Bad Driving By Impatient Youths

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30961, 18 January 1966, Page 3

Bad Driving By Impatient Youths

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 17. “There were some extremely bad cases of overtaking and a disturbing disregard for the double white line,” an official of the Automobile Association, Wellington, said today in commenting upon the extraordinarily heavy flow of holiday traffic in and out of the city yesterday.

While the traffic out of Wellington had been fairly constant, the real problems had been posed by the huge numbers of returning holidaymakers, often with trailers, caravans and boats. “Another disturbing feature of the overtaking was the number of culprits in big, powerful cars, containing, in some instances, a number of young children.” He deplored overtaking at high speeds with children in the offending vehicle. The chief traffic officer for the Wellington district, Mr H. K. Little, confirmed that poor overtaking was the main fault yesterday. “Though, from time to time, a slow driver does cause impatient motorists to take risks, slow driving was not the primary cause of the trouble yesterday, though

this is not to say that there was no slow driving. “Yesterday’s bad driving was brought about simply by impatience—a reluctance on the part of some motorists to stay in the queue. “Some—and young drivers were the principal offenders —left the queues and tried to barge their way back into the line of traffic, the sort of behaviour that gives offence to the average well-mannered motorists. “Fortunately, no serious accidents occurred in spite of the congestion.” Factors contributing to the exceptionally heavy traffic had been the fine weather, with the traffic returning from the beaches—especially in the peak congestion period between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.— meeting the crush of returning holiday-makers.