ACCIDENTS AT NIGHT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 169, 20 July 1938, Page 6

ACCIDENTS AT NIGHT

PEDESTRIANS KILLED MINISTER’S WARNING “Five pedestrians were killed during the first eight days of this month, and all but one of these deaths occurred at night," said the Minister of Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) on Saturday. “The night accident problem is becoming very serious,” said Mr Semple. "Twenty-eight persons have been killed at night during the past ten weeks, compared with thirteen during the daytime. The accident rate to pedestrians and cyclists has been especially heavy. In many cases, at nighttime and while it has been raining, pedestrians have run blindly across the road without looking for oncoming traffic. Cyclists riding without lights have shown that they lack a sense of responsibility to other road users. "A number of complaints have reached me regarding cars travelling too fast on open roads at night." sai l the Minister. “For headlights adjusted in terms of the regulations, the main beam must strike the roadway not more than 200 feet ahead of the vehicle. Under these conditions the visibility cannot be greater than 300 feet. The regulations further provide that the driver must travel at such a speed that he is able to stop his vehicle within half the length of clear roadway which is visible, that is within at least 150 feet. What speed will allow the driver to do this? Exhaustive tests have shown that a car travelling at 40 miles per hour' with efficient four-wheel brakes and a driver possessing an average reaction time will take 150 feet of roadway to stop, provided the roadway is straight, level, smooth, hard surface, and dry. Drivers who exceed this speed at nig'..; not only risk their own lives and the lives of their passengers, but menace any cyclists or pedestrians who may happen to be on the road.”