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Otago Daily Times, Issue 27213, 17 October 1949, Page 4

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VEHICLE CHECKING PRELUDE TO CHRISTMAS Traffic officers of the Transport Department were unable to begin the Dominion-wide organised check on faulty motor vehicles in Dunedin on Saturday because of the amount of work entailed in controlling traffic to and from Forbury Park races. Consequently the checking of brakes, warrants of fitness and other general mechanical details will now commence to-day. „ Chief traffic inspector for the Transport Department in Otago, Mr J. C. Edwards, told the Daily Times that the checking of brakes was a routine job done every year prior to the Christmas holiday season. Motor vehicles should always be in good condition, he said, but it was the duty of the Transport Department to see that the drivers made a special effort to have them in the best condition for the Christmas holidays as the volume of traffic on the roads then was much larger than at any other time. Where a vehicle was found to be in a faulty condition, Mr Edwards added, traffic inspectors had the authority to issue a traffic offence notice and the offender would be liable to prosecution. Briefly the traffic regulations required that no person should operate a motor vehicle unless it was equipped with two independent brakes—a foot brake, and a hand brake—and that each should be capable of bringing the vehicle to a standstill within a prescribed distance.