STIFFER RESTRICTIONS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19700, 4 August 1938, Page 11

STIFFER RESTRICTIONS

LICENSING OF DRIVERS AGE, HEARING, SIGHT Age, hearing, and sight have been taken into consideration in the issuing of motor driving licenses in the Gisborne Borough this year, but only four persons who held licenses previously have been disqualified. They failed in one respect or another and have not returned to the office with the necessary medical certificate, according to a statement made to-day by the council’s traffic inspector, Mr. T. G. Nowell. In the past, motor licenses. have been renewed in Gisborne without forms having to be filled in, but it was decided to have a check-up this year and enforce the regulations. All drivers were required to fill in forms stating that their eyesight was not impaired and they were capable of hearing each word uttered in an ordinary conversational voice at a distance of 10ft. If a mis-statement was made by a person filling in the forms, that person was liable to a fine not exceeding £SO. In the wealth of material relating to motor accidents gathered by the Transport Department, nothing can be found on the subject. Although particulars had been ascertained regarding the years of experience of motor drivers connected with accidents, the full value of the analysis would be obtained only from a comparison with the total number of drivers in each group, and that was not available.

There was a feeling among a section of motorists, however, that because a man of advanced years had been driving for 25 years he could not necessarily qualify asj an experienced driver in the true sense of the meaning. Owing to his age his faculties were probably slowing down to a certain extent and, on the other hand, with the increased speed and power of the modern vehicles, there was always the possible necessity of him having to make a split-second decision to avoid an accident. The power and speed factors were borne out in the fact that 44 per cent of the vehicles involved in accidents during the past year were less than three years old.