ROAD DEATHS TOR NINE MONTHS OF 1946 NOW TOTAL 147

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 October 1946, Page 4

ROAD DEATHS TOR NINE MONTHS OF 1946 NOW TOTAL 147

“Road deaths for the nine months of this year now total 147,” said Mr. G. L. Laurenson, Commissioner of Transport, in a statement to the Press. This compares with 99 at. the end of September, 1945, an increase of 50 per cent.

Past records show that fewer deaths occur from road accidents during the months of September than in any other month of the year, yet this year the number of September traffic fatalities exceeded the average of the past ten years. Of the 11 persons killed, four were the result of the vehicle running off the road or going over a bank. Collisions on railway crossings accounted for three further deaths, while of the other four fatalities, two were pedestrians, one the driver of a motor vehicle which ran into a bridge and the other the driver of a truck which collided with a car.

Although intersection accidents did not feature prominently in the toll of last month, these do contribute very heavily to the accident rate and are causing concern. Enforcement and propaganda during October would accordingly be directed towards giving the motorist a better understanding of the right hand rule. Too great a speed at intersections did not allow the motorist to observe the right hand rule correctly, said the Commissioner. All motorists were urged to make themselves familiar with the salient points of the right hand rule -to give way to trams at all times, to give way to traffic approaching from the right and, when changing direction to the right, to give way to all traffic.