ROAD SAFETY

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXII, Issue 96, 31 July 1935, Page 1

ROAD SAFETY

CAMPAIGN INITIATED MOTORISTS SHOULD SET AN EXAMPLE. The toll taken by motor transport in life and limb through road accidents has been noted all over the world and efforts are being made in various countries by different means to reduce the accident rate and the casualties resulting. New Zealand has its full share of such accidents and some time ago at a meeting of the Automobile Association (Wellington) the chairman (Mr E. A. Batt) urged the advisability of embarking on publicity in an endeavor to “break down this everlasting slaughter on the roads.” He remarked then that in the first five months of the year 73 fatal accidents had occurred in New Zealand and there was no doubt of the tremendous number of injuries. No exact figures of these were available as there were no statistics for accidents other than those which ended fatally. The total of fatal accidents in the year ended March 31st was 174 and the number of persons killed was 182, the third highest figure oil record since 1930. In six years in New Zealand 1050 persons have been killed in road accidents.

Mr Batt later expressed the opinion that motorists had a duty to do whatever they could to reduce road accidents and should consider some action. “We know there is a Government and there are local bodies,” he said, “but I think we should set an example and see what we can do to stop the sacrifice of human life on the road.” It was then decided that a committee he set up to go into the matter and a report be prepared. The course now proposed is that motor associations contribute to form the nucleus of a fund, which can be enlarged by contributions from other interested parties, and that the Government be approached to subsidise this fund, and it is suggested that there is no objection to motor taxation being used for this purpose. One of the most important points is the necessity for complete statistics of all accidents on the road and their causes—such statistics are available in America and elsewhere—in order to form a proper basis for the campaign. The duty of preparing such statistics should devolve on the Government.

The point has also been raised as to whether in the long run it should not be entirely the duty of the Government, as representing all sections of the community, in a matter affecting everybody to assume complete liability for provisions for greater safety on the road as in Britain, where the present Minister of Transport (Mr Hore Belisha) has enfoi’ced sweeping changes in the control of road traffic. Meanwhile, the Automobile Association has already been doing very useful work in endeavoring to make the road safer for children, especially in the country districts. The association’s road patrols have taken the opportunity afforded by certain schools to address the school children on the principle of safety first on the roads and inculcate some good advice on the ways of avoiding danger.

The Automobile Association is in communication with other motor bodies and it is proposed to discuss the whole question at the next meeting of the North Island Motor Union.