BICYCLE TRAFFIC

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19860, 25 July 1934, Page 2

BICYCLE TRAFFIC

NEED FOR REGULATION. Regulations requiring all bicycles to have a portion painted white, and also to carry a red reflector visible to traffic approaching from the rear, will be introduced in New Zealand if various proposed amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924, become law. Advice to this effect is contained in a circular letter from the Commissioner of Transport, Mr J. S. Hunter, which has been forwarded to interested local bodies with a draft of the proposed amendments to the Act. “For some time past dissatisfaction has been expressed by road users in respect of bicycles, and the necessity for adequate regulation of this traffic is universally recognised,” Mr Hunter says in his letter. Under the Lights on Motor Vehicles Act, 1915, it was necessary for bicycles to carry a light forward and a red reflector on the back. No particular design or specification for the reflector was laid down, however, and the result was well known. It was of interest to note that the Road Traffic Act passed in Great Britain recently provided that in addition to a red reflector being required, power was taken to have part of each bicycle painted white. “It would appear essential also that some attention should be directed to bicycle traffic on roads, as there can be no doubt that grave danger is created by the practice of several cyclists riding abreast,” the letter adds. “On roads and streets covered with dark pavements this practice is extremely dangerous, particularly in wet weather after dark, when drivers of motor vehicles are subject to dazzle by oncoming traffic.”