THE TRAFFIC QUESTION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 20 February 1926, Page 14

THE TRAFFIC QUESTION.

Some time ago the Automobile Association sent delegates to various schools to lecture to the youngsters on the rule of the road and the points to be observed to ensure safety to the children themselves and to motorists. Judging by the action of children one meets, the lectures need to he repeated, for the children stray across and on both sides when meeting cars or being passed by them. The - same applies to bicycles when meeting or being passed by cars. When there are two or more it is often very marked the way the rule of each, getting behind the other is unobserved.

Many lorries still fail to show any ordinary manners on the road. More often than not. they have no mirror, and if they have either it is in such a position that they can make no use of it or they do not trouble to use it. There are, of course, some lorry drivers who are the soul of courtesy and most considerate and reasonable. One could wish that the offenders one meets would take the well-mannered drivers as a pattern and follow their lead. Cattle on the road are one of the greatest nuisances, and often one meets or overtakes a herd of cows straggling along the road unattended, going from one paddock to another. The value to the country of the herd is realised, but the owners should realise the danger of their action and endeavour to help keep the roads clear. Tins on the roadside were remarked upon last week, and have been noted hv motorists in other districts. Last night, going down to Ohawe, a motorfound two left right in the middle of the highway, a distinct danger to traffic.

A country blacksmith, commenting sadlv on the passing of his craft owing to the advance of the motor car, said That whereas he once employed eight blacksmiths at .full pressure, he now had occasion to employ only one striker to assist him in his work. _ It is indeed tragic, especially as nothing is said about what happened to those

eight smiths when the pressure was taken off them. But the surviving employer seems to have solved successfully a difficult industrial problem if lie lias induced a striker to help him. Most employers of labour find it impossible to make a striker do a thing until he ceases to be a striker. So the country smith ought to pass on the secret before the rubber-tvred juggernaut of modern progress ‘crushes nim and his helpful striker out of existence too. The early days of “propulsion by wheel” are recalled by the death of two men who were, each in his own sphere, “pioneers of the road.” One is the maker of the first all-steel bicycle, rubber tyred, and the other the first to drive a motor car on a highway. To them the present day owes a great tribute. They must have watched with very keen -interest the wonderful development in both spheres of activity. Truly, the work achieved might be called one of the wonders of the centuries.