LIGHTING LAWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18849, 11 April 1931, Page 14

LIGHTING LAWS

GUARDING THE PUBLIC. “Now that the period of daylightsaving has ended, motorists, in fact all users of the roads, should be sure that they obey the laws relating to the lighting of vehicles.” says the Canterbury Automobile Association. “Lighting up time is half an hour after sunset, according to the law on the subject, and it is a law obeyed by motorists, but honoured more in the breach by other classes of traffic. No motorist worthy the name takes risks with the lighting equipment of his car. At all times he will make sure that his headlamps, parking lights, and his tail-light are in perfect working order. It is fairly easy to detect failure in the forward lights, but it is not so easy to detect a failure in that most important tail-light. Every motorist should make sure every night that the tail-light is at work. It is better to do that as a habit than to explain to an inspector or policeman that you didn’t know. Bulbs in tail-lights are very liable to defect. For instance a little dust will break contact, and because these lights are frequently on shimmying rear guards, the risk of broken filaments is much greater than on the forward lights. The wise motorist carries a spare bulb or two in the tool kit or cubby hole. “The worst no-light offenders are the cyclists and one or two drivers of horse-drawn vehicles, and to them a special appeal is directed in the interests of themselves and other users of the roads. It is criminal negligence for anyone to use an unlighted vehicle on the roads, yet hundreds of cyclists gamble with their lives nightly in and about Christchurch. There is no excuse for such neglect. The law and common sense call for properly lighted vehicles no matter what their type. Public safety is at stake.”

GIVING HAND SIGNALS. When a motorist is observed giving a hand signal the best rule for drivers I of approaching vehicles to adopt is one of caution. Records of traffic accidents show it is unsafe to take it for granted that the signalling aperator is going to do just w r hat his hand signal indicates. It frequently happens that a driver is confused and gives the wTong signal. Those signals which have motion in them are generally regarded as the best hand signals. They were developed in the first place by drivers who had a real need for them, such as operators of public service vehicles in the congested sections of large cities. Where the intention of a driver is plainly indicated by a motion the signal usually can be relied upon. Many drivers, however, give signals which are s uncertain that they might mean anything, and in such cases other operators should use extreme care until it is definitely evident what the signalling driver intends to do. As a general rule it probably ■would be well for every motorist to be suspicious of every signal and be sure that he knows what the other driver is going to do before he acts in accordance with the other's signal. A signal may be good or bad. It may conform to the law and yet fail to be of reliable use in directing other operators; caution therefore remains a wise rule of driving wherever hand signals are given.