The Press MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1947. Speed Limits

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25135, 17 March 1947, Page 6

The Press MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1947. Speed Limits

The Automobile Association, Canterbury, has decided to ask for the abolition of the 40 miles an hour speed limit on main highways and, according to a speaker at a meeting of the council of the association, almost every motorists’ association in the South Island is asking the same. This move by the motorists’ organisations must be considered in relation to their frequentlyexpressed demand for more and better tyres. Even so, action is premature. More than safer tyres is needed before motorists can be allowed to go “ all out ” on the open roads. Motor vehicles themselves must be safer. During the war years it was not possible to replace worn-out and aging vehicles. It is still difficult to do so. The result is that many cars on the roads to-day are unsafe or likely to become unsafe unexpectedly, and if a vehicle has a hidden weakness it is most likely to break down at high speed. Roads also must be safer. The. standard of maintenance has fallen, unavoidably, during the war, and few New Zealand highways to-day are the safe speedways which permit unrestricted or high-limit speeds in the United States and elsewhere.

The motorists’ organisations, if they pursue this line, apparently will find themselves in conflict with the Transport Department. Addressing the Nelson Automobile Association last month the Commissioner of Transport, Mr G. L. Laurenson, argued the case for a permanent speed limit of 50 miles an hour:

When tyres became scarce the 40 miles an hour speed restriction was imposed on vehicles to conserve rubber. There has been a marked decline in the number of deaths and accidents involving injuries since that speed restriction. When tyres become available again and traffic reverts to normal, I would suggest that consideration should be given by motorists to a speed restriction of 50 miles an hour, not to conserve rubber but for the conservation of human life.

The bald assertion requires some amplification. A decline in the accident rate during the war was to be expected, regardless of speed restrictions, because there were fewer vehicles on the roads and they ran a reduced mileage. The fall in the number of serious accidents, however, has been much more than proportional to the war-time thinning of traffic. Between 1939 and 1945 the number of deaths from motor accidents in New Zealand fell by 49 per cent.; petrol consumption —a very rough guide to vehicle mileage—was in 1945 less only by 29 per cent, than in 1939. It should be noted, too, that a high proportion of the worst accidents, those causing death, happen on the roads on which the motorists’ associations are now

asking for unrestricted speed, or a speed limited only by the “dangerous driving” regulation. Even with the 40 miles an hour limit in force, 44.9 per cent, of all fatal road accidents in 1945 were on the open roads—that is, not in built-up areas where speed is restricted to 30 miles an hour. Of the less serious accidents, those resulting in injury but not death, only 27.5 per cent, were on the open roads. It will be time enough to weigh these and other considerations when the condition of vehicles, tyres, and roads has sufficiently improved. Meanwhile motorists will find it hard to show that traffic on the main highways can be allowed substantially higher speeds without unjustifiably raising its risks.