CONTROL OF MOTORISTS

Taranaki Daily News, 28 November 1934, Page 11

CONTROL OF MOTORISTS

ENERGY WITHOUT VISION BRITISH MINISTER’S ACTIVITY. OVERWHELMING REGULATIONS (Special Correspondent). ’London, Oct. 4. British motorists are beginning to wonder whether the new Transport Minister is not overdoing it. Some of Mr. Hore-Belisha's predecessors have been inclined to lethargy, but his own unbridled energy in issuing new regulations and instituting new devices is somewhat overwhelming, and is leading to considerable chaos and unnecessary expenditure of good Road Fund money which was intended primarily for road construction and maintenance. Everybody agrees that the Transport Minister must do everything in his power to reduce road accidents. To that end he instituted painted spider-web crossings for pedestrians which the latter still use at the risk of their lives. Drivers do not know whether, it is their duty to stop when they see one and pedestrians do not know whether it is their duty to start crossing when they see one. . For a time an end to this uncertainty seemed to have arrived by the introduction at uncontrolled pedestrian crossings of large bulls-eye signs -with a “C” in the middle. It was authoritatively announced that pedestrians would always have precedence at such crossings and that if. would be the duty of the .driver to stop if there was a pedestrian in sight—or at least in transit. ( The Transport Minister was himself nearly run over while demonstrating this new right of the pedestrian and shortly afterwards—this is not a case of cause and effect the bulls-eyes experiment was discontinued. Their place was taken by the now famous “Belisha Beacons.” These unlit globes of amber mounted on suitable posts now hold the field in the company of steel studs which are taking the place of the spider-web crossings. As to the steel studs, the objection of most drivers will be that in wet weather they may add an unnecessary hazard to the dangers of the road. But the “Belisha Beacons” are at least decorative. In any thoroughfare where they are much in evidence, it only requires some coloured festoons to suggest that the local authority concerned is. preparing for the approaching /Royal wedding.

COSTLY EXPERIMENTS. |

If one could be certain that these beacons and studs, put down at so considerable a cost, represent the last word of Ministerial wisdom in regard to safer crossings for pedestrians, and if one could be sure of the efficacy of these devices, there would be little to complain of. No one would object to the Road Fund being almost depleted of its capital if only road accidents could be reduced as a consequence. But there is no guarantee that next week Mr. HoreBelisha will not have a new brain-wave involving the abolition of all beacons, studs and those pretty but apparently purposeless railings which have been erected in Trafalgar Square at the pedestrian crossings. Then fhere is the matter of the silence zones. They were introduced, not as a safety device, but as a nerve soother for our urban populations during the houis of night. Now it is being claimed that the ban on horns tends to reduce road accidents because drivers go more carefully. But there was a case the other day in which a driver involved In « road fatality was severely censured for not sounding his horn when in a silence zene. So it is impossible to claim with assurance th'.t less horn sounding means safer roads! In any event, what are a few toots compared with noisy gears and loud exhausts in the dead of night? There is, of course,- a Government Committee charged with the task of trying to make cars less noisy. Presumably they will do something some time or other. Meanwhile designers of motorcars are not standing still in the matter. From the new inodels which I have already examined it is clear that increased silence of operation is to become a feature of the cars of 1935. The designers of sports cars are ensuring that a better performance is available with a quieter exhaust and gears also are being made much more silent. What no Committee and no designer can do is to arrest wear and tear. A car may be quiet when new, but after two or three years' service it is bound to become more noisy. NOISE AND COST. It has been already abundantly proved in the high-priced ranges of cars that noise elimination is only a matter of cost. The problem is how to make the boon of silence available to the lowerpriced cars and still maintain their existing prices, Some advance is made m this direction at the Olympia Show. Noise reduction has entered into the sphere of ethics, and undue noise of any kind will soon be considered a breach of good manners. Thus the makers of snorts cars in particular have endeavoured in their new models to furnish silencers of a more efficient type. It only remains now for sports car owners to use their buses in, a reasonable way and to avoid revving up their engines too much or using the indirect gears too much during the hours of night. , , Before leaving the question of silence, I should like to endorse the statement recently i£ued by the Automobile Association in regard to devices for revering the horn inoperative during the hours of night. In one or two cases makers of cars have incorporated m their 1935 models a switch for rendering the horn inoperative during the hours when hom sounding is illegal. Superficially this seems a good idea, nevertheless it is a thoroughly bad one. As the A.A. points cut, emergency conditions beyond the motorist’s control must inevitably arise under which, if powerless to give an audible signal, he would be in peril or in danger of imperilling others. In other words, under certain conditions it can become the duty of a motorist to break the silence zone regulation. In any event the law enacts that every motor vehicle must, be equipped with an instrument for giving audible warning and this statutory obligation has not been suspended. Of course, it is all part of the muddle that seems to envelop all motoring legislation. Entirely new Lanchester and B.S.A. models were on view at the recent trade show at Coventry arranged by the combine which manufactures these cars and also Daimler cars. Trade representatives from every part, of Britain attended this show. The new Lanchesters comprise six-cylinder 12 h.p. and a six-cylinder 18 h.p.