HOLIDAY MOTORING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 7000, 8 December 1948, Page 7

HOLIDAY MOTORING

WHAT SHOULD BE AVOIDED HELPFUL ADVICE FROM TRAFFIC INSPECTOR The following statement made available to the Courier by Traffic Inspector M. P. Norris, is commended to all motorists for careful consideration. After that has been done it should be acted on especially during the holiday period, when the volume of traffic on all roads is expected to be particularly heavy. Mr Norris advises' ail motorists to have their cars checked for mechanical fitness before commencing a journey. Although the majority of accidents can be attributed to the human element rather than mechanical fault, there is a very real need to have a vehicle in good mechanical order.

Attention should be paid particularly to lights, brakes, steering and tyres. The starting of a journey at too late an hour is considered to be a bad feature of Christmas holiday traffic. This Christmas Eve,- with its late shopping night, means that a large number of people will be setting out after the shops have closed. By making a late start motorists take on the additional , burden of fatigue, which means that they are less ’alert in their driving. There is a tendency also, to hurry and drive at excessive speeds. The failure to keep to the left accounts for a large proportion of fatal and injury accidents each year. Included under the above heading are such bad motoring habits as straddling the centre line, cutting corners and not keeping to - the left when approaching the brow of a hill. There should be no need to warn motorists against driving at excessive speeds, but the habit unfortunately persists. It is obvious that the hig-her the speed in an accident the greater will be the severity of the accident. Speed is also a direct cause of.a great number of accidents, and a contributing cause of many others. It is also obvious that, drinking and driving a motor vehicle does not make for safety in motoring. The dangers of driving after taking intoxicating 'liquor are many, and during the festive season there are a. large number of accidents caused through drinking. In the past five years, 127 people have died in traffic accidents over the December-January period. Local district motorists are commended to read, -mark, learn, and inwardly digest the above information.