HOLIDAY TRAFFIC

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 18, 19 December 1936, Page 10

HOLIDAY TRAFFIC

SAFETY ON THE ROADS. NEED FOR CARE. Tlie Minister of Transport (Hon. R. Semple) sends the following message to road users: —- “Already there are definite indications that the Christmas and New Year period will be one of greater rail and road travel than ever before. On the streets and roads there will be thousands of additional motor-vehicles, and probably a greater number of cyclists and pedestrians. The risk of accident will be increased, and the need for the utmost care is imperative. “I want to offer one suggestion to help towards making everyone’s holiday a safe and happy one. Let everyone—motorist, cyclist, or pedestrian — resolve daily to observe the rules of the road, to anticipate the dangers, and to remember tho rights of other users of the road.

“Can we not make it a self-imposed and a pleasant duty to exercise constant care on the road ? It is my earnest hope, as I am sure it is of everyone, that the New Tear will not be ushered in by a single tragic accident and that throughout the holidays our roads will be safe for man, women and child.”

CARE AT WEEK-END

CHIEF JUSTICE’S OBSERVATIONS

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON. Dec. 18

Emphasis on the road for drivers of motor vehicles to exercise particular care at the week-ends was laid by the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) in the Supreme Court at Wellington today, when delivering oral judgment in a case in which a motorist appealed from the decision of a Magistrate suspending his license. “It is in the highest degree important,” said His Honour, “that particular care should be taken by those who drive motor vehicles at the weekend, because it is well known that at week-ends there is a considerable amount of traffic, much more than usual, and one may expect to find cars out on those days which are not seen on the road on ordinary week days. “Now, in these conditions, according to the inspector, appellant was driving his car in the middle of the road at a speed of about 50 miles an hour. According to the inspector, whose evidence I accept, for a distance of about 100 yards ahead there was no possibility of appellant obtaining a place in the traffic, which was moving southward to Wellington. A person who drives in such a manner is travelling to the very serious danger of the public. He is looking for trouble, and it is in that way a great many accidents happen which are the subject matter of litigation before the Court here and elsewhere in New Zealand and before Courts of inferior jurisdiction. “It is necessary that the tribunals should do all they can to ensure reasonable safety to that section of the public that uses the roads and to the public generally. Of course, every case has to be considered on its merits and in the light of its own facts. I do not for a moment suggest that any rigid rule should be laid down that every person who commits a breach of the motor regulations should have his license suspended, or that he should be punished in any particular way, but I do say that, in a case of the kind which is now before me, it is necessary to exercise the power which the Court has of suspending the license of the offender. That is what the Alagistrate did, and I think he was right in doing so. The appeal is dismissed.