SAFETY ON HIGHWAYS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 230, 27 August 1935, Page 6

SAFETY ON HIGHWAYS.

Tim national road safety campaign,' endorsed by the North island Motor Union, should receive the most earnest support of all sections of the community, and chiefly those who freely use the highways. East motor traffic has brought in its train a loss of life annually that has given rise to the gravest concern of governing authorities. Everyone should be familiar with the campaign in England to educate pedestrians and motor-vehicle drivers to a fuller sense of the peril on roads which is occasioned by neglect of common-sense precautions. Within a few hours of the commencement of the recent, bank holiday, many people who set out blithely were tne victims of fatal motor accidents; others have been possibly maimed for years if not for life. No season of pleasure in England passes without adding heavily to the daily toll of accidents. And New Zealand also for its population has not an enviable record. In placing the scheme before the Motor Union’s conference, its promoter pointed out that last year’s toll of the road was 7UUU casualties and 182 deaths, and he urged that the avoidance of this economic loss by the education of the people on correct safetyfirst principles was a sufficient reason for the introduction of his plan. Briefly, the campaign will extend over several years and will be financed by contributions from motoring interests, insurance, and other organisations specially concerned, with the anticipation of assistance from the Government. It is considered that by spreading the education over a period of years a new generation will grow up with the principles of the campaign firmly established in its mind, thus paving the way towards a complete realisation of road dangers and the paramount need to avoid them. The fact that contributions totalling nearly <£6ooo were immediately promised is a happy augury for the inauguration of a successful campaign, the keynote of which is the education of the public whether pedestrians, cyclists, or motor drivers to the adoption of safety principles. In the general scheme yet to be worked out people generally must take the liveliest interest, for the problem is one that must be attacked, and education rather than drastic regulations should result in the greatest good.