LIMIT OF 30 M.P.H.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19107, 31 August 1936, Page 11

LIMIT OF 30 M.P.H.

INSPECTORS NOT EXEMPT CANNOT ( I! ASK MOTORISTS ‘‘IRRITATING POSITION” Traffic inspectors in Wellington are wondering how the 50 m.p.h. limit prescribed tor all drivers, in the -Motor Vehicles Amendment, Act, 1936, will operate, states the Dominion. No .exceptions are made, and on the lace ot it, it> would appear that, if an inspector exceeds 30 m.p.h. in pursuit- .of a ■speeding motorist lie himself commits an offence. Among other things, section o states: “. . . notwithstanding anything to tile contrary in any Act or in any regulation or bv-iaw, no person shall urive any motor vehicle at a speed exceeding oO miles an hour on any road, street, or other place, to which the public have access in any borough or town district or in any other locality that is declared by the Minister of Transport by notice published in the Gazette to be a closely populated locality for the purposes of this section.” “No exceptions are made For the ambulance, tire brigade or traffic inspectors, so that if any of them exceeds the 30 in.p.li. limit the driver is guilty of an offence, despite the fact that life may be saved by shortening the time of the journey,” a Wellington traffic official stated. “Admittedly neither the ambulance nor the tire brigade should, imperil life and limb in a reckless dash through closely-populated areas on a mere chance that a life is in danger, but Doth vehicles have unmistakable warning devices and a distinctive appearance, and it is only common courtesy, if not the duty, of motorists lo give way to them. “For the traffic inspector the position is even more irritating. All a traffic inspector can give the magistrate is an estimate of the offender's speed. That is bad enough, but what is going to happen if a car is speeding in the opposite direction ?” Another point worrviug the traffic officer was the possibility ol a, motorist laying an information against him. An official of the Transport Department. when questioned about tho law, said there was no need for anv exemptions. Although a lire brigade, for instance, appeared to be travelling fast, it actually did not average much more than 30 m.p.h., and the same applied to the ambulance. Traffic officers should not have, to exceed 30 m.p.h.: if a car passed them at a greater speed than that the inspector who was properly trained should be able to take its number and estimate its speed.