SPEED LIMIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 155, 4 July 1939, Page 20

SPEED LIMIT.

LAW IN AMERICA. REASON AND PRUDENCE. DKCRKASE OF ACCIDENTS. There appear- to hp a tendency in I .S.A. to depart trom (lie cniiiiiinii-liiw 'iilf tlint iu> pi'isnii -hall ilrivo a vehicle mi a highway nt a -need jrreiiter than i- i I'a-mia lilr and pi iidcnt under existing i-otidit inns. Tin? swing, as regards speed laws in that country, with i»s 2fU million iiutomnliih's. nmv appears to hp towards maximum -peed limits for private cars mi open liijj.liways, under the prima -facie rule. I'lider this law. (lie iimtnrist. charged with exeeedilltr the -peed limit, may show that, while he was driving faster than tin? statutory speed, lie was cxeivish'" reason and pruileliee in -o doiiiL'. hut the liurden of proof is on the motorist who exceeds I lie prima facie limit. Of the ."> I American States which have ailopleil maximum speed limits for ears I the liighe-t being 00 m.p.li. in five Slate-., in most of the others from 40 to .".il m.p.1i.1. -2'.t Stiites are I lie pi iiiia ■ facie rule. A- the toll of tie road in I'.S.A. for I'l,'ts showed a material decrease over acc'nleiiL stati-tics for l!»:lli and M>:S7. it may rea-nini lily lie assumed that the implementing of the -peed limits played it- part towards reducing traltic accidents in that couiitrv. '

ks regards the limitation of speed of commercial motor vehicles in I'.S.A., 1!> States have fixed maximum speed limits which range from .'{."> to ">."> m.p.h.. based on weight of trucks, and in -tune instances on other qualifications, such as obedience of posted -peed indicators on some sections of highway*.

Despite this development towards eontrolling speed of motor vehicles on I'.S.A. highways, it is significant that one of the most recent pronouncements on the subject of highways speeds in the Tinted States came from't he Inter- te Commerce Commission, after an inter e study of limitations, which it might place upon speeds of inter State commercial vehicle*. In adopting a rule that speed shall be reasonable and prudent under existing conditions ami -ball not exceed thai permitted by State jurisdiction, the conimis-ion ad.led:—"We arc

of the opinion that no completely satisfactory solution lias yet lieeli found tor the problem of controlling' motor vehicle speed upon the open highway. Accordingly, after careful study of all the- evidence submitted, and in the absence of adequate data or unified opinion among competent alltliorit ic.s. we ha\e been impelled to refrain for the present from specifying a limit in miles per hour."

This important finding, says the ••|)mili>|> Hulletin." is one worthy of full consideration by Australian authorities, for it is the considered opinion of one of the most important (Jovernnient organisations in America and one qualified to advise on one of the world's most complex problems —the safety of the road.