NUMBER PLATES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18917, 4 February 1927, Page 6

NUMBER PLATES.

NEWEST ISSUE. I WHAT IS REQUIRED OF OWNERS. Now motor registration plates are now being issued by the Post Office authorities, but so far tho number who liavo applied for them haa been small, averaging about 20 per day, and it is not expected that matters in this respect will be much different for a week or two to come. The following letter dealing with tho requirements oi motorists in the matter of registration and re-registration was recently bent out to the Canterbury Automobile Association : It would be appreciated if you would bring under the notice of your members the following points:— (1) That on and after February Ist anv motor vehicle may be rchcensed for the rear 15)27-28, and all owncis are earnestly requested to reliccusc at once. The "end of March is a particularly busy period for the registration officers, therefore early re-registra-tion will not only bo appreciated by them but will obviate the waiting Uv owners that must occur if relicensiug is left until the last week in March. Tho new plates must not be used on vehicles until April Ist. The colour of the plates for the ensuing year is orange and black, and every motor vehicle in use on and after April Ist nest should have one of the newplates affixed. From that date the present black and white plates cannot be legally used. (2) Before submitting their application for rclicensing, owners should see that

(a) Tho car is already registered in their own name. If n car has been acquired from another owner during tho year, without the transfor having boon notified to the Deputy Registrar, a new plate will not be issued until the transfer is recorded; (b) That tho engine and chassis numbers are correctly stated in the application. Any disagreement between the numbers stated on the application and tho numbers on tho Deputy Registrar's records will cause delay in obtaining new plates; (c) that the number of the plate in use is correctly stated on tho application for relioense. (3) Owners of two or more vehicles should see that the new plates are affixed to tho particular vehicle for which they are issued. To assist the owner in this respect the officer issuing the new plates will write the 1926-2? registration number on the paper cover containing the new plates. (41 If tho owner of a motor vehicle has permanently changed his residence since last registration he should immediately lodge a notification of change of garage unless he haa already done so (no fee is chargeable for this). (o) If the owner is temporarily absent from his district and wishes to relicenso he should produce his certificate of registration when applying for the new year's plates. The cost of plates will be the samo as last year, viz., 2a Cd per pair, and, finally, again urge owners to relicense at once.

Details of the license fees are as follows: —

(1) £2 license fee (carp ; one-ton trucks, etc.), plates without initial letters.

(2) £3 lioense fees (4-wheoled trailers, motor-lorries, pneumatic tyres, plates with initial letter "A." (3) £5 license fee (motor-buses, trade motors, solid tyres, etc.), plates with initial letter "B." (4) £1 license fee (two-wheeled trailers), plates with initial letter "C." (5) 10s license fee (dealers' cars), plates with initial letter "D." (fi) No license fee payable (Government, local and public authorities, etc.), plates with initial letter "E." (7) 10a license fee (cycles), plates without initial letter. (8) fis license fee (dealers' cycles), plates with initial letter "D." TRAFFIC COrTROL. NEW AMERICAN PUN. (FBOM OUB OWN COBBEBPOXDEKT.) SAN FRANCISOO, December 1. One of the most far-reaching and inclusive programmes of traffic control ever effected in the United States is to be undertaken in Chicago, where plans are under way to bring the entire Chicago metropolitan area under a single unified system of regulation. That the programme is one of the lorgest ever attempted is indicated by the fact that the area embraces u population of more than 4,000,000 people and includes portions of two States, six counties, fifty cities with a population of more than 2500 each, and 109 towns and villages. For the past ten months this area I has been the subject of an intensive scientific survey instituted by the Chic- | ago Association of Commerce and carried on by the Albert Russel Erskine Bureau for Street Traffic Research tinder the direction of Miller McClintock, a nationally known traffic engineer and director of the Erskine Bureau, recently endowed in Harvard University for the purpose of studying the increasingly complicated aspects of street congestion. "More than 125,000 vehicles a day pass between Chicago and ! the six counties included in the metropolitan area, and approximately 250,000 vehiclo movements a day are | exchanged between Chicago and immej diately adjacent communities," said Mr McClintockj commenting on the move- ■ mont to unify the area's traffic control. [ "Nothing short of chaos and congestion can be expected if each of these hundreds of thousands of drivers finds himself operating under a different system of control every time he crosses a political boundary. Unification of a method of traffic control throughout the Chicago area will help till concerned—the communities now troubled with traffio problems and the motorists who pass through these communities." Basic Code Essential. Mr McClintock pointed out that safety and convenience on the streets and highways depended on orderly use and orderly use depended on general understanding and obedience to fixed rules of operation. Thus a primary requirement for traffio relief in a metropoh tan area was to be found in u basic code of street use designed to lessen congestion and accidents and reduce friction and conflicts. The qualities or factors of a good traffic codo were briefly outlined by Mr McClintock as follows: "The code must be simple. People do not hare time nor tho inclination to memorise a lot of laws and rules. It must bo enforceable. It must be comprehensive and in conformity with the natural requirements of traffic Flexibility is another factor found in a good traffic code, as street conditions often change rapidly so the code must be adaptable. It must be based upon facta regarding street use as tho day of haphazard methods of street control nro gone. Finally, a traffic code ninst be balanced. There should be a delicate and accurate adjustment between the requirement of people to more over th<* streets and maximum safety of