UNLIGHTED VEHICLES.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1935, Page 4

UNLIGHTED VEHICLES.

A warning given by the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, during his summing up of a case heard in the present Supreme Court session at New Plymouth, cannot receive too much publicity. His Honour drew attention to the dangerous and reprehensible practice of riding or driving vehicles “on the King’s highway at night without the proper lights and reflectors.” The case then before the Court, in which the rider of a bicycle had received permanent injury, was a painful demonstration of the consequences of such foolish conduct to the individual. Unfortunately, however, the consequences in many cases extend beyond the individuals actually concerned in an accident, and in any case the community must, in the long run, bear the loss entailed by damage to property and the withdrawal of injured persons from their ordinary avocations, to say nothing of the costs of their medical treatment. In these days of swift motor traction there is absolutely no room on the roads for the ill-equipped vehicle or the irresponsible rider or driver. The laws are designed to prevent the appearance of either, and the penalties, legal or personal, may be very severe, yet it is scarcely exaggeration to say that a journey is rarely made after dark on the main roads of the province without meeting ill-lighted or improperly controlled vehicles, to say nothing of the pedestrian who appears to think there is no call upon his alertness or intelligence when he is walking along a much used road. Local authorities and their officers do their best to keep in check this carelessness in regard to the lighting, riding or driving of vehicles, school teachers try to inculcate among their pupils the “rules of the road” and the use of commonsense in time of emergency, motorists’ associations spend time and money removing dangers wherever possible, and still a percentage of individual drivers and riders are prepared to create risks for themselves and others. The only way to prevent such foolish action appears to be by arousing public opinion to an extent that will bring about ready co-operation of travellers on the roads with the controlling authorities. If, say, any motorist who found an unlighted or improperly lighted vehicle on the road at night would report the matter at once the legal proceedings thus made possible would have a very deterrent effect. No one likes to assume the role of an informer, but there are occasions when the public good must override personal reluctance or wishes.