The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, MAY 31st, 1939. "A DEATH A DAY"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 18, 31 May 1939, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, MAY 31st, 1939. "A DEATH A DAY"

THE toll of road accidents will be driven home forcefully to New Zealanders by Mr Semple's disclosure that 46 lives have been lost in the past 46 days or at a tragic rate of a death a day with a proportionate number of injuries. These are bitter facts for the Minister to face, because they challenge his authority in a direction where his energy has been unsparing—to make the roads safer. Before the Christmas and New Year holiday rush the Transport Department's attempt to educate the road-using public in safety principles culminated in Road Safety Week, during which the Press, the radio and the interested section of the public combined in an effort to reduce the toll of accidents. And although the holiday period was marred by some tragic happenings, observers noted a marked improvement in the general observance of safety principles and there was ground for the hope that the Transport Department's activities were at last bearing fruit. But this hope was shattered during Easter, which proved one of the blackest periods in the history of New Zealand's road transport, and a succession of serious accidents, mostly at weekends, has since brought the toll of deaths to the present tragic figure. Such a challenge to his most cherished ideal of safer roads has aroused Mr Semple and although he pays a tribute to the way motor cyclists are co-operating with the Department he lashes out at the urge for speed, the recklessness and the disregard for rules, and courtesy, that are responsible for many of the tragedies. It is a bitter realisation for the Minister that straighter and smoother roads do not automatically mean more safety for their users. It is each individual motorist who carries the responsibility of road safety and until Mr Semple can make each road-user aware of this and can reach his conscience the tragic story will have no end. "A death a day'* should now help to arouse"the national conscience and should bring each motorist face to face with the grim implications of indifference to repeated warnings.