MINISTER'S REPLY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 173, 23 July 1936, Page 10

MINISTER'S REPLY.

RULES OF THE ROAD. ELIMINATING ACCIDENTS. i GOODWILL APPRECIATED. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. In replying to the second reading debate 011 the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, the Minister of Transport, Mr. Semple, expressed his thanks for the goodwill and unanimity displayed during the debate. The bill, he said, had met with approval on all sides and that indicated that there was a general desire to stop the slaughter of innocent lives that was going 011. When the House adjourned he had sent nearly ifour hundred copies of the bill to local bodies and transport organisations. It had met with the unanimous approval of all organisations that had replied and some

Jiad made helpful suggestions, tlie direct result of which were the amendments introduced that afternopn. The fatalities that had occurred since the bill was first -introduced justified it a 1(H) per cent.' Since they had last assembled 47 people had been killed on the highways. He did not know the number who had been injured. That was alarming. When they compared the number of fatalities here on a population basis with those of other countries' the number here would exceed those in most countries. It was perfectly true that a majority of these tragedies were preventable —90 per cent or more. He was satisfied about that but under the best form of control they would have unforeseen accidents. That was bound to come. Could Prevent 95 Per Cent. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Forbes: You will not stop 05 per cent of the accidents. Mr. 'Semple :""I think we can, I may be an optimist. I have studied these accidents and I think that the major portion of them could be prevented if we had proper control of the highways thorough inspection of vehicles and rigid examination of drivers. If we had that we could' reduce the accidents by .95 per cent. A tremendous number are due to causes that could be prevented. Mr. Semple agreed that they should start in the schools. When it came to a matter of educating the people it was in the schools that they had to start to train the young mind and teach the rules of the road and teach the dangers of the existing fast-moving transport system. Success depended on the measure of co-operation from the public themselves.

"We have heard about motor cars versus push ibikes and push bikes versus motor cars and all that sort of tommy rot," declared the Minister. "We have to write the laws so that every group of people will get that measure of protection to which they are entitled, but at the same time they have to care for themselves arid in caring for themselves thev will care for others. To do that we have to get control of the transport system by regulations that can be understood."

Multiplicity of By-laws. The Minister referred to the multiplicity of by-laws at present in force throughout the Dominion. They were antiquated by-laws written about 1005, and they were supposed to control traffic. All the"world ov<sr it was found necessary to move on to keep pace with new methods. He said that there was an impression abroad that the legislation meant the scrapping of all old cars, that they would be dumped. It meant nothing like that. A car that had been on the road for six months might be in a worse condition than a car that had been purchased .to make a cheap family holiday and that had been on the road for 20 years. It did not matter how old a car was. So long as the brakes were right and the lights right it would be left oil the road, but the oar that would not stand examination and was declared to be dangerous, whether it was six months or 20 years old, would have to go off the road. "We Will Show Results." "I am satisfied that we will show results when the law operates," added Mr. Semple. "It is my intention when this bill becomes law to call a conference of all people interested in transport to co-operate so that we can create an organisation with that meamire of goodwill and determination that will reduce the wholesale slaughter on the highways. It does not matter how determined Parliament might be to stop that slaughter. Its efforts will be futile unless we get the goodwill and co-opera-tion of the people, outside. I am satisfied that a simple code of by-laws will have a tremendous effect. It is proposed to provide every person holding a license with a copy of the by-laws so that he can study them and understand them and know the rules of the road."