RECORD NUMBER OF MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS IN N.Z.

Grey River Argus, 8 May 1948, Page 7

RECORD NUMBER OF MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS IN N.Z.

P.A. . WELLINGTON, May 7. There was a record number, namely of 359,457 of motor vehicles licensed in New Zealand on March 31, 1948. This number eclipsed by 15,216 the previous highest figure, which was in December last, of 344,241. Announcing this, the PostmasterGeneral (Hon. F. L. -Hackett), said that in the three months from January to March, 1948, the Post Office Registry issued 15,216 additional motor vehicle licences, and that in the year since March, 1947, they had increased by 29,882 motor izehicle registrations. Of the fifteen thousand registrations in these three months, 6.423 wej’e cars, 6,949 .were commercial vehicles and 1,844 were motor cycles. New Zealand totals in these classes are now 216,459 cars: 124,012 commercial vehicles and 18,995 motor cycles. The total number of motor vehicles in this country has been steadily increasing in recent years, said Mr. Hackett, and there were to-day over a hundred thousand more motor vehicles licensed than eleven years ago. The number at March 31, 1947 was 254,017 . N.Z. Headlights Faulty In Every Third’Meter P.A. WELLINGTON. May 7. The motor-vehicle headlights of one-third of the motor-vehicles tested by the traffic inspectors have had faulty headlights. This information was released todas by the Minister of Transport, Hr Hackett, when commenting on the first returns from the Transport Department’s headlight drive. He stated that the officers had tested more than 1500 vehicles throughout the country since the drive commenced on April 19. Out of 1574 vehicles checked, more than 500 had faulty lights, he said. In 242 cases the defects were so bad as to warrant the issue of traffic offence notices. The main faults disclosed were fautlv focus, incorrect adjustment, and insufficient lights as required by law. The regulations had been made to permit the vehicles to have the brightest possible headlights without interfering with others, on the road. “The number of vehicles operating with faulty lights is shockingly high,” said Mr Hackett. “With the approacn of the winter months, when the after work traffic peaks occur during the hours of darkness, it is essential that the motorists should have their headlights correctly focused and adjusted. Past experience has shown that deaths and injuries invariably, increase during the early winter months. As a motorist myself, I certainly object to glaring headlights dazzling me on the road at night, and I am sure that no one else likes them either. In spite of this, there are many motorists driving vehicles with dazzling headlights .causing severe inconvenience to other road users..! would urge all drivers to have their headlights checked immediately.”