LESS MOTORING BUT MORE DEFECTS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 33, 3 November 1942, Page 5

LESS MOTORING BUT MORE DEFECTS

Official Return Quoted

Official figures from the Commissioner of Transport quoted at last night’s council meeting of the Automobile Association (Wellington) showed that iu four months of this year—May to August—tlie percentage of faulty brakes and steering among cars examined for fitness xvarrants at three stations was approximately three times as great as the average for 1939, a year iu which there was almost unlimited private motoring. The figures were quoted in a letter from the North Island Motor Union, which enclosed a copy of the Commissioner’s letter on the subject, dealing with the union's request that warrants of fitness be issued once a year or at every 5000 miles. The unions letter suggested that the official figures of faults, taking into account the restricted use of cars, were out of all retisontible proporiflou nnd suggested that tlie association make inquiries at local testing stations. The copy of the commissioners letter stated that in the figures quoted private cars made up 90 per cent, of tlie total. It gave these figures from three stations, tlie percentage of faulty brakes and steering being given respectively for May, June,’July aud AugNo. 1 station: 75, 41; 70, 30; 71, oo; 03, 57. No, 2 station: 55, 29; 53, 31; 53 23; 55, 24. No. 8 station: <3, oo; 7”’, 28; 70, 31; 68. 36. The uveruge the four months was 71 per cent, of faulty brakes and 32 per cent, faulty steering,, against an average shown in the Transpoit- Department’s 1939 annual report of -4 per cent, and 9 per cent, respectively. The secretary, Mr. A. Sutherland, considered the use of brakes in coasting might lie a factor m Wellington. Karori motorists could coast from the tunnel down, Wadestown motorists from the top of Wadestown, and so on. Mr. A. J. Curtis: Coasting is a breach of tlie regulations. The idea behind the union's proposal was that thousands of country motorists living long distances from testing stations did not have the petrol to make trips to town every six months to get fitness warrants renewed, said Mr. E. Palliser. . , Another councillor mentioned the dnnger of blowing out exhausts by coasting on the elutch. The chairman, Mr. E. A. Batt, said tlio secretary could endeavour to obtain the requested information for the union, but he was not hopeful of a case being made against the oflicial figures. .