SAFETY SONNETS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23281, 25 February 1939, Page 12 (Supplement)

SAFETY SONNETS

Studded Police American policemen who wear a newly-designed uniform cannot help but be visible to motorists driving at night. The uniform consists of a white coat which has sewn on the back, front and sides large discs studded with very efficient reflectors. "When the policeman is caught in the headlights he appears as a white figure twinkling with red spots. , Police Motorists Traffic police in Gernrode, a small town in the German'Harz area, are inclined to understand the feelings of motorists. This has come about because police officers engaged in directing the traffic have all been compelled to learn to drive. There is more harmony, it is said, on the roads in and around Gernrode since the new regulation was introduced. Helpful Detector A new X-ray machine has been devised in America for use in service stations. The outfit which costs about £3B in America, detects the presence of glass, flint, nails or other foreign substances that may be lodged in tyres, without having to remove the tyre from the wheel and without the necessity of taking X-ray pictures. Fractured cords in the casing of a cover are also revealed. Lives Saved

Thanks to the widespread safety campaign in America, aimed at more courtesy and care by drivers of'automobiles, fatalities in which motor vehicles were involved during 1938 showed a decline of approximately 20 per cent. This reduction in traffic fatalities means that 87S0 lives were saved in America in 1938, as compared with the preceding year. This result has been obtained by educational work by various safety agencies, the cumulative effect being a reduction in road fatalities by nearly one-fifth.