EFFECT ON DRIVING

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 47, Issue 2668, 10 September 1937, Page 6

EFFECT ON DRIVING

MORE CARE IS THE RULE DANGEROUS SPEED DEFINED. gINCE the new transport rules and the road-code handbooks were introduced, motorists have become more considerate to other road users. It is now more the rule than the exception to see a motorist negotiating crowded streets with care and good judgment. Out on the open road more speed is permitted than formerly, but it does not seem as if this speed used reasonably is at all dangerous. Most acci-

dents caused by speed are cases of drivers going fast at the wrong time.

The object of the transport regulations, to keep traffic moving at a more or less uniform speed, both in restricted areas and on the open road, is becoming realised by road-users. Under these conditions there is less opportunity to overtake, or to drive at excessive speed.

Traffic inspectors, too, take less drastic action than formerly in small offences. Instead of issuing summonses for petty breaches of traffic ■regulations, officers are concentrating more on motorists who drive dangerously. The meaning of dangerous driving still seems to be rather confused. It merely means driving at a greater speed than the circumstances safely permit. Cases are seen almost every day where a speed of 20 miles per hour would be dangerous, but the majority of road users, motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and horsemen all combine better to make the use of roads safer.