WHEN LONDON FELL SILENT

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 27 October 1934, Page 11

WHEN LONDON FELL SILENT

Ministry of Transport’s "silence, order’’ making it illegal to sound a j iuotor-horn within live miles of Charing Cross came into force at 11.30 last night says the "Manchester Guardian” of August 2S. Actually the silence was observed by, the majority of motorists in some dis-i tricts long before that time.. It was obvious from a tour of the South Lan- | don area that drivers were rehearsing* j and experimenting. J A reporter who drove a car between, i 9.30 and 11 from Blackfriars to Balham via the Elephant and Stockwell returning by the busy Brixton Road did not once hear a motor-horn sounded. Taxi-drivers, busmen, vanmeh and private car owners alike drove silently as far as "hooting” was concerned. Even at the pedestrian crossings -there were no warning sounds, and overtak- | ing was by stealth. Most cars and taxi-cabs slowed to a snail's pace at the cornets and proceeded while the driver "iooked round the corner”'to see if the way was clear. As half-past eleven struck a young man in a sports car blew a last furious blast on a piercing electric- horn to mark the last moment of freedom. Another young man stopped his car , and busied himself with a screw-driver, 1

Quiet Nights Under New Regulations

. disconnecting the electric horn. "lam ! so absentminded, it is the only way I can obey the regulations,” Mr Hore-Belisha, the Minister of Transport, issued the following appeal: "I make a last-minute appeal for a . silent London to-night. All experience i tends to show that the experiment will be a great success. Motorists will have an opportunity of allowing people to * have a good night’s rest, and of giving patients in hospitals their first chance of an undisturbed night, thus facilitating their recovery. "Pedestrians will be doubly careful, using both eyes and mind when crossing a road. Never has a Minister had an opportunity of making a more popular order than this. My last words are: Noise disarmament to-niglit, please.” Three thousand police officers were on special look-out for first offenders. Mobile police and A.A. patrols mingled with the traffic, while some officers were in cars fitted with wireless. The police were acting mainly as official observers, and only outstanding cases of continuous or obviously unnecessary hooting were cautioned. Except in the cases of obviously deliberate hooting, it is thought probable that the police will be satisfied with giving a warning if the silence is broken.