ROAD FATALITIES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 254, 23 July 1936, Page 10

ROAD FATALITIES

“Amounting to Open

War” STRICTER CONTROL Discipline For All Users Of Highways Efforts by the Minister of Transport, Hon. R. Semple, to reduce the mounting record of road fatalities and to impress upon the people the necessity for greater care in avoiding accidents were commended by various speakers in the House of Representatives yesterday, when the debate on the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill was resumed. The measure was introduced and the second reading debate begun during the first part of the session. The main provisions of the Bill deal with the hit-and-run motorist and the infliction of heavier penalties on careless drivers.

The need for the provision of means of educating road-users in safety-first principles was emphasised by Mr. J. B. F. Cotterill (Government, Wanganui), who made his first speech in the House. He urged greater consideration for the pedestrian. It appeared to him that when one became a motorist there was a tendency to disregard the pedestrian. Some pedestrians were also inclined to look on the motorist as a nuisance. Actually there was need on both sides for education in the proper use of the road “The penalties for the hit-and-run driver which the Minister has provided in the Bill are timely,” said Mr. Cotterill. “The hit-and-run driver constitutes an increasing menace, and it is hoped that the proposed fines will be the means of reducing the great number of casualties.” Mr. Cotterill, when emphasising the need for a greater adherence to the right-hand rule, described city taxidrivers as the worst offenders against the rule. He had been amazed at the efforts taxi-men frequently made to deliver fares and get away quickly to secure others, and had seen them disregard almost every rule of the road in their hurry. He suggested less use of motor-horns, more care by the riders of motor-cycles, rear lights for bicycles and more co-operation between drivers and stockmen when passing stock on the road as means of reducing road accidents and improving driving generally. 30-niiles-an-hour Limit.

The proposal to limit the speed of motor vehicles to 30 miles an hour in boroughs and town districts wa s commended by Mr. W. J- Lyon (Government, Waitemata). He said that if motorists and pedestrians as well could be sure that no vehicle was travelling through populated areas at a speed greater than 30 miles an hour, it would, be possible for an understanding to be developed that would have a beneficial effect pu the present unsatisfactory position. Modern powerful cars could soon become dangerous projectiles unless properly handled. Every user of the road had a responsibility. All sections should have a full appreciation of their duty in relation to other users of the road. Mr. Lyon said that if the Bill did nothing else, it rendered a valuable service in suggesting the necessity of bringing to the people a full understanding of the traffic laws on the highways. Its provisions should be issued in pamphlet form so that the general public might have an opportunity of becoming familiar with them. The necessity for education in road safety was more important even than the placing of the Bill on the Statute Book. The Jay-Walker. Mr. F. W. Schramm (Government, Auckland East) expressed the hope that the same obligation to be careful would be imposed ou pedestrians as was to be required of motorists. The “infernal jay-walker who did not look where he was going” was as much a menace as the motorist who drove dangerously. Suggestions had been made that pedestrians should be equipped with taillights, but while that was not intended seriously, nevertheless something must be done to make them more careful.

Mr. Semple: ..Two-legged fireflies. (Laughter.) Mr. Schramm, speaking of the increase in road fatalities, said the position amounted to an open war on the highways. A national calamity was taking place year by year, and the Minister should be congratulated on bringing down measures in an endeavour to stop the slaughter. The Bill was on the right lines in compelling motorists to stop when involved in any accident, whether anyone was injured or not. The hit-and-run driver was a worse offender against society than the intoxicated motorist, who often pulled up aud rendered what assistance he could. The necessity for a uniform national code of regulations was urgent. There was an absence of coordination among the 303 local authorities in respect of road regulations.

Mr. C. R. Petrie (Government, Hauraki) said the local bodies in his constituency recognised that the Minister of Transport was alive to the need for action to make the highways safer. He believed the Minister had introduced legislation that would enable local bodies to enact regulations assisting them to reduce the toll of the roads. Such legislation would mean nothing, however, unless the public conscience was aroused and the co-operation of every citizen was secured. Regulations would be needed to protect cyclists from themselves, and the time had arrived when they should be required to carry not only headlights, but rear lights also.

