"OLD CROCKS" OR NEW SPEEDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 155, 29 December 1936, Page 6

"OLD CROCKS" OR NEW SPEEDS

In any endeavour to trace the causes of the large number of motor accidents reported since the holiday season began it seems misleading— without careful investigation—to place an undue share of the blame on the so-called "old crock," the second-hand car which has seen better days, but still battles along the road, especially at this time of the year. The "old crock" may be a nuisance, as it ambles along, to the much faster modern cars, but, in the main, only in so far as it provokes the impatient driver, fretting and fuming in the rear, to attempt an overtaking passage in the face of opposing traffic does it constitute a real danger to other road-users. This is always on the assumption that the "old crock" is "roadworthy," that its brakes, steering gear, headlights, and general mechanism are in reasonably good order. If there is anything wrong with these vital parts of the car, then, of course, there is danger, but even then more to the occupants of the "old crock" than to others on the road. This difficulty can be met by compulsory periodical inspection for which provision is made in the latest regulations. This should^ eliminate the "old crock" which is really unfit to take the road. Long experience has shown, however, that it is the human element in motoring that is chiefly responsible for accidents. This aspect was clearly set out in a letter on the general speed limit by "Keep Down the Speed" in yesterday's "Post." The human element is entrusted with a modern machine with an optimum or cruising speed of about fifty miles an hour, and there are not many roads in New Zealand where it is safe to cruise at that speed and not many drivers who are safe to travel so fast without danger to themselves and others. It is often a case of "an 80-mile car driven by a 20-mile driver on a 30-mile road," as the Americans put it. Only a searching inquiry into all motor accidents will, establish the true causes. Only then will it be possible to determine with reasonable accuracy the. steps that should be taken to secure a greater measure of road safety. ' \ ■