ACCIDENTS DUE TO NOISE

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1934, Page 12

ACCIDENTS DUE TO NOISE

NURSING HOME OFFENDERS LONDON, July 15. The view that the use of the motor hom should be abolished to reduce road accidents was expressed by Dr. D McKenzie at the conference of the Anti-Noise League at Oxford yestei“It forces upon the driver the false belief that he can take risks, .and on the public the false belief that it prevents accidents,” he said. Ic caused more accidents than it prevented. he continued. The shock to the senses following the. nearing ot a sudden noise was the pedestrian’s contribution towards road accidents. Lord Horder spoke of the “noisy nurse.” The other day, he said, he saw a nurse draw down a blind at. a nursing home. “Zz-zz came the bliiid.” She had done it like that lor vears. There is a great deal to be done not only outside but inside nursing homes in regard to noise. Dr C. O. Hawthorne, chairman 01 the Council’ of the British Medical Association. said during his stay in Oxford he had been sleeping in a room on the High, and the nights had been made hideous by the sound of cars apparently driven by “jubiliant fiends.” “However,” he said, “we shall eventuallv return to the calm and peace of London, where, even when things are at their worst, you can really get a quiet night’s rest under the arches in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross station.” Dr. G. W. C. Kaye, of the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, said in ‘a block of flats a gramophone recital or the violent slamming of a door might excite murderous emotions in one tenant, while to his neighbour it might spell a wonderful sonata or the departure of an unwelcome guest. Clearly one man’s noise was another man’s music. The average sports car, and particularly the motor-cycle, were deplorably noisy. Given the necessary public encouragement, there was little doubt that manufacturers could effect remarkable improvements. Speaking on the law and noise, Mr. R. F. Roxburgh. K.C.(, said among the reasons which rendered legal remedies partially ineffective were the cost of proceedings, reluctance to prosecute, unwillingness to give evidence, unwillingness to convict, and the difficulty of catching offenders.