The Dominion TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1928. DANGEROUS MEN ON THE ROAD

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 86, 10 January 1928, Page 8

The Dominion TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1928. DANGEROUS MEN ON THE ROAD

1 There are some aspects of the prosecution and imprisonment of an intoxicated motorist at Christchurch on Saturday which call for remark. Two charges were preferred against the prisoner—first, that he had been intoxicated while in charge of a motor-car; second, that he had broken his prohibition order. According to the police evidence, the man was placed under a prohibition order in 1926. The following year he was fined £lO for having been intoxicated while in charge of a car. Now he has been sentenced to fourteen days’ imprisonment for the same offence, his driving license has been cancelled for five years, and a second conviction, with no penalty, has been recorded against him for breaking his prohibition order. “Fie is a very dangerous man to be on the road,” said the police sergeant, concluding his recital of the prisoner’s record. What, most people would like to know is how it came to pass that a man who had to be placed under a prohibition order in 1926, was fined for drunkenness in 1927, happened to have a license to drive a car in 1928. As the present year is a but a few days old, it is a fair presumption that this man’s license was in operation last year, the year he was fined £lO. for having been intoxicated while in charge of a car. How do these things happen? How is it that a prohibited person is permitted to drive at all? ' Prohibition orders are not issued against people who merely indulge in an occasional drink. They are issued against people whose weakness for liquor has become so pronounced that they must be protected against themselves. That the orders made against . them are frequently broken is a fact attested by the number of convictions for breaches. Clearly, therefore, they are irresponsible citizens, and, one would think, should be the last persons in the community to receive licenses' to drive motor-cars. A prohibited person may keep straight for weeks, until temptation and opportunity come his way, and he falls. Then he becomes that public menace, “a dangerous man on the road,” to quote the description employed by the Christchurch police sergeant. As our traffic increases and our highway problems multiply, it may come to pass that when a man desires permission to drive a car, he may have to satisfy the licensing authority on other points than mere ability to drive. Is he a fit person to be in charge of a car? Under the existing law, a local body may issue a driving license to anyone over fifteen years of age who can satisfy its traffic official that he can drive. The Christchurch case would suggest that the investigation of a candidate’s qualifications may have to be carried