The Road Toll

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31335, 4 April 1967, Page 16

The Road Toll

Sir, —Commenting in this column before Easter, Mr Polaschek, the Commissioner of Transport, said he issued statistics on fatalities, “at frequent intervals”. The first quarter of 1967 ends on Friday and there have been no current statistics published during that period. We have had bulletins of totals, and two months ago an observation that more solitary drivers than usual are dying by running off the road. Kipling wrote: “I keep six honest serving men; they taught me all I know; their names are What and Why and When; and How and Where and Who”. Cannot we have frequent statistics of at least when and where The honest serving men in Wellington seem to have adopted the slogan, supplied by a recent British official visitor, “the three E’s,” education, enforcement, engineering, as a convenient stock reply to queries.—Yours, etc. A. B. CEDARIAN. March 30,1967. [The Commissioner of Transport (Mr R. J. Polaschek) replies: “Statistics on road fatalities are produced at least once a month and a release covering the first quarter of 1967 will be available shortly.”] Sir,—“Sophocles” states that at speeds of 55 m.p.h. some drivers are not able to control their cars. Precisely! The point is to teach them to drive correctly at higher speeds than 55 m.p.h. It then follows they must be able to control cars at 55 m.p.h. On the Ml motorway in England, when there was no speed limit, the average speed over a test period was shown to be approximately 50 m.p.h. It is fallacious to assume that, as soon as the speed limit was lifted, average speeds would rise, the point being that many drivers drive faster than they really want to, to keep up with the speed limit. It seems to me that it is not necessary for drivers to be intelligent to drive can well. They only have to be taught to respect their cars, and to respect other motorists.— Yours, etc, PHRED. April 1, 1967.