MOTOR-CAR ENGINES IN HOPPLES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 149, 19 March 1936, Page 8

MOTOR-CAR ENGINES IN HOPPLES

Proposed Speed Penalty EXPERIS STATE PROS AND CONS Sealing of motor-car engines so as to prevent the . ear from exceeding a given speed, as a penalty to be imposed on persons convicted of fast or dangerous driving, was recoin mended by Air. E.' D. Mosley, S.M., speaking in the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, on Tuesday. "I am hoping that power will be given to the court to inflict that punishment,” he said. The pros aud cons of such a penalty were summed up by traffic and technical experts iu interviews with "The Dominion” yesterday. "Tlie idea is feasible, and it has merit,” said Mr. L. 8. Drake, chief traffic inspector to the Wellington City Council. The most frequent cause of accidents, in his opinion, was excessive speed. The whole question of safety' on the roads, however, was a difficult one, and depended to a great extent on the mentality of individual drivers, and on their reactions in emergency. It was not' on the most dangerous roads that accidents were frequent, for there people exercised caution, but on the comparatively safe streets where they relaxed their care.

There were times when lack of acceleration might be a disadvantage, said the Inspector. There were also other aspects to be considered. For instance, what was to stop an offender whose engine had been sealed from trading the car iu for another, or from driving a friend’s ear? In the case of taxi-drivers, or other persons whose living depended on the use of a ear, they would be under a distinct disad ; vantage if such a penalty were to be imposed on them. Mr. E. H. Barrett, of the Transport Department, said that he was definitely not in favour of the scheme. No matter how careful a man was, at times other motorists would put him in a dangerous position, and acceleration might be essential to get him out of it. If a driver’s engine resources were restricted to 25 miles an hour on the fiat, - they would "probably be limited to seven or eight on a gradient, with the car all out. If the driver happened to overtake a vehicle doing only 20, he would probably have to stay behind it until it stopped or turned off his road. This might be a punishment: to a fast driver, but it would not in any way diminish the dangers of the road. Rigid Control Needed. ' In New Zealand, said Mr. Barrett, it had been found that the driver was the main cause of the accident' in 54 per cent, of cases, as compared with 25 per cent, in Britain. The number of a- cidents here was not because New Zealanders were any worse drivers than the English, but because they would not observe the law. In England there was rigid traffic control, aud control was what was needed here. - What he recommended was some device that would serve to distinguish a 'dangerous driver, Without 1 robbing him of the reserve of power that l might make all the difference in’ an emergency. One could make, him carry a big red cross on his windscreen, or have a red light that would turn on, or a bell or buzzer that would sound, whenever the car was going above a certain speed. "There are a great many ways you could rub it in to him, without creating an extra danger,” he said.

The general manager of oue of the leading firms of motor importers expressed a similar view. He said lie could not possibly support any move to restrict the speed of which a vehicle was canable. He. of course, did not want to see people exceeding the speed limit, any more than the Magistrate did, but he considered that a driver should always have a reserve of power to draw on at need. Technical Difficulties. A technical expert declared himself to be doubtful whether there whs any device obtainable on the market that would limit the speed of vehicles ether than lorries to as low a speed as 25, without also cutting down the power. Speed governors, however, could be obtained that would restrict tbe maximum engine revolutions to a certain limit, and within that limit would allow full power and full acceleration. The Sliced limit iu the case of the particular type of governor he had in mind was anything upward of 32. Lorry engines could be restricted to a number of revolutions that kept tlie speed as low as 25, but he did not know of any device that would restrict an ordinary car to so low a speed without affecting its power, Tbe type of governor to which lie had referred, as giving full power up to the engine revolution speed for which it was sealed, was fixed between the carburettor ami the intake manifold, and worked ou tbe suction system. Except that it was not applicable to a low enough speed limit, it appeared just tluj sort of device to which Mr, Alosley had referred. TRAFFIC CONTROL Plan For Nationalisation TOO MANY ACCIDENTS Steps which should, ami probably would, be taken to redm-o tlie number of road accidents were mentioned by the Minister of Public Works, Hon. R Semple, at a conference he attended with the Southland County Council on Tuesday evening. Traffic control should be nationalised, lie said. The number of road accidents in the Dominion was appalling. This slate of affairs was due. in part, to tlie present inefficient method of control. There were iu. New Zealand no fewer ti an 303 local bodies all with their own by-laws and their own officers to administer them. The system was absurd.

Mr. Semple said he proposed national by-laws and national policing of the roads by full-time officers in the employ of tlie governing authority. This, with a corresponding tightening up of the. law with regard to road aeeidents, should result in au improvement in a position, which as a result of increasing traffic was daily becoming worse. Uniformity was ■ a remedy. Mr. Semple added, but the law might well Is- made more severe in tbe case of certain breaches. For instance, a man found guilty a second time of being intoxicated while in charge of a car should be denied a license for tbe rest of his life. Tbe penalty for the hit-and-run . motorist—undoubtedly the worst type, of offender—might also be made more.severe.