England are growing more and more accustomed, and which threatens to develop into something like systematic harrying. On tho. contrary, the officials across the Channel do all in their power to assist the motorist, and I can think of no better tonic for an owner-driver who has contracted that "hunted man" feeling than a week or two's trip on French soil. He will come back knowing that there 13 one country at least which does

not regard him as a potential homicide, or at best a contributor to the pay-deek of the petty sessional court.

Parking Facilities,

One of the horrors of motoring in England is the lack of parking facilities. Huge open spaces arc left derelict, often looking like some city which has undergone a month's continual bombardment. If, after diligent inquiry, one is able to locate the dark and dismal alley where care may be left, one has to be very wary in order to elude the various other snares which lie in wait. In some cases parking is only permitted at one side of the street; in others only between certain hours.; in a third group for only a limited time. And woe betide the unlucky wight who has failed to study the peculiar rules of the game in the town to which hie lawful occasions may call him. A policeman will await his return, will recite the passage he has learned so well by continual repetition, and a week or two later the local bench will make him realise how expensive it is to tarry within their jurisdiction. K"ot so in France. In the villages parking is permitted almost anywhere, even on the very steps of the Mairie. In the towns commodious open spaces have been specially reserved' for the purpose. These are plainly indicated and are available in the centre of the town. One has not to take an omnibus from the car park, for instance, to get to the shopping centre. There is usually an agent do ville on duty at these parks, a welcome change from the often unofficial tout, who hangs about similar spots in England. One may leave a car on these places for as long or short a time as one wishes. Greatest boon of all, the agent de villodoes not share his English confrere's itch ' for manoeuvring one into a position from which it ie well-nigh impossible ■ to emerge in less than 10 minutes. Clear Road Signs. The road signs-are as clear as those in the towns. If anything, they are too numerous. For instance, a cross-road is solemnly indicated every time a little by-path, comes meandering on to the highway. • To emphasise the warning this is frequently surmounted'by a grisly skull and cross-bones. Maximum speeds as fixed' by the local Mayor are clearly ehow;n:for a hundred yards or so before the'town or village is reached. , ..: If, by chance, the motorist does happen to make ..a slight error, the police are courtesy ■ itself. In Le Mans, by inadvertence/ we drove on to a parking ground reserved for taxicabs. Instead of >ei;ig subjected to a heavy rebuke and a hint that if it happened again we should "have to be reported," the agent politely guided Us to the appropriate haven. In Avignon we pulled up at a spot where "stcitionnemenf'Nvas forbidden, but the policeman directing traffic confined his words to pointing out that fact, and in addition went to a great deal of trouble to inform us Where we could get a puncture repaired. Both in approaching us and leaving us he wished us a friendly "Good day." He was indeed the beau ideal of the species, But I think it is at night time that the freedom of the motorist becomes most apparont. Whether he be going to his favourite cafe, the cinema or the club, he bowls Up in his car, and leaves it outside the entrance. I was particularly struck by this practice at Bordeaux, the fourth city in France. Sitting on the terrace of one of the larger cafes there, but fronting on to a quite narrow thoroughfare, I saw car after-car pull up, and .the occupants ; emerge to spend a congenial hour or so. Not only that: but although it was they switched off their; lights, and as the agent, standing about lo yards away, took-no notice of this,..! assume it is a permitted practice wheice there is already; sufficient illumination to obviate danger. -I could not help reflecting on the splendid "haul" lying in wait for an English superintendent.

Perhaps the outstanding instance of the friendly relations which appear to exist between police and motorist occurred when we contracted the puncture to which I have referred. This Lr.npeued in a Pyreiiean village, and we stopped to change the wheel outside the Gendarmerie, We had scarcely opened the door before the officer appeared, and, grasping the situation at a glance, proferred his assistance. He was most visibly disappointed when, after thanking him, we declined his aid. Not Out for Tips. It may be thought that all these Galahads of the French police were on the lookout for tips, but it is not so. On the one occasion upon which we did tender a pourboirc for services received it was rejected with firmness and dignity, the officer assuring us that the little help he had rendered was a mere nothing but such as it was a real pleasure to him. Of course, the whole secret is that the French authorities, having realised that motor traffic has come to stay, and in I addition being the world's supreme realists, have done all they can to make the uso of the roads both safe and pleasant. That fact, combined with a saner and more balanced system of motor taxation, brings it about that the owner-driver in Franco is not only.multiplying, but is making tho fullest use of his car.