WATCH YOUR STEP.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 November 1924, Page 8

WATCH YOUR STEP.

PEDESTRIAN AND MOTORIST. TOO MANY ACCIDENTS. . MORE CAUTION NEEDED. ! (Auckland Star.) f In America, where one in every seven persons owns a motor-car the highest percentage in the world—the pub/ic evince little interest in traffic accidents, short of a fatality. So ’tis said, by one who has been caught in the vortex of its traffic. New Zealand ranks about third in its ownership of ears/in proportion to its population, and j udging by the frequency with which they get damaged ‘public and cars), there appears a likelihood of that same attitude of complacency drifting across the Pacific. The number of a ccidents that is recorded in the publio Press, consistent as it is. is by no means a true indication of the- shortcomings of the Auckland motorist and pedestrian. Look around the repair shops and witness the number of twisted and torn mudgards, broken head and tail lamps, which are evidence of light collision, and the damaged radiators, axles and bodies which reveal the more serious accidents, that occur all too frequently. Or, a ! s an alternative, inquire from the insurance companies how many claims arise from motor accidents. .One: company, which brobably does the largest amount of motor insurance business in Auckland, had lio less than 36 proved claims in two months recently, and in each the damage was over the minimum £o. The desire to own or drive a car, has developed since the war, when falling prices brought ownership within reasonable reach, and this influx of thousands of. cars on the Dominion’s highways in a few years has hardly yet brought either pedestrians or drivers of wheeled traffic to realise that this is an age of a new order. A greater care and responsibility is thrown on both. Tt is idle for the pedestrian to say that the motor, or for that matter, any other conveyance, will look out for him. while it is equally futile and even criminal for the motorist to believe that the highway was made for him alone A better understanding is wanted between the pubi c and the motorist, but even more important still is «it necessary that those who drive should protect •me another. "It is not what . I do, Hut what the other fellow does,” is a generally accepted contention, but fortunately, when there is trouHle, each party wants to be the other fellow.

A uniform set of traffic regulations and strict enforcement of them will restrict the vagaries of many of the novices who are driving to-day. There are dozens of indifferent, and erratic drivers about Auckland, and dozens of them have practically no mechanical knowledge of their‘charge. , All who drive will make an error'of judgment at some time or other, and then it is just good or ill-luck what happens. While it is impossible for those who test an applicant’s ability to drive to take into account psychological shortcomings, more exacting tests by the traffic department might disclose some of them. How few motorists, for instance, can drive a car backwards, as they can forwards. Stroll around the parking zones, if you doubt it. And yet the art of backing has no place in the examination of applicants for drivers’ licenses.

Tbe remedy for most of the street accidents of to-day is in the hands of the pedestram on th e . one part and the motorist himself on the other. So long as the pedestrian is prepared to step m to the street without' first studying the approaching traffic so long will there be casualties. The greater danger to the motorist is that created bv the pedestrian who steps heedlessly into his path. Even a motor stopping m a few feet will do very serious injury Motorists must help one another by definitely signalling their intentions, and these signals must be observed. Another good axiom is alwavs to drive on the right side of the road. There is one type of motorist, the speed hog,” who will heed no advice and perhaps the best deterrent to this maniac would be to empower the police to act upon information gnen by fellow motorists in regard to eases n f speeding and negligent Avckregistered motor strength of over i4.<KK) ears ns rnpidlv beam- increased, and +bn protection of life and pron-tv is hkelv to become a. vi+al problem unless early taken in hand.