FORTY MILES AN HOUR.

Southland Times, Issue 20044, 4 December 1926, Page 16 (Supplement)

FORTY MILES AN HOUR.

IS IT A DANGEROUS SPEED? Melbourne, October 11. “Forty miles an hour constitutes a dangerous speed in any circumstances,” says a London police order. This is the first official attempt to define the much disputed term, “dangerous speed.” The police have been instructed to prosecute any motorist exceeding forty miles an hour in the metropolitan area. “Britain borrowed her Motor-car Act from the Victorian Act, but she has lately recognised the obsoleteness of it in connection with the high speed-with-safecy capabilities of the modern automobile. Victoria has not.” In effect, that is the opinion of Melbourne motorists and traders on the London decision. The secretary of the Chamber of Automotive Industries )Mr. H. W. Harrison) said to-day that motorists hail suffered from the wording of the present Act. It per-, nutted the prosecution of drivers who travelled at any speed to which the police or the Bench believed the term “dangerous” to apply. Some municipalities had in force selfimposed speed limits, which were extremely low and irksome to tourists, but there was no defined maximum speed over the metropolitan area. Magistrates, however, had practically decided on twenty-five miles an hour as the safe permissible speed, particularly along St. Hilda Road, and motorists would welcome an increase in this arbitrary limit to a speed more in keeping with the acceleration, quick deceleration and powerful four-wheel braking performances of the modern car. This was obviously being done in Britain. Here the existing Act provided for the prosecution of any person driving a car or cycle negligently or dangerously or to the danger of others. The ambiguity of the Act, and of the similar Victorian Act, had not aided motoring or preserved pedestrians, and had led to a continuous dispute as to the permissible maximum speed of motor vehicles. Under the old Motor-car Act of 1896 and 1908, speeds in Britain had been limited to twenty miles an hour in the country and ten miles an hour in metropolitan or other prescribed areas. The latest decision, Mr. Harrison said, indicated that the British authorities realised that the modern speeding up of traffic could only be done by increased car speeds. AUSTRALIAN ROADS. Australian roads are 50 per cent rougher on motor tyres than in England, France or America. This statement is made by an Australian motorist of 25 years motoring experience in the various States of the ation during a recent visit to Europe and Commonwealth, and based on close observAmerica.

A young nation with a limited population, in a land of huge dimensions, accounts for the difference, and its one that only time, a larger population and an increased outlay spent in scientific road construction and maintenance can remedy. Therefore motorists for years to come will have to make the best of existing conditions. In oversea countries of ripe age, motor tyre manufacturers build their covers and tubes to withstand their road conditions and they give satisfactory mileage. Put those tyres to hard driving on Australian roads and its a different matter. Conditions in this country call for special construction, extra strength and higher grade materials throughout and it is in this direction that Australian made Dunlop tyres offer motorists undoubted advantages over the imported tyre, not the least of which is its lower cost. It is not claimed by the Dunlop manufacturers that they make better tyres than leading concerns oversea, but that the Australian made Dunlop tyre is specially strengthened for local conditions, and is a more economical proposition for the Australian motorist. CAR POPULARITY. There were 95,511 motor-cars in New Zealand at the end of September. Of these (writes “Focus”) 8415, or 9 per cent., were British. Wellington leads with Ilf per cent, of English cars. Palmerston North and Napier have 11 per cent., and Wanganui 10 per cent., Christchurch has 9J per cent., and Auckland is next with the Dominion average of 9 per cent. Thames and Hamilton are strong American markets, and they are last on the list with only 2 J per cent, of British cars. Over one quarter of the cars in the Dominion are Fords. The actual number of the leading makes calculated up to within the last two months were: Ford, 27,670; Buick, 7965; Dodge, 7628; Chevrolet, 7035; Overland, 4639; Studebaker, 4370; Essex, 2442; Oakland, 2397; Rugby, 1830; Hudson, 1673; Austin, 1421; Morris, 1370; Chrysler, 1046. INNS MOTORISTS LIKE. GOSSIP THAT ADVERTISES THE GOOD HOST. The appointment by the Royal Automobile Club of approved inns where standardised meals can be had for 2s is a new and interesting motoring development, but what motorists really require to know (writes a motoring correspondent in the Daily Mail) is not so much the size of the inn, but whether the accommodation is good and clean, the cost and character of meals, whether there is a good supply of hot water, clean towels, and so forth. Now that a start has been made the R.A.C. might well consider supplying this further information. They might also approve other hotels where standard meals at a standard price, but of a more elaborate nature than hot bacon and eggs and cold meat and pickles are provided. Often the small hotels are far more efficient from the motorist’s point of view than the large. A good host always attracts guests. Motorists are great talkers, and when they discover a good inn they pass the word along. It is customary for motorists to go out of their way on a journey to lunch or dine at an hotel with a good reputation. I know one inn where the host who is always looking out for improvement to attract wayfarers, recently bought a cock-tail-shaker. Guests amused to find this device in a small wayside inn, passed the word along. “That cocktail shaker,” said the host “has brought me many new customers.”

Some motorists rely on the advice of their chauffeurs, but in a number of cases these men receive a commission for leading their employers into the hands of the innkeeper.