A HINT TO MOTORISTS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 137, 6 December 1935, Page 8

A HINT TO MOTORISTS

'There has been some quite extraordinary driving round Wellington during the last few months," declared Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., at the hearing of traffic cases in the court yesterday. "The Courts will have to tighten up. I am not a great believer in heavy fines, but putting a man off the road for a short time will be to the safety of the public." The public, we feel sure, will agree with the Magistrate.' There has been a great increase in the average speed of motors on the road and most people will have come across instances of what Mr. Mosley rightly calls "quite extraordinary driving." What this means beyond any shadow of doubt is enhanced danger to the public. Discussing the motor accident death rate of nearly a hundred a day in the United States last year, the New York "Nation"- says that the death rate is highest in the States where the average speeds are highest, and comments in these words:

During the last five years—when fatalities have steadily increased— moderate and low-priced cars have been increasingly capable of more speed. And it is plain that the faster you go the harder you hit, the more difficult it is to keep a car under control, and the more likely is some fault in the mechanism to produce fatal results. It is an "interesting support to this theory that in Rhode Island, where the death rate is lowest, a speed of forty-five miles an hour on the open road is rigidly enforced.

This argument is confirmed by experience in Britain, where it has been found necessary to introduce drastic regulations and restrictions in the interest of public safety on the road. These measures have certainly succeeded in reducing accidents in spite of an increase in the number of motorists. Similar opinions to the effect that speed is the main cause of road dangers have been expressed by leading authorities in New Zealand. Such being the case, it is only a matter of time before the public will demand stricter control. The National Road Safety Movement, inaugurated by the Wellington Automobile Association, will find ample scope for its activities among motorists themselves and the Magistrates may rest assured that all rightthinking motorists will approve the proposed punishment of offenders against the code of the road.