ROAD ACCIDENT RATE.

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 October 1939, Page 4

ROAD ACCIDENT RATE.

[TO the editor.] Sir, —I have read with considerable interest the report of the Greymouth Automobile Association’s endeavours regarding the insurance rate on motor-vehicles, appearing in yom paper on Wednesday. The Association have been looking for the cause ot the high accident rate on the West Coast, and here I wish to state some of the causes and their remedy. . In the first place, the issuing ot just an ordinary driver’s license to every driver owning a motor-vehicle is definitely wrong. These should be classified. The driver, who has just been declared competent, should be given a ticket which only allows a speed ot, at the most, 20 miles per hour, and if these drivers can show that they have driven for a period of 12 months and had no accident or any trouble of any kind, then the license can be issued for a further 10 miles per hour, taking into consideration always the road signs and other means of curtailing speed for schools, etc. Classification should also be made for drivers of low-power cars and those drivmr high-power cars. On no account should a first grade license be issued to a driver who has not the experience to control a high-power car. These licenses should only be granted to drivers who have proved themselves competent, and have had no accidents during a given number of years, say three. Following on in connection with the above, should any driver happen to have an accident which is attributable to his negligence, his speed 1 should he reduced 10 miles per hour, and should he have another accident at the slower speed, then lie should be reduced another 10 miles per hour, and if he should have three accidents through proven negligence, then he should lose his driver’s license altogether. With regard to control of speed, there should be an Act passed compelling every motor-vehicle on the road to be fitted with an efficient governor of the speed, which should be set in accordance with the license which the driver holds, this governor to be locked and made proof against being tampered with. ! . , Concerning insurance companies premiums and rates, one cannot blame the companies for endeavouring to protect themselves, but their rates should be classified. The careful driver or owner should not be penalised at the expense of the careless or indifferent. This would encourage the more careful handling of vehiclesLooking back over the years, we cannot shut our eyes to this plain fact. When engine speeds were about 800 revolutions per minute on the average, and we had just rtear brakes and very narrow roads, our accidents were negligible, and now, with high rev. engines, which means enormously increased power, four wheel brakes and roads surfaces greatly improved, we have all these accidents, deaths and expense, and the roads, in spite of the many inspectors, are at periods in the 24 hours not fit for sane people io drive on, owing to the gross negligence and mad speeds which many drivers consider is a fair thing. The writer has some 30 years of motoring experience, comprising general repair and care of motor-vehicles, also hundreds of thousands of miles of driving experience, and feels competent to write in connection with the Automobile Association’s query regarding high insurance rates. The remedy lies in governing the speeds and classifying the licenses in accordance with the experience and record of careful handling, and not in increasing the number of inspectors. This has been tried and has failed. If many owners and drivers can operate their vehicles without trouble or accident, surely by following strict rules we can reduce our accidents to a state 'where insurance companies will again be able to insure at moderate rates. — I am, etc., THOS. B. BATY, Motor Engineer. Guinness Street, Greymouth.