MOTORING LAW

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 64, 12 September 1924, Page 6

MOTORING LAW

As the Motor Vehicles Bill is to be considered by a Select Committee and may be altered in many particulars, final judgment upon its provisions must be suspended. The House of Representatives yesterday gave the measure a most favourable reception, and its passage in some form appears certain. For this we may be thankful, for the public has waited long enough for the additional protection which the measure will assure. The safety clauses' of the Bill were generally approved,, except that many members inclined to the view that fifteen was too low an age for a motor-driver. It must be remembered that no youth of fifteen can obtain a license without submitting to an examination; but even so the age does appear h>w. While it would probably involve no danger in the country, there can be no distinction between town and country driving licenses. Youth is often inclined to speed and : recklessness, but youth does not monopolise these faults, and there is no provision in the Bill more commendable than that whicli authorises the endorsement and cancellation of a license. There is authority for the issue of licenses to persons who are proved c-nnpetent, and surely there should be power to withdraw the license from a person whose driving menaces the lives of other road-users.