Co-operation of All Required. Everyone would agree, said Mr. E. P. Meachen (Government, Wairau) that the roads had become so dangerous that something had to be done. The difficulty was to obtain a form of control that would not be arbitrary and that would bring about the cooperation of all road-users toward making the highways safer. _ This could be achieved only by educating the pulflic—motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians alike—to new habits on the highways. They had acquired habits of carelessness which must be eradicated and habits of care and consideration inculcated in their stead. While it was important that school children should be instructed in the principles of safety, there was only one place in which to teach the motorist, and that was in the driver’s seat. Mr. Meacjien emphasised the statement made by the Minister that he had no wish to be arbitrary about the Bill, but that he wanted to assist motorists themselves to reach a better degree of safety. Mr. C. H. Burnett (Government, Tauranga) contended that it. was more important to have preventive legislation than penal legislation. He held that in every accident, whether in-

jury resulted or not, a report should be made to the authorities, not by telephone, but personally or by letter. Some clauses of the Bill, mainly the principal penal clauses, needed some clarifying in meaning, it seemed to him that more attention should be paid by trafiic inspectors to pace on the highways, instead of dealing with pettifogging by-laws in the small towns. Far too much time was devoted by inspectors to that phase of transport control. A review of eases that had come before the courts this year showed quite clearly that the fines which were meted out for serious offences against the trafiic by-laws were hopelessly inadequate. Mr. D. W. Coleman (Government, Gisborne) said nobody could deny that the Bill was long overdue, it was welcomed by local bodies throughout New Zealand, in his opinion 95 per cent, of motoring accidents were due to carelessness from one source or another. Something by way of remedy could be done by the adoption of the Minister’s proposals to provide a uniform speed limit. “There is nothing more farcical m New Zealand than the varying speed limits as set by local bodies,” said Mr Coleman. "All sorts of speeds are fixed and sometimes a motorist finds in going through a village, so empty of population that a cannon could be fired down the main street without hitting a living soul, that a local body has fixed a maximum speed limit of 15 miles an hour and even as low as 10. As a motorist I welcome the Ministers effort to fix a maximum speed limit tot the whole of New Zealand.” “Speeding is undoubtedly the major cause of many of the accidents that take place on our roads, said Mi. L. H Chapman (Government, Wellington North). “I think the limit of 30 miles an hour provided for in the BUI is too great in many instances, and I also think there are places where la miles an hour would be a much more suitable speed.” i The Minister of Transport, Hon. K. Semple: The maximum is 30 miles an hour. . , Mr Chapman emphasised the necessity for pedestrians to exercise care as well as motorists, and attributed the large number of accidents on the roads to the three following causes:—Speeding, irresponsible conduct of roadusers, and the presence on the roads of large vehicles with heavy loads. Quotations from authorities concerning the effect of alcohol on motor drivers were employed by Mr. R. A. Wright (Independent, Wellington Suburbs). "I am not arguing on behalf of temperance societies or of the prohibition people,” said Mr. Wright, “but I just wish to quote several authorities on the effect of alcohol. The big question seems to be, When is a man intoxicatod *•” The Leader of the Opposition: Ah, that is the question. A Government member: Do you not know?

Mr. Wright: No, I cannot speak from experience. Mr. Wright said that in Germany, when a man applied for a driver’s licence, he was warned that he should abstain completely from liquor, as even the smallest quantity had a deleterious effect. The British Medical Association, which was by no means a temperance body, had expressed an opinion that the first effect of alcohol was on the higher functions of the brain, and that it impaired the functions of judgment, concentration, and self-criti-cism. In view of those opinions, Mr. Wright asked the Minister whether he would consider that aspect of the situation before the Bill was passed.

