The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, DECEMBER 11th, 1939. HOLIDAY ROAD DANGERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 99, 11 December 1939, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, DECEMBER 11th, 1939. HOLIDAY ROAD DANGERS

WITH the approach of the Christmas and New Year holiday season the press: of the Dominion has once again been asked to co-operate in the campaign for greater safety on the roads. The Minister for Transport, Hon. R. Semple, who has identified himself with the movement deserves the gratitude of the entire country for his unremitting efforts against the unqualified driver, the intoxiqated motorist and the reckless speedster. He has gone further, he has made it one of the foremost planks in his policy that the roads of New Zealand shall be safe as possible for traffic, by the elimination of dangerous bends, railway crossings and steep gradients. Thus in the words of a recent visitor from Sweden the Dominion can now claim to have the finest road system of any other country its size in tihe world. With the existing network of sealed and graded main highways, it is the habit of certain motorists to take many things for granted and to ignore the fact that accidents can occur through carelessness on well paved roads with even greater frequency than on ililgra.ded tortuous side routes which demand the maximum attention and care to negotiate. An unfortunate aspect of the holiday season is the fact that a large percentage of drivers taking the road are new and inexperienced. Very often acicidents occur through the over-studied tactics of these individuals who whilst endeavouring to scrupulously observe the rules of the road fall into a trap of their own making. It is therefore necessary for the experienced man to make certain allowances during the holidays, and to extend the full courtesy of the road to all and sundry. The aim of the Department this year is to keep the figures of accident victims down to an absolute minimum, and this can only be accomplished by the co-operation of the road travelling public.