ROAD SAFETY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23037, 14 May 1938, Page 12

ROAD SAFETY

"COURTESY POLICE" f - ; , J EXPERIMENT IN LONDON ; ; • / TEACHING NEW STANDARDS! [from our own correspondent] LONDON", April 21 London's "courtesy police" patrolled their beats for the first time last week. The new force is to comprise 800 men, with about 300 cars and motor-cycles. They have been trained at the Police Driving School at Hendon to a sjjstem devised by the Earl of Cottenham. Their task is to encourage verbally, and by example, new standards of courtesy and care on the roads. The scheme in London and the country will be tried for a year before it is decided whether to make the force permanent and increase its numbers. Special attention is to be paid to the "road hog," the "jay-walker" and the "suicidal cyclist." Watchwords of'the police training school are: "Concentration and courtesy." Points which nip impressed upon the officers are: The use of the driving mirror; the use of the horn freely, by taps and not blasts, to indicate, their presence; and maintaining a proper distance behind any vehicle which is to be overtaken. •'Speed is to be only used in emergencv," runs a notice in the rooms of the training school. V Skill of the Patrolman The patrolmen started their London duty on the main eastern and western approach roads to the city. The roads are to be patrolled for 16 hours a day, and at the end of eight hours the duties,? and machines will be taken over by fresh men. After some weeks Scotland Yard will study the accident records of these particular roads compared with the figures for the corresponding weeks of last year. The skill of the patrolmen at the - wheel or in the saddle compares well with the best type of racing motorist. The old idea of training drivers by leotures and "instructional exercises," while still practised in the very early stages, has given way to the only way of training a driver—by motoring., In , a very short period these patrolmen / have covered a tremendous mileage on the roads. _ Every day convoys of cars, linked by wireless and with keen " sergeant-in-structors set out on fast cross-country journeys. A typical test is:—Hendon to Cambridge and back in an afternoon; Hendon-Bristol return _on another day; final test —to Wales and back. Methods used-with Motorists If the road-useij who is courteously reproved about faults by- these new police, says: "Mind your own business —I know what I am doing," or argues that he was not at fault, the patrolmen will not argue. Having pointed out errors, they move on. J3ut the really obstreperous driver willbe told: "Sorry you take it this way, sir—we are doing our duty. Our only reply is to report the facts to the Commissioner of Police, who may decide to take further proceedings." >; . The average motorist does not take kindly to advice. That is the fear of Sir Philip Game, Commissioner of Metropolitan Police. He says pedestrians accept advice; motorists do not. . In the last three years, says ; %ir Philip, the percentage of "accidentcausers" among motorists has 'grown; with pedestrians it has decreased. "This scheme will not succeed unless motorists co-operate," he has said.