MINISTER SUMS UP Old Cars Need Not Go Off Roads IF MECHANICALLY SAFE Replying to the debate, Mr. Semple expressed thanks for the manner in which the Bill had been received on all sides of the House. The approval the measure had met with indicated a general desire to co-operate in saving life on the highways. Since the House adjourned six weeks ago nearly 400 copies of the Bill had been sent out to local bodies and organisations associated with transport, and it had been approved by those bodies that had so far replied. Some had made helpful suggestions, and the amendments introduced that afternoon were the result of such suggestions. The Bill had been received very favourably by the Dominion as a whole. The 47 fatalities that had occurred since the House adjourned six weeks ago justified the measure a thousand times, continued the Minister, who added that he was satisfied that 95 per cent, of the accidents that occurred annually were preventive. The Leader of the Opposition, Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes: You won’t prevent as much as 95 per cent., surely? Mr. Semple: I think we can. I may be a bit optimistic, but I have been studying the causes of these accidents, and a tremendous number of them could have been prevented. I realise, of course, that unless we have the cooperation and goodwill of the public we cannot hope to achieve any real degree of success. As the right honourable member for Kaipara said when the Bill was introduced, it is necessary to begin in the schools to educate for safety. Uniform By-laws. Stressing the necessity for uniform by-laws in the 303 local bodies, Mr. Semple asked if it were possible for a motorist travelling between, say, Wellington and Auckland to be conversant with the multiplicity of local trafiic laws that would apply to him on the journey. No two local bodies had exactly similar traffic rules. Souv were enacted as far back as 1905. Trafiic had gone on apace, but the bylaws had stood still. The Bill would bring about uniformity. A Bill making universal by-laws for motor vehicles had just been introduced into the House of Commons. The Minister referred to the importance, in the interests of safety, of the rigid inspection of vehicles to ensure proper brakes and adequate lights. In Britain, 30,000 motor-lorries had temporarily been put off the road for defective brakes when a new regulation was enforced. In seven years in New Zealand 14,000 motor vehicles had been found to have similar defects. “There is an idea abroad in New Zealand that, old motor-cars will have to be scrapped because they happen to b e defective in the brakes, or are otherwise mechanically not fit to be ou the roads,” said Mr. Semple. “People have the idea that because a car is 10 or 14 years old it will not be allowed on the road. That is far from the intention of the legislation. It means nothing of the kind. A car only six months old might be a greater danger than one 20 years old because it may have been neglected. “It docs not matter how old a car is as long as the brakes and lights are in good order. If it is in a safe condition it can stay on the roads. But if asix-months -old car is found to be defective it will be put off the road until it is made safe,” said the Minister. Mr. Semple said it was his intention when the Bill became law tp call a

conference iu Wellington of all people interested in transport so that an organisation could be created with the object of co-operating with the Government in reducing the wholesale slaughter on the highways. It did not matter how determined Parliament might be to bring that about, all its efforts would be futile unless the co-operation and goodwill of all users of the roads were obtained. The Bill was put through all stages and passed with Ministerial amendments. AMENDMENTS TO BILL Annual Examination of Vehicles Various amendments to the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill were introduced in the House of Representatives by Governor-General’s message yesterday and circulated in the form of a supplementary order paper. The alterations follow generally the lines of a statement made on Tuesday by the Minister of Transport, Hon. R. Semple. A clause in the original Bill providing for the registration of bicycles has been deleted. In explaining the amendment, the Minister said it had been deemed wise to leave the registration of bicycles to local bodies. Under another amendment the Minister has power to revoke any local body by-law which in his opinion may be unreasonable or undesirable in its relation to motor trafiic. There is also power for regulations to be made providing for the periodical examination of motor vehicles at a fee not exceeding 5/- for each examination. Regulations can also be made limiting the hours or regulating the conditions under which any person may drive a trade motor for commercial purposes. A new clause authorises any person, on the payment of a fee not exceeding 1/-, to obtain details of registers of motor licences.

When the Minister was explaining the clause dealing with the examination of motor vehicles, Mr. W. J. Polson (Opposition, Stratford) asked whether special inspectors would be appointed. The Minister: Yes, we have men with the highest qualifications, but there is nothing to prevent a motorist from obtaining a certificate of mechanical efficiency for his car from any accredited garage. If the Government does the examining, a charge of 5/- will be made.

Mr. S. G. Smith (Opposition, New Plymouth) : Will it be an annual inspection? The Minister: Yes, once a year at least. Mr. Semple said a prospective purchaser of a used car would be able to investigate Its history by looking up the register on payment of a fee of one shilling. A great deal of fraudulent dealing was going on in respect of second-hand cars, and the amendment had been inserted io protect the public.