NO DECLINE IN ROAD ACCIDENTS

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22823, 23 September 1939, Page 4

NO DECLINE IN ROAD ACCIDENTS

MINISTER APPEALS TO MOTORISTS (FBZSS ABSOCU.TIOir TEUSOBAU.) WELLINGTON. September 22. “In spite of the petrol restrictions seven persons were killed on the roads in the first 10 days of this month,” said the Minister for Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) to-day. “The death-rate has been exactly the same since the restrictions were imposed as during the corresponding period of last year when there were no fuel limitations. “Reports have also reached me of drivers whose missions are not urgent travelling at grossly excessive speeds and handling their vehicles in a wholly irresponsible manner. It has generally been found that those who have been driving fastest have had the least justification for doing so. No mission is so urgent that the driver is entitled to abandon all the rules of road safety and all respect for the rights of other road users. “Never was it more important to minimise the burden of the cost of road accidents. Everyone has a duty to contribute to the national effort by conserving the physical and material resources of the community. ‘Business as usual’ will be the slogan of traffic inspectors in dealing with irresponsible and intoxicated drivers. Special attention will be paid to stretches of highway with bad accident records. Drivers should remember that in the present state of emergency the taking of any unnecessary risks whartever is injurious not only to their own interests but to the interests of the community.”