USE OF ROAD TRAILERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 291, 9 December 1939, Page 6

USE OF ROAD TRAILERS

BLUE LIGHT IS COMPULSORY NEW TRAFFIC REGULATION The attention of motorists who intend to make use of trailer caravans this summer, and also all drivers of motor-lorries, is directed to the new regulations, which compel the use of a blue light forward in the centre of the vehicle and, in certain circumstances, a white light on the offside to designate the extreme width of the vehicle. The chief city traffic inspector in Wanganui, Mr. H. E. Tipper, was asked to explain the new regulations. He said that all vehicles which are used to draw trailers must have a blue light, irrespective of the width of the trailers. The blue light must be not less than three inches square and be fitted in the centre of the front, of the vehicle as high as is practicable. All lorries longer than 20 feet and wider than seven feet must also carry a blue light, Mr. Tipper added. He said that the regulations also made it compulsory for certain width of load and width of vehicle to be defined by a white light fitted on the offside. Any vehicle or load which exceeds eight

feet in width must have such a white light, he said. Any vehicle or load which is more than four feet in width from its centre to the offside, must also have a white light. That applies more particularly to loads which may extend more to one side than the other. The white light referred to must be fitted on the offside, if possible at the outmost extremity, but certainly not more than six inches from that extremity. It had to be three inches square and capable of being seen from 300 feet away in normal conditions. Mr. Tipper said that the city traffic department would gladly help all motorists to fully understand the regu lations. “We do not, want, to prosecute peop’e,” he said, “but to be helpful to them wherever they are. The . regulations, may seem complicated when studied in the legal phraseology of the book, but they are really very simple. They are framed to safeguard human life and limb and should be observed by every motorist.”