MOTORISTS WANT UNIFORM CONTROL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19201, 15 October 1930, Page 9

MOTORISTS WANT UNIFORM CONTROL.

REGULATIONS USELESS UNLESS ENFORCED.

Virtually all the new motor regulations proposed by the Minister of Transport (the Hon W. B. Taverner) have been suggested by motor organisations in New Zealand, according to Mr J. S. Hawkes, secretary of the Canterbury Automobile Association. Mr Hawkes stated to-day that the Minister had given no indication as to how the new regulations were to be carried out. It would be useless making regulations without providing for machinery to carry them out. A uniform system of control of motor drivers was necessary for success, and unless a special department were set up the new regulations would be useless. There was much duplication of work now through the City Council inspectors doing work which formerly came within the province of the police. In the case of intoxicated drivers and accidents, the police had to be called in, and there was no reason why the police should not take over the whole of the traffic control. Policemen who were on their beats had ever opportunity of warning motorists against leaving their cars parked in certain streets for longer than provided by the regulations. “ Seeing that motor transport is one of the greatest problems to-day, it is necessary to have only one department governing it,” stated Mr Hawkes. “ At present the condition is chaos, and only now and again is a raid made on motorists who are daily guilty of breaking the regulations. Unless there is a special department, or the police, to deal with the new regulations, they cannot be enforced. Enforcement is what motorists have been urging for a long time.”

(A list of the proposed regulations appears on page 4.)