ROAD SAFETY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23592, 31 August 1938, Page 6

ROAD SAFETY

NEW ZEALAND'S RECORD LOWEST FATALITY RATE IN WORLD FURTHER MEASURES PLANNED (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, Aug. 30 "We have kept 90 people out of their coffins and we are to-day the second highest motorised country in the world and the country with the lowest motor fatality record," said the Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple), addressing the Road Safety Council at the quarterly meeting to-day. He said he had received congratulations from overseas on New Zealand's record of the lowest death rate in the world. " We set out to do the job." he declared, " and I think we have done it well, but we have not done as much as we could do in the future." The Minister said that to-day there was a complete record of everything that took place on the roads and when an accident occurred advice was received by telegram. The Police and the Public Works Departments were quickly on the job arid the. cause of an accident was soon known, and, if the necessary steps were taken to prevent a recurrence, the traffic enforcement organisation had been strengthened. He regretted that the Bill that had been drafted would not go through Parliament this session, but no doubt it would go on to the Statute Book whatever Government was in power. The measure when passed would give the Transport Department greater control in the cities and towns. The department did not possess all the power it needed and it would have to secure it. Inspection of Vehicles The inspection of vehicles generally was working well, the Minister said. There had been some difficulty in getting the right type of garages. Christchurch had establishd a testing station of its own and he understood that Wellington proposed to follow suit. In one or two cases there had been trouble with garages, but, generally speaking, they had been very good. The mechanical method of testing a motor car was ahead of anything he had seen Auckland had proposed to establisn a testing station, but the personnel of the council had been changed and this decision had been reversed. The Minister went on to refer to the proposal to construct "ribb?n roads" as a necessary precaution, and he gave as an illustration the new settlement near Plimmerton. Land had recently been cut up there, and houses were being built on either side of what would be the main highway. It was proposed to construct between the railway line and the main highway a "ribbon road" which tradespeople would use, thereby keeping the main highway clear for traffic. It was desirable to keep the main highways in the, populated areas as free of the human element as possible. The same problem applied to stock, and the question of stock roads all over the. Dominion was now being considered. As far as "ribbon roads" were concerned, Mr Semple said, the responsibility for their construction should be included with the responsibility of the cutting up of an estate, and, if there was not power for that to be done, then the law would have to be altered. More Inspectors Needed Mr Semple pointed .out that there were at present outside the cities 53 traffic inspectors on the highways, but there would have to be more. Care had been used in the selection of inspectors, who had been told that they were regarded as the lifesavers of the road. They had also been told that unless there was a flagrant breach of the law they were not to take people to court. Last year they could have prosecuted 40,000, but they only warned them and advised them where they had been wrong. The inspectors had earned the respect of the motoring community, and had been commended by magistrates for the manner in which they had conducted themselves. Speaking in regard to road making, Mr Semple said it had to be remembered that they would be making roads that would have to last 50 or 100 years. Tribute to Minister Mr F. C. Spratt moved a motion of appreciation of what Mr Semple had done. There were no politics around the table, he said. If the country could afford cars it could afford roads. Mr Spratt. moved that the council should record its high appreciation of the vision the Minister had shown and the capacity he had displayed. The motion was carried and Mr Semple, replying, paid a tribute to the work of his staff, particularly mentioning the Commissioner of Transport, Mr Laurenson, and Mr T. Wood. Engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department.