DANGERS OF THE ROAD

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 134, 8 June 1935, Page 8

DANGERS OF THE ROAD

(To the Editor.) '

Sir, —It is evident from the constant references in your columns to the large number of motor accidents that at last the toll of the motor vehicle is being realised, but up to! the present nothing has been done t6 prevent a continuance of this orgy of killing and maiming.

I would ask any of your readers, and particularly those responsible for the observance of traffic regulations, to spend a few minutes on Wellington Terrace any where south' of Woodward Street, preferably about 5 o'clock in the evening. He will not ;be left to wonder long why there are so many accidents. One is forced to the conclusion that many of the dHvers are simply speed:crazy; in other words, speed maniacs. j At a recent meetine of the Automo-

g bile Club one member commenting upon the serious state of affairs xrttered a warning that "a speed limit is coming." I don't doubt it, but how many more hundreds must be /killed or gravely injured before a Speed limit comes? Actually I was under the impression that speed limits did exist and that there were plenty of regulations governing the use of- motor vehicles. The trouble seems to lie in the nonenforcement of the- regulations, and on occasions when some speed fiend has been hailed before the Court he has been punished about as severely as another offender guilty :of parking too long or in some prohibited area.

There is only one satisfactory way of dealing with the reckless driver, and that is to cancel for all time his licence to drive. And I venture to say that if the problem were attacked seriously the present appalling state of affairs could be ended very quickly. How could it be done? Quite simply. Speed limits should, be set", say twenty miles per hour, in defined congested areas, twenty-five miles per hour in all other built-up areas with a maximum of forty miles per hour elsewhere. OS. course traffic inspectors would be

needed in plenty, but we already have a large number employed so that the extra cost would not be very great. But in any case it would be saved over and over again in hospital costs and in many other ways. It will be argued that some drivers will refuse to observe any speed limits set. Very well, provision must be made1 for the cancellation of a driver's licence for, say, twelve months for a first offence or even three months' suspension would be effective. For a really serious offence impose a substantial money penalty as well. If tackled in this way the dangers of the road would almost entirely disappear inside three months. So long as insurance companies bear the burden as they do today so long will the criminally-negli-gent motorist go on his way killing and maiming his fellow men.

In conclusion I should like to say that I have had opportunities of examining hundreds of motor , vehicle accident claims and I do not hesitate to say that at least 90 per cent, of the accidents arose through negligence principally in the shape of speeding.

If an epidemic of some kind broke out and killed or crippled several hundreds of people, every year, there would be a tremendous outcry demanding that the problem should be tackled. Why then accept with such mild protest the existing menace of" the motor vehicle?—l am, etc.,

A MOTORIST.