TRAFFIC OFFENCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27057, 16 April 1949, Page 8

TRAFFIC OFFENCES

ADMINISTRATION OF REGULATIONS “BASED ON EDUCATION” MINISTER DEFENDS SYSTEM PA AUCKLAND, Apl. 14. An additional 100,000 motorists would be brought before the courts each year if every motorist who committed a breach of the traffic laws, however, trivial, was prosecuted, said the Minister of Transport, Mr Hackett. in a statement issued yesterday. He said such action was not his personal idea' of British justice nor was it the policy of the Government. . The Minister was replying to criticism of the administration of the transport regulations made by Mr W Carol Harley, S.M., recently in which the magistrate said the Commissioner of Transport was one of the few people in New Zealand who could say when the law was to be broken or observed. The magistrate considered it quite wrong to admit any system where it was in the hands of individuals outside the court to say if. an offender should be punished. It was for the court to decide whether or not a penalty should be imposed if a breach had been committed. “Nothing aroused more resentment and bitterness in the average Britisher than ,to be brought before courts for offences that they and even courts themselves regard as trivial and ‘pinpricking,’ ” continued Mr Hackett. “ When a traffic inspector of the Transport Department sees a motorist, committing a breach of traffic laws he stops the motorist, and if it is only a minor breach, he explains the law and offers advice.” Mr Hackett said that when an offence was sufficiently serious the inspector issued a traffic offence, notice which set out the offence and invited the motorist to submit an explanation in writing to the Commissioner of Transport In Wellington. Explanations were carefully considered by experienced senior officers. On the merits of the nature of the offence, the explanation offered, and the motorist’s previous recor'd, the officers then decided whether a prosecution was warranted or a written warnihg. During 1948 a total of 10,217 offences were reported, 5303 prosecutions were taken, and 4914 written warnings were given. For every offence; reported there were about 10 cases dealt with by verbal warning. “ The department’s procedure has been working now for 12 years, and has produced reasonably good results,” Mr Hackett added. “The procedure is based on education rather than wholesale prosecutions, and is supported by the motorists generally.” The Minister said that it was not denied that a few motorists who were reported for the first time for offences of a not very serious nature might , put in a good story and get the benefit of a warning, but motorists who committed serious breaches or persistently offended were brought before a magistrate. Mr Hackett added that he did not claim that the system was perfect, but it had been evolved from experience, and as Minister in charge. he was always ready to consider improvements. He did not consider it an improvement, however, to prosecute in ail cases, however trivial.