UNLIGHTED BICYCLES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19298, 10 April 1926, Page 10 (Supplement)

UNLIGHTED BICYCLES.

anxiety to motorists. RISKS ON AUCKLAND ROADS. With the shortening of tho period of daylight the hazards of unlighted vehicles on the. roads after dusk increase. The new flood-lights erected on the main thoroughfares do not improve matters. They are excellent from the pedestrians' point of view, but, unless the car is fitted with a windshield visor, the flood-lights cast a glare which is very aggravating to a car driver when topping a rise or descending a hill. The obscurity is worse on a wet night and pedestrians are too prono to assume that they can wander at large on these well-lighted roads. They err in thinking that they are easily discerniblo to drivers of vehicles. The gravest danger is caused by, unlighted bicyclos. It is common to see cycles without even a front light, and, in defiance of the by-law in force in the city, many cyclists still ride without a rear light. A few satisfy themselves by carrying a plain ruby glass reflector. If cyclists knew how difficult they are to pick out at night, they would be foolhardy to venture on the road after dark without a really efficient rear light. Riders who will not uso rear lights throw an unfair responsibility on motorists. They swerve and waver across the road at will, unconscious of tho risks they run. Action should bo taken at once before a serious accident occurs. Local authorities will be lacking in appreciation of the danger that exists, if they neglect to instruct their traffic officials to give dilatory cyclists as little quarter as is extended to the motorist whoso rear light fails. If anything, the cyclist should be fafrer game than the motorist, since he defies the by-law by carrying no rear lamp at all, whereas the motorist has no way of ascertaining the longevity of an electric bulb, and is merely unfortunate when it burns An extinguished motor-car tail light does not imperil the car, since the large body of the vehicle and the beam of the head-fights are conspicuous to any following vehicle. NEW NUMBER PLATES. CONSPICUOUS FIGURES. The new black-and-white number plates should meet with the approval of officials who are told off to set traps for speeding motorists. It is stated that not a few motorists owe their escapes from prosecution to the illegibility of the green-and-■v*hj,te plates.- Constables, equipped with powerful electric torches, who were detailed to pick out the numbers of cars speeding between tho Great South Road and the junction of Remuera Road with Broadway, had good cause to complain that they experienced an inevitable percentage of " misses." Of course, the black-and-white plates will only be in use for a year, and next April may., see the issue of lurid but less conspicuous numbers. The change of colour every year is a certain way of revealing defaulters at the expiry of tRe period of grace. Ordinary colour combinations have already been exhausted in American States and this year some authorities have been issuing striking tangerine-and-white and purple-and-white plates. The annual license fee in California is three dollars, or about one-third of the license in New Zealand. There is, however, a petrol tax in force in the United States.

There is a by-law in operation in Auckland which provides that number plates must be attached where they aro not obscured by any part of the car. Somo motorists do not seem to take the regulation seriously. Occasionally plates are fitted so that they are out of view when the rear luggage carrier is extended. Rear bumpers are sometimes attached so that they offer a very effective shield to the plate behind them. In the United States number plates must be a minimum of 16 in. from the ground. This is to reduce the possibility of mud obscuring the plate. Some low English care in use in Auckland can be seen carrying their plates with little more than seven or eight inches clearance. In fact, the plates could not be carried high on somo cars without covering the bottom of the radiator and thus reducing the C9oling surface.

HENDERSON DEVIATION. The Great North Road has been closed during reformation work and a deviation is now necessary. Tho best route is to tuj-n to the left at tho end of the concrete past New Lynn, cross tho railway line, and go straight through Glen Eden. After a mile or so, turn slightly right at the junction of the NihotupuOratia roads. At the next, corner leave the Oratia road and turn to the left downhill across a bridge. Following the metal take the next turn sharp to the right. The road then runs toward Henderson and after crossing the railway line enters the township. At the far end of the town tho Great North Road i 3 joined. Returning from north be careful to cross to the right over the railway line at the south end of Henderson. SPEED CHAMPIONSHIP. Tho Sports Motorcycle Club will hold a speed championship at Muriwai Beach on Sunday, April 25. During club runs there have been many discussions regarding the relative speeds of various motorcycles, and 'to make an interesting outing and also settle these disputes, the flub, "at a trencral meeting held last Tuesday, decided to hold a speed fixture. All races will start from scratch over a threemile straight course. As the times will be taken there will lie an accurate record of the speeds of which the various makes are capable. The classes will be 2$ h.p., 3J, h.p., and open.