The King's Highway

Ladies' Mirror, Volume V, Issue 2, 2 August 1926, Page 49

The King's Highway

G By (§anclw

cI A {9’ausene

Statistics are dull things as a rule, but glancing idly over the vital statistics in the Gazette the other day I chanced on a surprising dis-covery--the extraordinarily high motor accident death-rate in Auckland. The monthly mortality figures cover the fourteen largest urban areas in the Dominion, and looking back over the past five months 1 found that in this period 35 persons had lost their lives by motor accidents in these fourteen town areas. As the population covered by the figures totalled 693.000, the motor death-rate for five months worked out at 5.5 persons killed per 100,000 inhabitants —or, roughly, one fatality a month per every 100,000 people. Towards these 35 deaths all the * fourteen centres contributed, with the sole exception of Nelson. Auckland, however, accounted for the startling total of 16! There was no one big accident to cause this startling predominance, but just a steady death-toll month by month. This little table for instance, will show the position in the four chief centres month by month:— C'ny -"Motor Fatalities 1926 Auck'd W'gton Ch. Dun. February 3 1 March 2 111 April 3 —2 May A 1 June 4 1 Total, 5 ms. 16 2 3 3

Of the smaller centres, New Plymouth and Palmerston North each had two fatalities during the period, and Wanganui, Napier. Hastings, Invercargill, Gisborne, Hamilton, and Timaru one each. A uckland is, of course, more pop- ■£*■ ulous than any other urban area in New Zealand, and to get a clearer idea of the incidence of motor fatalities it is necessary to consider them in relation to population. The population of each urban area is given in the Gazette, and a little calculation gives the following result : Motor Fatalities per 100.000 persons (February- 1926) Average for 14 urban areas 5.5 Auckland urban area 8.3 Wellington urban area 1.6 Christchurch urban area 2.5 Dunedin urban area 3.5

The excessive Auckland motor death rate, it will be seen from the foregoing, is a very real and startling fact. In proportion to population over five times more people are killed by motor vehicles in Auckland City than in Wellington City, and this heavy Auckland killing goes on steadily month by month. What is the cause of it? C~V ,r motor death-rate really does point to the need for a close examination of the causes of accidents. Not so much in a penal sense, as with a view to getting reliable data and discovering what needs to be done to make the roads safer. The greatest importance is attached to this work in the United States, and in parts of that country comparative statistics for different cities are collected and published regularly with, a view to stimulating competition in safety-first work. Similar

competition in this Dominion might help things along. One outstandingfact nowadays is that careless and incompetent drivers are not only a menace to themselves, but to everybody on the road. Oow many people realise the necessity for keeping balloon tyres at the correct pressure? One tyre concern points out that if its balloons are in continued use with an air pressure of twenty-four pounds, instead of the twenty-seven pounds recommended for this particular tyre, there will he a loss of 2100 miles of service. If the tyres are operated continuously at twentyone pounds pressure 4200 miles will be lost. The carelessness of the average car-owner has been revealed by researches made through its branches by a leading American tyre company. These disclosed the startling fact that most balloon tyres that should carry thirty to thirtyfive pounds of air were running at ten and fifteen pounds! Tricking a balloon tyre to test the 1V pressure is a totally futile process, for while it may give a clue to the state of high-pressure tyres, the toe of nobody's boot will reveal the presence or absence of the few pounds per square inch in a balloon that makes all the difference. The only proper way to go about the matter is to buy a tyre gauge that shows the pressure in single pounds

and to use it on all tyres once a week. The most important part of a tyre valve is the valve inside, which lets the air in, but stops it getting out. If you find a tyre always unduly below the correct pressure, the best thing is to put a new inside in the valve, and every motorist should carry half-a-dozen of these spare parts. Finally, always keep the valve cap screwed tightly on every tyre. This will prevent leakage even if the valve is a trifle below par. Another wise habit is to make a point of having dust caps on all the valve stems. These not only protect the stems from injury, but add greatly to the finished appearance of the car. Far too many motorists neglect to screw on either valve or dust cap. They are a nuisance to screw on and off in testing the pressure, but care of them is part of the precautions one has to take to secure from balloon tyres the long mileage that has been built into them.

11 is necessary, also, to remember * that load and inflation should be in proportion with balloon tyres. The greater the number of passengers carried in a balloon-tyred car the greater the air pressure required to carry the load without injuring the tyres. It is not possible to give a table here as to the pressureneeded, as the various makes of tyres are differently built, and each maker has his own ideas. But owners should consult their tyre dealers as to the proper pressure necessary on front and rear wheels, and how many more pounds to add when carrying more than the normal load of passengers. Some day, perhaps, manufacturers may find a way of pumping up a set of tyres so that the job is done and the pressure corrected in all four wheels at once. That day has yet to arrive.

Tn local body circles quite a lot of * talk has been going on lately in various parts of the Dominion about the need for getting more of the motorists' money on the roads. As the various parties seem far from agreed as to what they want, it is possible, however, that the motorist will escape further taxation for a while. In the Waikato the desire seems to be to have the main highways “nationalised" —or in other words that the Highways Board should foot the whole bill. It is not apparently suggested by advocates of this proposal that the motorist should be further taxed, but where the money for “nationalisation” is to come from without hitting up the motorist is not explained.

In the South Island there is much grumbling against the Highways

Board only paying half the cost of maintaining and improving the main highways. More motor tax is wanted, but not "nationalised" roads at any price! The burden of the other half, it is declared in Canterbury, is too grievous for the country residents. These residents, we are assured at these gatherings, never, never use the roads- or hardly ever. It is the townspeople that are knocking the country roads to pieces. So much play is always made with this assertion that a few facts in support of it might not be amiss. The idea that no farmers have motor-cars, or that farmers never ride in their cars over main roads does not wholly fit in with one's experience in roaming over the country-side. A fair thing is a fair thing, but county councils are well aware that when Parliament has to decide who has to pay a bill it is the side that makes the biggest noise that is let off lightest.

Isn't it lime that motordom exerted ■* its lungs a little and made itself felt? There is now one motor vehicle to every ten people, or. in other words, one to every other family. It motorists want good roads they will have to pay their share of the cost. At present, however, they are paying, and in many cases gettingvery well shaken for their money. The Highways Board hands out hundreds and thousands of pounds in subsidies to local bodies, but the check on the way this money is spent is of the slightest. If a local body has its highway in bad condition it gets a letter of protestif the Main Highways Board happens to have heard of the occurrence. The Board so far appears to have instituted no systematic and periodical inspection of the main highways by engineers responsible to it. A watch dog or two about the country might make a wonderful difference.