The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, OCTOBER 30th, 1939. HOLIDAY ROAD DAGGERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 81, 30 October 1939, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, OCTOBER 30th, 1939. HOLIDAY ROAD DAGGERS

A DETERMINED effort is be'ing made this year to reduce, as much as possible the alarming- number of holiday motoring accidents, which of recent years has been increasing to such an extent as to cause the gravest concern. There is no reason why the roads should not be as safe at holiday time as any other. All that is required is the observance of the elementary rules of safety and of the courtesies of the road. The very fact that serious injury or death may result from a simple act of carelessness or neglect, or from taking an unnecessary risk, should, it might be imagined, make people careful. In the majority of cases it does, but a certain class of person, indexed by insurance companies as "accident prone," seems, by apparently unconscious acts in some cases, to court disaster in every possible way. If the car is right and the driver is l'ight, then everything should be right, but perfection so admirably balanced is seldom encountered. A good car may be so fool-proof as to compensate for an inferior driver to some extent, and a good driver c;m perform miracles with an inferior car, but if both factors of safety are deficient the result is a menace to the road. At this time of the .year many people no doubt will have taken to the highway for the first time. A car for the holidays*has been their year-long ambition. And it also happens in a great many cases that the car is not a new one. Often it is a very old one. Experienced drivers will say that practically every second-hand car has its own peculiar virtues and faults, not serious enough to matter to a capable hand at the wheel and practised feet at the pedals, but to a novice a. possible source of anxiety and nervousness. In the logic of circumstances it could not be otherwise, for if every "used" car was in perfect condition there would be no bargains. The seekers of second-hand "snips" should therefore exercise every care: to ensure that their purchase is as sound as it can reasonably be expected. The approaching holiday season will not only increase materially—on certain routes to popular destinations, enormo.usly—the amount of traffic on the road, but also the number of more or less inexperienced drivers. Hence there is an obligation upon both the novice and the expert to be careful, and to take no risks. Some motorists setting out on holiday are rather apt to be in a, hurry to get to their destination in order that their stay may be as long as possible. They should observe the courtesies of the road and dn all cases accord to the less experienced, whose 'prentice hands are unmistakable, the greatest possible consideration. Night driving has increased enormously the difficulties of the road, mainly on account of the laxity of the authorities in regard to the control of dazzling headlights. To inexperienced drivers these lights are a. positive menace, and are probably responsible for not a few of the road accidents which happen after dark. To them some courtesy and consideration is surely due. The out-and-out road hog has been a diminishing quantity in recent years, a fact largely due to a growing sense of responsibility —and courtesy. But there remain still a few to whom the description, "gentleman of the road," could never be applied. Most of them, fortunately, are known to the traffic police.