THE LOITERING MOTORIST

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 243, 11 July 1938, Page 10

THE LOITERING MOTORIST

There is a good deal to be said for the proposal to restrict the blowing of motor horns in the cities. No doubt there are motorists who abuse the practice, and not only make themselves a nuisance to residents and workers in business houses near street corners and intersections, but lessen the value of the warning by its frequency. The motor horn should be largely an emergency device in the cities. In the country districts, however, where side roads run into main highways, it is quite another matter. There the motor horn is not used frequently enough. In- many cases trees and hedges obscure the vision and the careless driver is always liable to run into danger. One of the biggest nuisances on the road, however, is the loitering driver. Especially is this the case at week-ends. We hear a great deal about the-speedster, but the loiterer does not receive the attention from the traffic authorities he deserves. Examples of this type of driver were to be noted on Saturday last when traffic to and from the Trentham races was at times slowed down to a funeral pace by reason of slow-driving by an occasional motorist distributed through the long procession of vehicles. The same sort of thing can be seen any Sunday afternoon along the Hutt Road, where some drivers simply drift along, admiring the harbour views or sunning themselves. This sort of thing would not matter so much along the by-roads, but on the main highways and particularly where there are two lines of traffic, it becomes a nuisance and a danger. It is dangerous because it leads to "cutting-in” by motorists who desire to get to their destination in a reasonable time, and who are held up by the sightseeing fraternity. The traffic officers are not to blame. They do their best to keep the traffic moving along briskly at busy times, but they cannot be everywhere, and so far little attention has been given to the “loitering” driver in the educative work of the transport propagandists. It is worth while to sharpen up this aspect of traffic control.