BAD EYESIGHT IN MOTORISTS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21992, 16 January 1937, Page 7

BAD EYESIGHT IN MOTORISTS

"UNDER-RATED CAUSE OF

ACCIDENTS"

MORE RIGID TESTS URGED AT

SCIENCE CONGRESS

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

AUCKLAND. January 15. That the defective vision of drivers was an extremely important but much under-rated cause of traffic accidents was asserted with much confirmatory detail in two papers read before the opticians' division of the physics section at to-day's session of the congress cf the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science. Orie of the writers, Mr B. Blumberg, saiu that en adequate eyesight depended very largely a driver's Draking etnciency, since the time lost in recognising a danger had to be added to the 'vecction .time" and that required tor the brakes to take full effect. How impoiiant this was could be understood when it was remembered that a speed of 30 miles an hour was equal to 44 feet a second. If a driver's "pull-up distance" was greater than his range of ehective vision, as might occur at high speeds on a wet road, he was driving "blind" ever the distance beiween these two ranges. Mr C. W. Kett, a Melbourne optometrist, who contributed the other paper, agreed with Mr Blumberg that the expert testing of a driver's eyesight was necessary, and that the simplified methods used by some authorities were inadequate. He also held that one-eyed persons and those from pathological conditions should not be allowed to drive, that a driver's sight - should be retested at intervals, and that those who needed to wpar spectacles to pass the test should be required by entry oh their licenses to wear them always while driving. Though it might be impracticable, he said, to test all the present lieensetiolders, tests should certainly be applied to all new applicants, considering the strict requirements made about eyesight by the navy, mercantile marine, railways, and tramway services, it could fairly be argued tnat an adequate standard should be set for those in charge of motor vehicles on roads.

AUSTRALIAN RATE OF EXCHANGE

THREE FALLACIES CORRECTED

(ritss* isanciATioa tbhokau.)

AUCKLAND. January 15. A denial that the Australian high rate of exchange, which is the same as that in New Zealand, acted as either an export bounty or as a protective tariff en local industries was made in a paper sent by Mr J. L. K. Giftord, lecturer in economics at the University of Brisbane, and read at the Science Congress. He said that these two widely-held fallacies, which had caused a great deal cf coniusion of thought during the depression, could be seen to be erroneous by consideration of the economic factors involved A third fallacy was that the high exchange caused a special burden on public finance. Academic economists Knew tnat the extra burden was due to the fall in world prices of the country's exports and that it would have been at ieast as great if tne balance of payments had been corrected in 1930 and 1931 by means of more deflation and without a rise in the rate of exchange! This third fallacy had been left chiefly to politicians.

UNIFORMITY IN WIDTH OF ROADS

SYSTEM CONDEMNED BY TWO SPEAKERS

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, January 15. The folly of requiring all roads to be of uniform width, was emphasised by both Mr E. V. Blake &nd the city waterworks engineer (Mr A. D. Mead) in papers read to. the engineering and architecture section of the Science Congress. The principle had led to arterial roads being" too narrow and side roads too wide. In several Auckland districts. Mr Mead said, it was not only wasteful, but also much more costly than was generally, realised.

LOANS FOR IMMIGRATION

PAPERS READ TO ECONOMICS SECTION

(raaaa association t-ilioeah.i AUCKLAND, January 15. "The raising, of loans for immigration is probably justifiable in young countries, but only so long as labour is in short supply relatively to the other productive factors. New Zealand continued to raise loans for this purpose too long," said Dr. E. P. Neale, secretary of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, to the economics, statistics, and social sciences section of the Science Congress. The opinion that the Ottawa agreement had done nothing to increase the trade of the world as a whole, and had stimulated little trade within the Empire, was expressed by Mr O. F. Troutman, of the economic staff of the Bank of New South Wales, in a paper in the same section. It had, however, strengthened the bonds of Empire unity.