REDUCING MOTOR ACCIDENTS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21939, 13 November 1936, Page 10

REDUCING MOTOR ACCIDENTS

HIGHER STANDARDS URGED FOR TESTS NEED FOR THE EDUCATION OF ADULTS (PEESS ASSOCIATION TELItOBAIf.) WELLINGTON, November 12. Consideration of the need for the education of adults in road safety matters was undertaken by the New Zealand Road Safety Council when its second meeting was opened this morning. The Minister for Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) presided, and outlined some of the work to be done by the council. One of the principal tasks of the council was to examine the law uurint? the recess, so thst anoinslies could be removed when Parliament resumed. An amending bill had been drafted and held over for the council to consider before it was gone on with at the next session. One suggestion was that traffic control m the smaller centres and rural areas should be taken over by the Transport Department. and that fines ond fees, which would amount to £30,000 oi £40,000 a year, should go into a fund to pay for the control. With the present system a person who was not entitled to a license could get one by going to another local body, but if all the testing in rural and semi-rural areas was done by traffic inspectors that would be corrected. There were plenty of applicants for positions as inspectors, Mr Semple added. Seven positions were open, and 1500 applications had been received. A sub-committee on adult education suggested that parsimony in expenditure upon education and propaganda might not be true economy, and that spasmodic efforts or a short-term programme could not be. expected to produce lasting results. “We consider the council should visualise a long range plan, and so that it may be seen how effective educational and propaganda methods can be a systematic plan of operations for at least one year should be pursued. At the end of this time the desirability or otherwise of continuing the action on siniilar lines can be ascertained in the light of results achieved. As time goes on, provided suitable educational methods are introduced in the schools, the necessity for adult instructions will become less. Although matters relating to education and propaganda for school children are outside our province. we think that when looking to the future the council should resolve now to start with the child.” It was proposed that a standard, uniform throughout the Dominion, and higher than that now observed by many licensing authorities outside the larger centres, should be set up for testing applicants for drivers’ licenses, and that licensing authorities should be required to ensure that the standard was observed. No official should be permitted to examine applicants unless the Minister was satisfied that he possessed the necessary qualifications. A booklet should be prepared and issued setting out a syllabus for the examination of applicants for Discussing the report, Mr Semple taid that the press of New Zealand had already done a great deal of good by publishing articles. The value of publicity through the press was of the utmost importance, and he felt sure that the whole council would join the sub-committee in expressing appreciation of what had been done. Road accidents had already been reduced, and the amount of progress which had been made would not have been possible if the press had not taken the matter up, without even being asked to do so. Effect of Alcohol After hearing the evidence of two medical men and an expert psychologist, the council was unable to arrive at the standard amount of alcohol a man could consume with safety before driving a car. The doctors agreed that the effect of alcohol depended largely on the man himself, and that it would be almost impossible to frame a satisfactory rule. The council decided to incorporate in the proposed booklet to be issued with the licenses, educative matter dealing with the dangers of the effect of alcohol on ■motor-drivers. When discussing the effects of alcohol on the driver of a car Dr. S. D. Rhind submitted that there should be a more rigorous test for the physical fitness of drivers, and suggested that motorists over 60 years of age should undergo an annual physical examination before the license was reissued. Apart from the question of alcohol, said Dr. Rhind, the British Medical Association considered that there should be a more rigorous test for physical disabilities, and anyone over a certain age should be medically examined to see how his nervous system compared with the average standards. The medical profession could assist in that way by setting up a standard of physical fitness. With the object of compiling statistical information, the accident statistics committee submitted a comprehensive draft of the form to be filled in after an accident. The report, presented by the chairman of the sub-committee, Mr J. H. Jerram, was adopted. The procedure to be followed in the case of an accident involving personal injury would be: (1) The driver would report the accident to the nearest police station (as now required by law); (2) the police would fill in as completely as possible the data required by the form (in some cases this may not be finalised until the legal proceedings, if any, are completed): (3) the form would then be forwarded by the Police Department to the Government Statistician for compiling ‘accident records and an analysis of contributory causes.