TRANSPORT BY ROAD

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22465, 28 July 1938, Page 5

TRANSPORT BY ROAD

* Advances During Year annual report by DEPARTMENT Stricter Enforcement Of Safety Laws [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.! WELLINGTON, July 27. The continued expansion of motor transport is the most outstanding ot ihe points summarised in the annual report of the Transport Department for the year ending March 31, 1938, and tabled in Parliament.to-day. Last year’s record figures for the number of vehicles on the road, the amount of motor taxation collected, and of money spent on highway improvement have been passed, while a noticeable reduction in the number of accidents when compared with the increased volume of tiaiTic is also recorded. Breaking the records set by the previous year, registrations of motorcars numbered 29,837, compared with 25,796 for 193 G-37, while those of commercial vehicles were 10,413, compared with 3999. The number of all classes of licences at March 31, 1938, was 280,327, easily the highest figure on record. Consumption of petrol during the year was estimated at 82,000,000 gallons, 10,000.000 gallons ahead of the figure for 1926-37. Preliminary results of a traffic census conducted on main, highways show increases over that for 1934-35 of up to 80 per cent, for the North Island and 75 per cent, in the South Island. Receipts, from the various forms ot motor-taxation amounted to £5,887,206,’ while the total expenditure on roads, streets, and bridges in the Dominion was £9,008,700 in 1936-37, compared With £8.077,975 for 1935-36. Road Safety There was one fatal accident out ol every 17 involving personal injuries, and for every 21 persons in- ' jured one was killed, 243 persons having lost their lives during the year. A comparison 'betyveen the number ot deaths during the 19 months preceding and following the inauguration ol the road-safety campaign in September, 1936, shews a drop in the figures for each million gallons of petrol consumed from 3.31 to 2.65. The report records that the department has engaged in increased publicity directed towards Improving the standards of road safety "and that in regard to school children it has co-operated extensively with the Education Department. The report also states that there has been instituted a Traffic Offences Biireau in the Transport Department, while the machinery for securing the enforcement of traffic laws has been improved. The claims paid and the estimated debility for claims outstanding in the third-party insurance scheme are put down as exceeding the premium revenue by 33 per cent. The policy of fixing freight charges for licenced road freight services was inaugurated during the year. The taxi services in Christchurch City have been brought under the provisions of the Transport Licensing Act. Other points of interest mentioned in the report note the establishment of 28 and 35 miles an hour as the uniform limits for goods and passenger vehicles respectively, while weight restrictions for the lower classes of rpads have been raised by half a top. Evidence of the importance with which the Government views the pioneer work in transport re-organisa-tion being carried out in the Canterbury, Nelson, and Marlborough area la provided in the report by the space devoted to recent amalgamations, the details of which have already been published in “The Press.” Commercial Aviation Commercial air transport has continued to grew rapidly, and there are Dow 1613 miles of route regularly served. The number of passengers travelling by air jumped from 20.718, for 1936, to 37,178 in 1937, mails carried rose from 84,9241 b to 166,3441 b, and the mileage flown was 1,205,965 miles.