A QUESTIONABLE CHECK

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18536, 5 April 1930, Page 15 (Supplement)

A QUESTIONABLE CHECK

SPEED ESTIMATION There seems to be a growing tendency on the part of country local bodies to estimate the speed of motorists from a pursuing car. In a country court recently an inspector stated that when riding a motor-cycle at 40 miles per hour, he kept his eye on the speedometer for a distance of half mile and was quite sure that the needle did not vary. Anyone who has ridden a motorcycle on a lose surface road and particularly on the one which was described by the inspectors as being rough and dangerous for motor-cars at speeds in excess of 30 miles an hour, can realise just what a menace a motorcyclist would be on such a road if he did not keep his eyes ahead and observe any other traffic that might be approaching. The duty of a traffic inspector should be to control traffic and to induce motorists to travel reasonably. The practice under discussion more often than not encourages motorists beng overtaken to increase their speed and commit an offence. The inspector operating this kind of trap is forced to travel at a higher rate of speed than the offending motorist and if it is his considered opinion that the offender is driving in a manner which might be dangerous to the public, how much more dangerous must be the conduct of the inspector who not only has to drive his car or motor-cycle, but is forced to take his eyes off the road in order to record the reading of his speedometer. Surely such a practice cannot receive the approval of responsible representatives of the public. How much more effective and how much more appreciated would be the issuing of a warning to first offenders that their speed was in excess of what was considered safe at that particular portion of the road. The suggestion is made to outside local bodies that the practice of warning first offenders would produce much more beneficial results than the present system.