SAFETY FIRST!

Evening Star, Issue 22524, 17 December 1936, Page 17

SAFETY FIRST!

HEW TRAFFIC REGULATIONS PROTECTING DRIVERS AND PEDESTRIANS WARRANT OF FITNESS FOR VEHICLES [Peh United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, December 16. Road traffic regulations under the Motor Vehicles Act and its amendments were approved by the Executive Council to day. There are several new regulations relating to all classes of vehicles and to pedestrians. They are divided under five headings:—(l) General, (2) motor vehicles, (3) bicycles, (4) general vehicle traffic, (5) pedestrians. The regulations will become law next Monday. The section dealing with pedestrians sets out the rules to be observed in crossing roadways, waiting for trams, keeping to the footpath, and so on. Crossings must not only be made at right-angles, but the right-of-way must be yielded to motor vehicles on the roadway. A breach of these regulations renders an offender liable to a fine of £2. With reference to parking, the regulations contain an addition that no vehicle shall be parked on the off-side of any other stopped vehicle. Drivers may plead in defence, however, that they are loading or unloading a vehicle in the course of trade or owing to traffic signs. Headlights must be focussed so that under all conditions they must meet horizontal on the road surface at a distance of nob more than 200 ft ahead and the centre main beams must converge at the same distance. The icar red light must be visible at least 300 ft to the rear. Trailers are to be taken into consideration when reckoning the distance in which brakes are effective. After March 31, 1937, motor vehicles other than motor cycles must be equipped with windscreen wipers. No ornament or decoration that is likely to cause injury to a person with whom the vehicle collides may he carried. Provision is made for a warrant of fitness of a vehicle to be carried, the fee for which is ss. Among the exemptions from this clause are vehicles used to carry for hire. Vehicles and load must not rise to a height more than 14ft from the ground. Silencers on motor cycles must be effective and proof against interference with working. Regarding speed, it is specified that drivers must be able to stop within half the length of clear roadway visible in front. Drivers may plead in defence, however, that their vehicle was travelling behind another, up to which the roadway was clear, and that the defendant’s speed was such that he could stop short of the other vehicle in the event of a sudden stop by the latter. Breaches of these regulations carry a maximum penalty of £SO.

ENSURING ROAD SAFETY INTENSIVE CAMPAIGN PLANNED COPY OF NEW CODE IN EVERY HOME [Peb United Peess Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, December 16. The sending to every home in the Dominion of a copy of the new code of traffic regulations and the appending of a similar copy to every motor driver’s license issued next year are innovations proposed by the Minister of Transport (the Hon. R. Semple). “ A; code is being prepared, and I propose to Send it to every home in New Zealand early in the New Year,” Mr Semple said in a statement this evening. “In addition, I hope to be able, when the licenses are issued again next year, to attach, if it is possible, a copy of the regulations to every driver’s license. In this_ way each driver will have with his license a copy of the rules of the road. If he violates them he will have no excuse and it will be of no use to plead ignorance.” Amplifying the published form of the regulation requiring certificates of fitness for vehicles, Mr Semple said that this would apply to all vehicles specified, new or old. A new ear might be as lacking in “ roadworthiness ” as an older car. It had not been decided finally in what way effect would be given to this regulation. _ “ We have been discussing with the Garage Proprietors’ Association the question of making it the testing authority,” Mr Semple said. “ The testing has to be carried out by a responsible authority with n reputation in the community to ensure that the test is 100 per cent, effective. We are not going to accept tests from anyone at all.”

Mr Semple indicated that local authorities would not be called upon to test vehicles under the new regulation. “ Local councils have undertaken this work in the past,” he said, “ but we propose_ to make it national.” The Minister stated his intenton of starting an intensive campaign of education for road safety. “We are going to start a vigorous campaign of education through the schools, picture shows, and in every possible direction to make our highways and byways 100 per cent, safe for the people,” he said. “We are still maintaining a pretty high percentage of reduction in the number of accidents. The number has not been reduced as much as I could wish, but we have certainly saved a lot of lives in the last five months.”