40 MILES AN HOUR

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 258, 30 July 1942, Page 4

40 MILES AN HOUR

Maximum Speed For All Road Transport OFFENCE TO OVERLOAD TYRES Regulations were passed yesterday fixing a maximum speed limit of 40 miles an hour for all motor transport throughout New Zealand. It will be necessary also for motorists still to comply with the lower speed limits already in force, namely, 30 m.p.h. in cities, boroughs and town districts, and special speeds for heavy traffic. Certain exemptions are provided in the case of vehicles on urgent duties for hospitals, fire brigades, police, traffic inspectors, naval, military and air forces and Ministers of the Crown. The regulations also make it an offence to overload tyres beyond the weights prescribed by a Ministerial order to be published in the Gazette.

The (Minister of Transport, Mr. Semple, stated last evening that the regulations were a further measure arising from the serious position which existed concerning motor-vehicle tyres following the loss of sources of supply. Traffic inspectors had been instructed to issue traffic offence notices for any breach of the regulations, and also to tighten up the enforcement so far as speeds for heavy traffic were concerned, even to the.extent of setting speed traps. “While in the past there has been a certain amount of ‘give and take’ concerning the speed, limit of 35 m.p.lL for omnibuses and service cars, and 25 m.p.h. for trucks, these speed limits will in future be most- strictly enforced,” said the Minister, “as the aim now is not only to save wear on the roads, but also to assist the country in its grave difficulty with tyre supplies. I am informed that the other major causes of wear on tyres are failure to keep them (properly inflated, neglect to have the wheels properly aligned, and sudden starting and stopping. All motor-vehicle users are requested to co-operate by watching these points. The regulations and this appeal are made not only in the interests of the war effort, but also for protection of the owners themselves, as they will probably find when the time for replacing their tyres arrives.”

The regulations also give power to the Minister to authorize the fitting of bells, sirens'o/whistles to motor vehicles to be used for the Home Guard or Emergency Precautions Services, and the Minister explained that this will be chiefly to assist in the mobilization of' these services in the country districts.