LESS NEGLIGENT DRIVING

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21907, 7 October 1936, Page 8

LESS NEGLIGENT DRIVING

Fewer Prosecutions Made

improvement in road COURTESY

Although several reasons have been advanced, it remains a fact that in and about Christchurch there has been a considerable decrease in negligent and reckless driving and a corresponding increase in the general road courtesy of motorists. This has been noted particularly by the police and the traffic department of the Christchurch City Council, but they ascribe the results to different causes. Court officials, too, have noted the decrease in the number of prosecutions for major motoring offences, but they offer no reason, other than that prosecutions for such offences seem to come in waves. . , Much of the credit was given by the acting-chief city traffic inspector, Mr J. Bruorton, to the Minister for Transport, the Hon. R. Semple. “Drivers are careful about their speeds now,” he said, “and very few exceed the 30 miles an hour speed limit. In fact, their general observance of the rules of the road has improved immeasurably in the last two months. The reduction in the number of prosecutions cannot in any way be attributed to easing vigilance by the inspectors, for they are keen to see the regulations observed.”

Although the police give some credit to the Minister for Transport and his attacks on reckless motorists, they ascribe some of the reduction in the number of accidents and the resulting prosecutions to the longer days. Most of the accidents, they say, happen in the early morning or in the early evening. In the winter the light is bad at those times, but longer days have made safe driving easier. Most of the morning accidents involved milk floats or taxis, but very few had been reported in the last two or three months. On the other hand, the decrease in the evening accidents when motorists were hurrying home from the city was largely attributable to the Minister, because these private motorists were now more careful in their observance of the regulations. Neither the police nor the court officials were able to give any recent comparative figures, but the latter claim that major motoring offences come in waves, and- that the last two months may have been merely a trough. On the other hand, they are prepared to admit that some part of the decrease may have been caused by the reasons advanced by the police, and the acting-chief traffic inspector.