RIMUTAKA SPEED LIMIT

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 39, 14 August 1926, Page 18

RIMUTAKA SPEED LIMIT

WAIRARAPA AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION'S VIEWS.

At the meeting of the Wairarapa Automobile Association, hold at Greytown, Mr. E. M'Bean Stewart brought up the question of speed limit over the Rimutaka Hill. He stated that, when tl^e Highways Board fixed the speed limit over the -Rimutaka Hill at 15 miles per hour, the association agreed that it was reasonable. Since theu the Manawatu Gorge road had been improved, and the speed limit there increased. There wero places on the Rimutaka Hill where a motorist could do 20 to 40 miles per hour, with out any danger. It was at these stretches that traps would bo laid, as through the Gorge. The people they were afraid of were those who travelled on the wrong side of the road. He stated that he had discussed the matter with a 'firm who wero using the Eimutaka \road daily, and they had not, in their two years' experience, met with an accident. He considered that tho speed limit for the hill was absurd. It waa not likely that motorists wore going to exceed 15 miles an hour round the corners, or evsn touch 15 miles. He considered that the association should protest against the limit of 15 miles, and that a letter be written to tho Highways Board, or better still, a representative invited to go over tho hill and try the speed out. Mr. Buck stated that the subject was a very wide one. If all motorists kept to their right side, 20 or 40 miles might be safe.

Mr. Stewart pointed out that he considered the limit was all right for corners, and that was what he understood it to be in the first place.

Mr. Jones supported Mr. Stewart. Tests had been made, and it was found that 25 miles was reasonable. It stood to reason that one eouid not take the corners at an excessive speed with safety. Mr. Bunny stated what he considered unreasonable was that lorries were allowed to travel at the same speed as cars, which meant that if a car caught up with a lorry it would have to follow behind.

It was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Stewart, seconded by the chairman, that the association emphatically protest against a speed limit of 15 miles per hour on the Eimutaka Hill, from the bottom on this side to the bottom on the other side. They considered that the limit of 15 miles per hour should be restricted to corners only, which they understood in the first place was to be the only restriction.