ROAD SAFETY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 122, 26 May 1938, Page 11

ROAD SAFETY

WORK OF COUNCIL

GREAT IMPROVEMENT SHOWN

MINISTER'S REVIEW

Reviewing the'progress made on , the roads of New Zealand when pre- ] * siding over a meeting of the Road , Safety Council today the Minister of ( •' Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) quoted < -figures to show that while motor , transport In the Dominion had in- j ■ -creased by approximately 30 per cent. j during the last nineteen months, the . .accident rate had not increased. This represented a great increase in road - safety, he said, and in addition a marked improvement in road courtesy could be observed throughout the ] country. New Zealand was the secondhighest motorised country in the world, it had the lowest death rate ' on the roads, and it was probably the only country that had shown a reduction in accidents. , -, The Road Safety Council and the - 'Transport Department had received a good deal of support and congratulation from the people of the Do- • miiiion/Mr/ Semple said, but as there had been some unfair and unjustifiable criticism he proposed to give • a Nummary of the activities of the Council *nd Department. i A uniform speed limit had been . ' imposed for buildup areas, uniform bylaws had been secured, increased pen- '"''' altiies had been imposed on the hit-and-run although there had been seven cases of hit-and-run accidents in the fortnight before the penalty was increased there had not been one since. - -.•-•■ Mr. G. L. Laurenson (deputy chairman): There have been some cases . . . but' very few convictions. "The Minister: I don't know of a *' iihgle conviction, so it Is clear that the increased penalty has had a, good j*-.. effect.,.'. ■ . • Transport regulations had been enforced,.,the Minister continued, acci- ; f~.dent statistics were kept so that -danger spots could be located, traffic, control had been unified, all motor vehicles were now subject to periodical inspections, and offenders were punished. During the past year, 'there had been a total of 3849 convictions and fines totalling £6664 had been imposed. ■?, ,; v jBOADS IMPROVED. ' Apart from the council and the Department, said the Minister, the Public Works Department had done a great ideal -towards road safety. That Department had spent £2,000,000 oil main highway*, 310 miles had been paved, harrow sections were being widened, ■■'"■ 1Q,900 lineal'feet of bridging had been and over 1000 miles of -'• -oatbaclCToadshadbeenmetalled. Some ■ farmers had been without safe access - ' idr fatty years or more and he aimed v : to metal 6000 miles of roads in five ■:■:-:. years. At the rate the; work was being <> ,: - done ;it would, be completed in four • years and all country roads would be • -made safer.- In addition to the expen- : diture quoted, £1,128,000 had been spent on country roads, and £260,000 -'- had gone towards eliminating dangerous crossings. Of the 250 crossings >■■-• to be eliminated 50 had been completed '... and.s3 were under way. v ; , '" The baafe of any mad-safety cam- ■'''•■"'•' '*ffaim*%vn^™**^******* *"• Mnfater said. It was not right to chasrrfw tlae driven for Taecidwatf-''catßea by *■■'» "'Wiraada' tVery'-'eawttiT hi the world was faced •with the problem W roads '**■ teat were tßssnltable foe modem trans- ■■'■"~- W* and th«s«i iwdf had to be made mte. It had been said that his Department was making the roada into Seedwaya, but that waa ridiculous. Transport had changed and the roads W to be changed accordingly. 'At Jtoter there were 30,000 more carp \". en the road than at the previous Easter and Cdespite adverse criticism from . oneor two newspapers) only five per- " sons had .heen kMed/ compared with ~ Eleven deaths a. year, earlier. Road aafety was merely a.question of educa- ,''... tlon and control, and good roads gave a better chance of control and better facilities *or educating drivers than bad ' ; roads. In the nineteen months before the road-safety campaign was started jhere had been 345 deaths on the roads " arid in the nineteen months since the campaign started 346 had been, lulled; and during that period the consumption of petrol had increased by 30 per '* cent; That showed there had been a 30 ner cent, increase in ( milage, with ■•'"'•; only 'one additi6nal death. On the law of averages, if the previous rate v of accidents had been continued, over ' 100 more deaths would have occurred. FAVOURABLE COMPARISONS. ' The results of the campaign could best be seen by comparison with other ' countries, Mr. Semple added. In -" Britain' during the quarter ended March 31, 1937, there was an increase of 2909 deaths over the corresponding quarter in 1936, and in New South Wales there had been an increase of 11,460 road accident* during the year ""'" increase of 16.8 per cent. In tiie accidents and an increase of 3.4 'per cehti in deaths. It might be said there were more cars in New South Wales than in New Zealand, but there were only 272,000, against 241,000 in New Zealand. Overseas figures showed that New Zealand was the only country in the world that had in- ■'.. creased its road traffic,by 30 per cent. while the number of deaths had not increased That was due entirely to the. activities of the council and the Transport Department. SMALL EXPENDITURE. "'■'■' One newspaper had alleged that thousands of pounds were being spent on educational Work, Mr. Semple said. In England the expenditure of £100,000 a year,on the education of motorists had been suggested; in New Zealand £727 19s 6d had been spent in the last 19 months. "I don't suppose any* country in the world has spent less than we have," he said. "We haven't been asleep. We may hoi have accomplished all that was possible, but we are doing all that we can to take care of the people who use the roads. We -are the second highest motorised country in the world, and we are the only country in the world that can show . .that the death-rate does not rise with V increased motor traffic. If we have ■ stopped an increase we have done 'something worth while. If we had done nothing, rafferty rules would still have existed;" • ■ MINISTER CONGRATULATED. j Miss M. Magill (women's representative and' New Zealand Educational Institute) said she considered the Minister and the Department were to be congratulated on the way the problem had. been tackled. That there were definite results was proved by statistics, and if there was any. activity of the Government that had been approached in a far-sighted way it was the transport problem. If there was criticism the council should ask if that criticism was constructive or for some other purposes; if for some other purpose, such criticism was to be deprecated. The problem of modern • transport had come upon the world - io' quickly that there was no (uthoriiy to guide those who were trying to meet it Consequently the trial

and error method had to be adopted and unless criticism was .meant to be helpful it was ill advised. Mr. J. F. Cousins (New Zealand Garage Proprietors' Association) said that anyone in touch with the position on the roads should know that all that was possible was being done. A long view had to be taken, and when the statistical figures for the world were published, and they should be available in a few weeks, he believed New Zealand would show the greatest im ; provement. New Zealand had the lowest fatality fate in the world; it was at least nine times less than -the highest, Italy. He thought it was possible that New Zealand had blamed the drivers too much instead of encouraging them. There was material in New Zealand to make the finest drivers in the world, and if the work being done was continued New Zealand, would be.corne' the admiration of the world. There had been a decided improvement during the last two years.

Mr. M. F. Luckie (local bodies) said that an important result of the campaign was an awakening of the public conscience, and that was largely responsible for the improved'conduct on the road.' As that conduct improved, road accidents" should decrease.

Dr. J. W. Mcllraith (Chief Inspector of Primary Schools) said he travelled a good deal, and everywhere he found a great improvement in road courtesy. There was also an improvement in the attitude of pedestrians towards motorists.

The Minister said he had received messages of appreciation from all over New Zealand and practically all of the newspapers had congratulated the council on its work. A few of the papers had made it a political issue, said the Minister, and he expressed strong disapproval of such action. The council decided to postpone action on the proposal to impose a special speed limit on motor-cycles and [prohibit pillion riding.