SILVER DEITIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 23, 28 January 1937, Page 5

SILVER DEITIES.

SYMBOLS OF SPEED.

MODERN MOTOR MASCOTS.

CERTAIN TYPES MUST GO.

Winged heads of Mercury, messenger of the gods, in gleaming chromium; lithe goddesses and supple mermaids, the stream of their tresses in the wind caught iii silver; greyhounds intent on the chase, eagles and falcons with cruel beaks and claws outstretched: these are the radiator mascots of to-day, symbols of fleetness and grace and modernity— and sometimes of incongruity. But thev must go, most of them. Mr. Semple has spoken. It is already iive weeks since the revised traffic regulations came into force and the motoring public is gradually awakening to its obligations. Xow traffic officers are j>ointiiig to those streamlined effigies in silver that stretch ever onward from their pedestals on radiator caps, and they are shaking their heads. However reluctant that these proud embellishments must be removed, motorists —in Auckland at least —are obeying readily, for it is the law. This is the regulation: "No person shall operate a motor vehicle having affixed thereto any ornament, decoration, or ornamental fitting in position where it is likely to strike anv person with whom the vehicle may collide, uniless the ornament, decoration or fitting I is such that it is not liable to cause ! in jury by reason of any projection I thereon." ' j Possibility of Injury. I And therein lies a puzzle. How is the j"danger quotient'' to be judged"; It ! seems ridiculous to interpret the regujlation as referring to ornaments which j would be likely to pierce a victim, as would a bayonet, before he was struck I by any other part of the car. Traffic officers, however, point out the danger of being thrown on to, for instance, the j barbed head of an ultra-modern chro [mium-plated bird when the bumper oi

a car eweeps you off your feet. And it has to be admitted that some of the streamlined ornaments would, in that event, cause extremely ugly wounds.

Here there will be inevitable division e of opinion. Which way do people fall o when they are struck by the bumper of r a car? Further, how many cases have 11 been recorded of serious injury actually 1 being caused by a motor mascot? To answer in any way the first query, the observations of experience would have to be co-ordinated. As for the second, senior officers of the St. John Ambulance Association were not vesterday able to recall such a case. An Auckland motor dealer, who was able to speak fairly dispassionately for the reason that the mascots on his cars, as on certain other makes, tended to be ! comparatively innocuous stock symbols j of distinction, as opposed to certain i 5 flagrant inclinations (privately acquired i : towards "swank. " said this morning that, many people would reach out naturally and grasp the radiator raa-cn! to pro- ,j ' vent themselves from falling under a '» car in time of accident. However, it i , would probably be a different story i:i ,- i the case of a car travelling at high h • speed. li The (juestion i> raised wlir-tlier therejl - are parts of ft car that can do more |j ■ I damage to the human body than a l> r radiator mascot. Ambulance and traffic;! , • officers and motor dealers agree in this * " answer—door handles. An American v 1 transport publication recently gave|' ■ ihistrations of the handle of a car door t embedded in a human skull, and of a i child's breast cruelly scarred by another. r The search for streamlines has resulted ■ in sharp, tapering handles on several 1 modern cars. An Auckland man con--1 siders they should be let into the side 'of the car. Then there are the upright ' cross-pieces on the bumpers of certain - makes, placed to prevent locking with 1 another car. But neither of these fittings could be called ornaments in the sense implied by the regulation. ' Motorists Comply Readily. The law stands. Traffic officers in I, j Auckland are drawing the attention of 9 motorists to the requirements of the regulation, and the "worst" cases have c been sent to the traffic department for r further examination. The motorists i e generally are complying readily. One. i i- loath to part with a graceful silvered •f nymph, suggested that he might bej

allowed to shorten it by an amputation at the knees, but that way out was not permissible. Of course it might be asked: Why exactly do j>eople put some of these more ornate decoration's on their cars ? One man answered cynically: "It is like a. man coming to work with a hydrangea in his lapel, and yet flowers are grown which are ideal for buttonholes."