ROAD DANGERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22916, 20 December 1937, Page 14

ROAD DANGERS

CHBISTMAS TEAFFIC WARNING BY MINISTER MORE CARS ON THE ROAD MAP SHOWING TOLL OF DEATH The need for extreme care by holiday motorists over the Christmas and New Year period is stressed by the Minister of Transport, the Hon. I?. Semple, in drawing attention to the accident map of the North Island recently prepared by the Transport Department. Twenty-eight people were seriously injured between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day last year, and at least 14 other casualties were reported in the newspapers; the Minister .<t.ates. "With very many more cars registered this year and with every indication of an unprecedented traffic rush in Christmas week, Mr. Semple points out the probability of accidents is much greater than at the end of lO.'iO. The map reveals that the rural stretches of road where accidents arc , most frequent are between Hamilton , and Auckland, Wellington and Waikanae, Palmerston North and Wanganui, Dannevirke and Takapau, Hawera and New Plymouth, and Napier ' and Hastings. These are not the badly- ' surfaced narrow, tortuous roads, but | the flat, straight, inviting stretches of well-formed highway, i "Work of the Speed Hog" " These stretches of highway havo been built to afford the motorist the ( maximum safety and the minimum rnn- . ning cost," Mr. Semple continues. • "They should be safety zones, but can be turned into danger zones by the i speed hog. Three of the fatalities dyrj ing the 1936 Christmas week-end were . caused by motor-vehicles getting out of t control and capsizing or crashing over i banks on main highways, and there 5 were 25 other casualties, many of them serious, from this cause between } last Christmas and New Year." b Although there will be an all-night 5 patrol by traffic inspectors on Christl mas Eve* these stretches of main highway will be carrying very much greater j traffic than normally and the greatest b care will be necessary. Avoidance of Haste " The moral is for Christmas motor--5 ists to realise that main highways are > carrying the heaviest traffic of the J on Christmas Eve," the Minister con--1 eludes. " They should start early, reI frain from haste, stop when they feel fatigued and above all, be careful and f courteous to other road users." During , the period between Christmas Eve and 1 Boxing Day, 24 traffic deaths had • occurred since 1930. Figures show that • Christmas Eve is easily the jnost dan- - gcrous period. . Auckland motorists will be interested > to note that the number of accidents 1 on the Great South Road between ; Auckland and Hamilton exceeds by a very large figure the number on any other section of main highway in th<* ' North Island.