IS IT SPEED OR WHAT IS IT ?

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 105, 30 October 1935, Page 10

IS IT SPEED OR WHAT IS IT ?

What,is the cause of the motor) accidents which take so heavy a toll of life and limb every year on the roads of the world? Is there one| prime cause and, if so, what is it? The question is important as well as interesting, because if investigation can reduce the number of apparent causes to one real one, the problem of greater road safety is correspondingly simplified. One might on such a question expect something like a consensus of opinion among motorists, who are in constant touch with the circumstances of road traf : fie. Unfortunately there appears to be no such agreement among motorists as represented at least by the Automobile Association, of Wellington. At the annual meeting last night, when the safety-first campaign, initiated by the chairman of the executive (Mr. E. A. Batt), was discussed, several separate causes were put forward by different speakers as responsible for the accidents. Sir Alexander Roberts emphasised the fault of "driving too slowly" as causing most of the dangers. Mr. Batt, on the other hand, declared that speed on the best highways was the cause of the greatest number of accidents. This he qualified later by

defining "speed" as "excessive speed under the circumstances." Another member stated that "culling corners, speeding at intersections, and disobedience of the right-hand rule are the three main causes of accidents." A fourth speaker strongly supported the attack on the slow driver as a "posi- ' tive menace." What could a Judge make of evidence of this kind? If he were a wise student of human nature, he would probably discern that at the back of the minds of most prudent motorists isa fairly clear idea of : where the dangers of the road lie. Tho slow driver is a danger when : he blocks the flow of traffic and \ forces those behind him, if they want ', to get ahead, to take risks in the face of oncoming vehicles. This is ' one of the risks of "excessive speed '. under the circumstances" and may ; be the cause of accident. But there ■ is an additional and very grave danger in speed, as denned by Mr. Batt,' and that is the difficulty of control ' in emergency. This must definitely : add to the. dangers of the road until ; drivers .-have become thoroughly ac- ■ eus touted to the qualities of their i cars. The other causes of trouble ; mentioned by motorists are real , enough, but in the long run everything comes down to the human ele- i ment in motoring. ' It remains a fact - that the experienced, careful, prudent . driver will seldom have an accident. ] Sir Malcolm Campbell, who has driven faster than any other human ] being on the earth, in all his long ! career with cars of all kinds and • speeds, has by his skill and caution ■ 'as a driver managed to avoid serious accident on the road and track. But, : it will be said, Sir Malcolm is a ' super-man:, what about the rest? That : is certainly the rub. There is no . royal road for motoring safety for : all. It will be a slow process of ] education of the human factor in the ' problem and it is on this that the , campaign organised by motorists for i greater road safety should be con- J centrated. !