ROAD SAFETY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3828, 2 November 1936, Page 3

ROAD SAFETY

Six thousand four hundred and ninety dead ! This is not the death roll in Spain or Abyssinia; it is the number of victims of road accidents in the peaceful country of Britain last year. What is being done to stop this slaughter? Roads have ben widened' and made :straighter; but over 60 per cent, of last year’s fatalities occurred on straight roads or open road bends. Pedestrian crossings have been introduced; but 1849 pedestrians were killed .in 1935 while crossing the carriage-way. The recently published report, analysing the causes of last year’s fatal accidents, is a step in the right direction. New safety measures are to be based on the conclusions reached. So Jfar only haphazard attempts have been made to strike at the root of the problem. Driving tests ensure that every new driver of a motor vehicle is capable of controlling it. But how many continue to drive consistently after the fashion in which they pass the examination? But it is easy to criticise the safety measures already introduced. What I am going to do now is to make a few practical suggestions which I would have carried out if I were Minister of Transport. Speed is the cause of all fatal road accidents. If all traffic tavelled at, say, ten miles per hour death would stalk the roads no longer. Such a speed limit would save thousands of lives in a year; but it would kill the motor industry—one of the largest in Britain. Speed is a comparative factor. Speeds which are safe in large cars are dangerous in smaller ones. I suggest that speed limits should be imposed on the car manufacturers instead of on the motorists. For example, seven or eight horsepower motor cars should be made incapable of exceeding 35 m.p.h., 10 h.p. cars should be limited to 40 m. p.h., 12 h.p. cars to 45 m.p.h., and so on. The first rule of the road in Britain is “keep to the left,” but despite white lines many motorists still cut right-hand bends and swing out at left-hand corners. There is a simple remedy for this danger. If white lines were studded with sharp spikes, long enough to penetrate tyres, there would be no more usurping on the other man’s half of the road. The number of cyclists has inert used by almost l!>0 p.c., and the number of fatalities among 1 them has risen accordingly. Tests for cyclists should be introduced immediately. At present anyone can purchase a bicycle and ride out on to the busiest roads without any experience at all. An age-limit for cyclists is also called for. The problem of cross-roads could be easily, though not inexpensively solved by constructing bridges to carry one road over the other. Most accidents to pedestrians arccaused by stepping- off the footpaths carelessly. A “keep left” rule should be enforced on the pavement, so that walkers cannot step off on to the road with their backs to overtaking traffic. All roads should be bordered by white kerbs, which provide an invaluable guide to motorists when dazzled by oncoming headlights. Reflectors for cyclists have had a fair trial and have been found wanting. Live rear lights should be made compulsory inspite of the arguments advanced by cyclists. Every class of road user must be willing to contribute to the efforts that are being made to reduce the appalling toll of the road —E.B.W.