OPUNAKE TIMES “Speaks for the District" FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1939. HIGHWAY VIGILANTES

Opunake Times, 23 June 1939, Page 2

OPUNAKE TIMES “Speaks for the District" FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1939. HIGHWAY VIGILANTES

Subject to certain limitations, there is considerable merit attaching to the road safety scheme adopted by (lie Automobile Association m Taranaki, whereby selected members of that body will act as honorary road patrols. I'hcir t;isk will he to maintain a loolwmt on the highways for dangerous breaches of the traffic regulations and to report offending motorists »nol to the authorities with a view to prosecution but to tlie Automobile Association in order that friendly warnings niav be administered- The srreat advantage of the scheme is its rocoyvnitioii of the fact that the traffic problem is a personal problem, magnified to the extent that there are thousands of motorists who are neither as efficient nor as careful as they should be. fa such eases, where carelessness loads to bleaches of regulations laid down for the protection of human life, a word of

reasoned advice from a motorists' organisation inighi wo \] j )e taken to heart, while the educative effects could, be ot great potential value. The Tarannki experiment should therefore be watched with close interest, hut it would bo unwise for automobile associations generally to embark on too wide or too precipitate an extension qf the scheme. For instance, association members chosen for honorary duty as. highway vigilantes would liav to ho motorists of the highest proficiency and with a full sense of responsibility; if every member were encouraged to report his trans<rvessing fellows it would be an extreme case of Batnn reproving sin. However, apart from reservations of this nature, it must be admitted that genuine road safeI • can be prompted only through the co-operation of motorists themselves, and any scheme that aims at developing a greater community sense of traffic re--■.mnmhility must be welcomed as a_ contribution' toward the solution of a most serious problem.