RED REFLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 20034, 27 November 1928, Page 9

RED REFLECTORS

— M JACK'S 'EXPERIMENTS" CASE ADJOURNED The hearing of the case in which the motor regulation providing that rear red rollectors must bo carried on motor vehicles was attacked by Mr W. G., Hay, on behalf of the Otago Motor 'Club, was continued before Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday afternoon. Continuing Ids argument that the red reflector was unnecessary, Mi” Hay said that the regulations provided that the reflector must reflect a light at a distance of 150 ft, but it was also provided that the head lights of a car must show up a substantial object at 150 ft, so that the reflector would bo Again, the regulation was impossible of being strictly complied with, as it was provided that it must reflect a light or sufficient brilliance to ho visible at a distance of 300 ft. A light of one cnndlo power or a match would be visible at that distance, and yet they’ had to have a reflector to reflect that light, and not only straight back but over an arc of forty degrees. . The British regulations provided that a reflector could substituted on agricultural vehicles for a tail light) and the New South Wales Act provided that push bicycles must cany reflectors. When one considered that the regulation was going to affect 170,000 motor vehicles in New Zealand 't seemed impossible that New_ Zealand would adopt a regulation which othci countries had moro sense than m adopt. Ono could only suppose that there was something behind the scenes somewhere. It certainly gave officers of the department opportunity tor patronage. Another point Mr Hay made was that the Minister in charge of the, department had dispensing power to say’ that certain things provided in the regulations should or should not bo carried out. . Alfred Ernest Ansoll, president ot tho Otago Motor Club, said that it would not bo a common thing tor a tail light to go out. -He bad driven Ins own car 15.000 miles, and las tai light had gone out only once, It would bo a very rare thing for both the tail and the headlights to go out. ine club made a collection of samplesi ot reflectors that wore in use in Dunedin, and ho was present when experiments were made in Leith street on October 3. In his opinion the reflectors were ot no practical use whatever. _ Dr Jack, professor of physics at tho Otago University, _ gave details ot the experiments carried out m Leitli street. Six reflectors wore submitted, bin one was immediately’ ruled out as useless. Of ibo other live, ono could bo seen with ordinary lights at 210tt, and another with difficulty at loOft in a direct line, but not at an angle ns prescribed. Ho tested them with a candle light, and they ranged _ from five to fifty foot. In Ins opinion it would bo impossible to get a reflector which would reflect a one candle powci light at a. distance of 160 ft through an arc of forty degrees on cither side effectively’. Using his own car, tho lights of which conformed, to the regulations, tho various reflectors were tested, and. the best of them was visible at about 30011 in a direct line, an I the extreme an; would be about thirty-eight degrees, but tho effective arc would not lie moro than thirty degrees. These tests were reflectors that wore absolutely dean. D they were dusty’ they’ would be much less noticeable. ‘ An ordinary unlighted tail light was visible in the approaching lights of a car about 4()lt away. The case was adjourned lor a week, His Worship undertaking to hear any evidence in rebuttal ol the Motor Club case.