ROAD SAFETY AT WEEK-END

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27675, 3 June 1955, Page 14

ROAD SAFETY AT WEEK-END

APPEAL TO MOTORISTS An appeal to motorists to make a conscious endeavour to avoid marring the Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend by accidents was made yesterday by the chairman of the Christchurch Metropolitan Road Safety Committee, Mr J. J. B. Connor. With the holiday week-end ahead the people concerned with road safety were most anxious that it should not be spoiled by road accidents, he said. There would be many hundreds of motorists setting off to enjoy the long week-end. The Christchurch Metropolitan Road Safety Committee wished them safe travelling, but it expressed the hope that they would make a conscious endeavour to see that the good wish was fulfilled. At this time of the year road users had to contend with special seasonal hazards such as poor visibility, fogged windscreens, longer hours of darkness and oncoming lights, said Mr Connor, and it was a particularly dangerous time for motorists to see and avoid pedestrians.

People who were going to enjoy celebrations during the week-end were strongly recommended to leave their cars at home and use taxis. There was one particular cause of accidents that they would like to bring to the notice of the public, he said Eighty-one per cent, of all accidents were caused by the “human factor” —not by road conditions or by the condition of vehicles—and more than half of these accidents occurred at intersections. His committee would therefore appeal to people, particularly the average decent motorist, for just a little more care in avoiding intersection collisions. The failure of the “human factor” was probably caused very largely by “sheer aberration and inattention, even on the part of the best of motorists, though many accidents must be due to some degree u