TOLL OF MOTORS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22619, 6 January 1937, Page 14

TOLL OF MOTORS

HOLIDAY FATALITIES CONCERN IN VIcfORIA DRASTIC ACTION URGED CABINET TO CONSIDER ISSUE j j [from orn own corbkspondentJ MELBOURNE, Dec. 31 Sixteen dead and more than 100 injured, many critically—that was the toll of the road in Victoria in the four clays of the long Christmas week-end. This alarming list, which is double the total of accidents in the comparable period last year, has directed attention to the need for remedial measures, and suggestions have been made that action should be taken on the stringent lines imposed in New Zealand in recent months. Immediate increase in the severity of penalties for traffic misdemeanours has been Suggested within the limits of the present law. It has also been urged that additional police should be appointed to the traffic branch to administer traffic regulations more rigidly. State Ministry's Powers The Premier, Mr. Dunstan, announced yesterday that the powers of the. State Ministry in controlling road traffic to minimise the danger of accidents would be examined by the Cabinet at its meeting on January 12. Personally, he believed that better policing of the roads and stringent prosecution for speeding and carelessness were the only practicable solutions. He favoured the imposition of a speed limit of 30 miles an hour through residential areas. At the same time, he thought that judgment mattered more than speed. Irresponsibility was one of the greatest factors in causing accidents. Drivers did not try to any judgment or to make themselves competent. The Week-end Driver ".Week-end" drivers, whose inexperience and incompetence have not allowed them to develop a sense of road courtesy, are responsible for a great number of the recent accidents, according to Chief Inspector Alexander Duncan, the Scotland Yard expert who js examining the Victorian police system. "I am rather surprised that there are not more accidents," he said. "At week-ends I have seen on Y ictorian roads drivers who seem to have no consideration for others on the liigh- . ways. They ladked road sense and courtesy when passing other cars, and seldom kept close to the left-hand side of the road. 1 regard it as just as important a part of police work to protect life and property oil roads as to protect them from criminals, but the assistance of the police will be useless unless thev are assisted by road users."

On the question of speed Mr. Duncan said tliat circumstances always determined what speed was safe. In some cases 20 miles an hour might be excessive, while in others 50 miles an hour might be safe. Lord Mayor's Appeal The Lord 'Mayor, Mr. A. G. "Wales, has appealed to the State Ministry to provide more police for traffic duty in the metropolitan area. He said that, although the new uniform traffic code had undoubtedly saved many lives, it could not be. enforced satisfactorily unless there were more police. Drastic action would have to be taken against drivers who committed breaches of the code. Most of the serious accidents in the Christmas holidays had occurred outside the area to which the code applied, but the number inside the area was sufficient to cause grave anxiety. : >"ln my opinion there is only one way to prevent careless driving," said Mr. Wales. "That is to suspend or cancel the licences of those who continue to commit traffic breaches."