POPULAR BUT

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 4, 6 January 1937, Page 5

POPULAR BUT

THE MOTOR CYCLE. OVER 76,000 IN AUSTRALIA. I HEAVY CASUALTY UST. ' » (From Oar Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 31. Some official statistics just issued from Canberra Teveal in a very striking way the eagerness and enthusiasm with which Australians have taken to motor transit. Australia has about 7,000,000 inhabitants, and among them they possess 76,279 motor cycle*. Th'.a is an average of about one to every 90 of the population, and it may interest lovers of the motor cycle to know that this average is surpassed only by Germany. With a population of 05,000,000, Gerr many owns over 1,000,000 motor cycles — an average of one to about 65 of the population—but it must be remembered that the chief reason for Germany's wealth in motor cycles is its intensive mechanisation of its military system, a form of development to which Australia has happily not yet aspired. As for the other important countries, they trail along a considerable distance behind Australia and Germany. The United State* of America, with a population of 126.000,000 (18 times Australia's total), has only about 96,000 motor cycles—about 20,000 more * than Australia owns. Italy, with 43,000,000 people, or six times our population, has 115,000 motor cycles, or only 5 per cent more than we possess, and Britain, with 47,000.000 —seven times our population— has 500,000 motor cycles—about seven times our total. Of course, when one comes to consider motor cars as distinct from motor cycles, the name of Australia does not rank so high. The United States own over 26,000,000 motor cars—nearly one to every five of the population—and even Canada, with a population of 11,000,000. boasts 1,160,000 cars. Australia, with considerably more than half Canada's population, has more than half

■s many car* —632,000. It would be interesting if it were possible to discover why the desire to own a motor cycle has obsessed a larger proportion of the population in Australia than anywhere eke in the world but Germany. Whatever satisfaction may be experienced by either the riders or the sellers of motor cycles through this plethora of these means of locomotion, there is no doubt that it conduces directly to the steady increase in. the appalling casualty lists recorded on our public highway*. A few days ago our commissioner for road transport published some alarming figures bearing on this point. They showed that between July, 1935, and June, 1936, motor cycles were concerned in no leu tban 1203 separate accidents in which 80 persons were killed and 1126 injured. This means that throughout the year there were 24 motor cycle accidents every week—more than three every day—in this State, and that more than one person was killed every week, and more than 20 were injured every week in these occurrences. This is surely an appalling total. Mr. Maddocks offer* us this much consolation, that the accident rate for motor cycles has diminished i slightly of late, partly because there hasj been only a small increase in the number of motor cycles on the roads during the past year. In the commissioner** opinion—and it is based on statistical evidence —"riders of motor cycles are still responsible for more accidents than any other motor vehicle* in proportion to the numbers on the roads." It seems that the principal cause of the accidents in which motor cycles have been concerned here is "excessive speed," which is reported officially to have been accountable for 83 accidents, causing 18 deaths and 95 injuries. The percentage of motor cycle accidents at intersections waa greater than in any other locality, and thia fully justifies Mr. Maddocks' warning that much trouble might be avoided if motor cyclists would be more careful wheq crossing intersections or turning from main side streets into a main road. Of course, motor cyclist* err, like all car drivers, from time to time through "cutting in," overtaking, passing without warning and taking the wrong side of the road. It is a gloomy and tragic story, and it illustrates once more the heavy penalties imposed on us all as payment for the luxury of speed.