The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1936. TRAFFIC CONTROL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 134, 8 June 1936, Page 6

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1936. TRAFFIC CONTROL.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the lorong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, Afid the good that we can do.

The "toll of the road" is not to be reduced by legislation alone, but experience in England has shown that, legislation can do a great deal. Last year, although there was a great increase in motor traffic, there was a decrease of over 11 per cent in the number of deaths following road accidents and of over 4 per cent in the number of people injured. These decreases followed, and undoubtedly were partly attributable to, the resolute actions and diverse experiments of the Minister of Transport, but not even the Minister knows for certain which of his experiments were the most fruitful. Yet improvement there was —841 fewer people killed and 9877 fewer people injured than in 1934 —and Mr. Semple is right in thinking that if he can bring about a proportionate reduction in the number of accidents .in New Zealand the efforts to that end will be nobly rewarded.

The general idea underlying the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill is that there should be a code of traffic rules as. simple and as nearly uniform as is practicable, and that those who break the rules, especially if they do so wilfully, should be more severely punished. To bring about uniformity the Minister is wisely taking power to disallow local by-laws, and he is also proposing a maximum speed limit of 30 miles an hour in cities, boroughs and town districts. Can the latter proposal be enforced without a perennial crop of prosecutions (with the maximum penalty increased from £10 to £50) and without causing congestion from which more accidents may arise? It is true that the factor of speed is present in most accidents, but that it is not responsible for all is recognised by that clause in the Bill which provides that a lower speed than 30 miles an hour shall not of itself prevent a prosecution.

Perhaps the motorist will give most attention to the clause in the Bill under which he may lose his license for one month (in the ease of a first offence) for driving "without due care or attention," or "without reasonable consideration for other road users." Presumably this is designed to catch those who drive in such a manner that it is only by sheer luck, or the caution o£ other drivers, that they avoid accidents; but it could be interpreted in some circumstances to include almost any act, either of commission or omission. If so interpreted it would not only be a source of annoyance and irritation, but it might defeat its object by inducing in drivers a dangerous state of uncertainty. At the least, the clause is capable of widely different interpretations, not only .by magistrates, but by traffic inspectors, to whom it will give additional powers. The Minister should tell the House how he desires this clause to be interpreted, and define the limits of its possible application. He might also consider whether the offence of using the road "without reasonable consideration for other road-users" should not be widened to include those pedestrians and cyclists who habitually take risks.