LIGHTING EQUIPMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 194, 18 July 1939, Page 8

LIGHTING EQUIPMENT.

ADVICE FOR, ALL VEHICLE USERS. “More than once attention lias been drawn by the Transport Department to the need for increased care by cyclists over lighting, and the injunction is worth recommendation to everyone -who has charge of a vehicle on the streets and highways,” says tho latest road safety message of the Manawatu Automobile Association. “There are three important duties which fall on every cyclist who rides his cycle abroad at night-time. Tho machine must have ail efficient lamp in front, it must display to the rear a white surface of at least 12 inches, and there must he ail efficient and approved reflector so fitted that it will serve as a protection by warning tlie following vehicle-user. Some cyclists go a safety step further by fitting a rearward-showing red light. That is not compulsory, of course, but it is being advocated in various parts of the Dominion, and one of .the reasons for its advocacy is the continued neglect of cyclists to affix efficient reflectors, and keep white the painted rear mudguard. “The lighting regulations will he observed as of course by those who value their own safety. The difficulty is to convince those who disregard the rules that they are imperilling their own safety as well as that of other road users. Last month’s figures are significant. Three-fifths of all tlxs fatalities occurred at night; all but one of the fatal accidents involving cyclists occurred at night. “The motorist and the driver of tlie horse-drawn vehicle who use tho thoroughfares at night must know how they are hound by the lighting laws. The tail-light of the horse-drawn vehicle is a most important necessity, though the front lamp is indispensable. Far too many motorists, also, are apt to forget all about the tail-light. “One important night-driving oversight concerns motoring with full head-lights in well-lighted thoroughfares. It is bad driving to continue to use full head-liglits in such thoiouglifares. Consult your regulations on the subject, because many drivers, through ignorance, are causing trouble for other drivers as well as breaking an important rule. “Every vehicle user should make sure that the lighting equipment is in perfect condition in the daytime and keep it in that condition against the possibility of delay and tlie necessity for arriving at one’s destination after nightfall.”