The Daily News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1930. NEW MOTORING RULES.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1930, Page 8

The Daily News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1930. NEW MOTORING RULES.

Neither Acts of Parliament nor departmental regulations will be able to eliminate motoring accidents, but they may,, and should, help to give reasonable safeguards for users of the roads. The recent conference that was held at the invitation of the Minister of Transport, the Hon. W. B. Taverner, thoroughly considered the new and consolidated regulations evolved by the Transport Department, and made several important amendments to them. It may here be said that if this process of submitting proposed regulations to leading men concerned in the subject matter of such regulations were more generally adopted, and the suggested alterations treated seriously aiid not ignored, much of the hostile comment against “government, by regulation” would disappear. By one of those coin'cidences that occasionally . take place a summary of the new regulations, aS»well as of the first annual report of the Transport Department, appeared in yesterday’s issue, thus enabling the public .to obtain an insight into the statistics connected with motor vehicles accidents, and the urgent need for more effective safeguards. Averages computed over the past five years . show a rate of 10.2 deaths per .100,000 of population, while in the Mother Country the rate in 1928 was 11.7 as against the rate for the Dominion in that year of 12.1. It. is quite true that there arc relatively more motor-vehicles to population in New Zealand than in Great Britain, yet, . though the roads there are better than those of the Dominion, the traffic density, especially in the urban porytions of the Old ' Country, is much more marked. Possibly the part of the report that will prove especially interesting is that which gives an analysis of the 172 fatal accidents in. the Dominion during the year ending March 31 last. It appears that private cars were concerned in 105 .accidents, motor lorries or vans in 39, and motor-cycles in 59. The fact that 48. accidents were contributed to by the bad state' of the roads to an appreciable extent places such accidents in a class for which no regulations are likely to prove a safeguard, except as to insisting upon bad parts of the roads being negotiated at a low rate of speed and with the highest degree of care. As might naturally be expected, the number of ffatalitiesr'at intersections was high, amounting to 19, as compared with 7 at railway crossings. The fatality list of nearly 200 is estimated to represent an. economic loss’ in life alone of £400,000 per annum, and to that sum must be added the loss caused by personal injuries and property damage. In view of these statistics there can be no doubt as to the need for regulations the object of which is to prevent accidents and fatalities. One of the new regulations deals with this point by providing that new drivers must be put through a comprehensive driving- test as well as an oral examination on the laws. and regulations which apply to driving. Thp important question is, however, how many of those who now hold licenses as drivers can satisfactorily pass such examinations in practical management of a car under all circumstances, and also be proficient in remembering the various by-laws and regulations they are supposed to obey. How many can be relied upbn to act in the right way when an emergency arises, and can be relied upon to have the brakes of their cars in perfect order? The number of thoroughly reliable motor-drivers is far less than is generally supposed. The imposition of reasonable age limits is certainly desirable, although there are’ cases of quite young lads who <are even more reliable than the older, hands. All the same, even the best of these may fail badly at a critical time, hence the ‘adveuage of a reasonable limit. In all probability the draft regulations now submitted to the authorities interested will be carefully considered and desirable improvements made. Now is the opportunity for making motor regulations as perfect as possible, and it is to be hoped full advantage will be taken of it so as to make no distinction in any part of the Dominion.