MOTOR DRIVERS WILL HAVE TO PROVE PHYSICAL FITNESS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19201, 15 October 1930, Page 4

MOTOR DRIVERS WILL HAVE TO PROVE PHYSICAL FITNESS.

Important Alterations Are Proposed In The Regulations Now Circulated.

Per Press Association.

WELLINGTON, October 14. PHYSICAL ABILITY’ to drive a motor vehicle safely is one of the requirements of the regulations which it is proposed to apply to motor drivers. Several important departures from the. existing conditions are proposed in the new regulations which have been prepared, and are being circulated in draft form to local bodies, motor associations and other interested parties for their comment prior to the issue of regulations for the licensing year commencing on June 1 next.

Jn making this announcement today, the Minister of Transport (the Hon W. B. Taverner) said that the regulations consolidate those at present in force and make several important amendments to them. These amendments were thoroughly considered by the conference which recently sat at the invitation of the Minister of Transport to consider means of reducing traffic accidents, and are summarised as follow:—-

(1) An applicant for a driver’s license must certify to his physical ability to drive safely, and if he is not prepared to give the necessary certificate, he must obtain and present to the licensing authority a satisfactory medical certificate. In case of applicants to drive a vehicle used for hire, a recent medical certificate of fitness to drive for hire must be supplied with each annual application for a driving license. (2) Provision has been, made to overcome that abuse of the present regulations caused when motorists do not ! obtain their licenses to drive from the i proper licensing authority. Cases are frequent in which an applicant is refused a? license by one local authority and is successful in obtaining it from another.

(3) It is provided that new drivers

must be put through a comprehensive driving test and oral examination on the laws and regulations which apply to driving, both test and examination being basically uniform in their nature throughout the Dominion. The general nature of the test and examination is specified in the regulations.

(4) An age limit of twenty-one years is specified in the case of drivers of vehicles weighing over a ton and a half unladen, but the clause safeguards those drivers who may be under this age limit and who were already engaged in driving the respective types of vehicle before November 1, 1930. A general age limit of fifteen years applies to all other motor-drivers, as fixed by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924. (5) Drivers of motor omnibuses licensed under the Motor Omnibus Traffic Act, 1926, are required at present to get two licenses, possibly from two different authorities, and a regulation is inserted to do away with this duplication. The Minister also announced that other regulations, namely, those under the Public Works Act dealing with heavy traffic, and those under the Motor Vehicles Act dealing with general motor traffic, have been revised, and will be circulated in the same manner at an early date.