TO CURE CHAOS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 138, 7 December 1929, Page 10

TO CURE CHAOS

LOCAL MOTOR SPEEDS

CONFERENCE TO BE CALLED

MINISTER'S POLICY

Area commissioners are to license public service vehicles and to regulate routes and services. This sentence in a British official wireless message published a few days ago seems to definitely mark the passing from the local bodies of the power to license motor vehicles for public service. SIMILARITY WITH BRITISH BILL. Britain, like New Zealand, has hitherto plodded along with a system under which licences for motor vehicles are issued or refused by the local authorities. The Transport Bill brought before the New Zealand Parliament last session by the Minister of Transport (the Hon. W. A. Veitch) contained provisions substituting area commissioners for local authorities. Those provisions, along with many others, were dropped owing to sectional opposition. But the British Transport Bill, according to British Official Wireless, contains similar provisions. It reaffirms the principle of substituting area commissioners for local bodies as licensing authorities. That is to say, the British Parliament is to be asked to adopt what the New Zealand Parliament ' sidestepped. Coming closer to details, it is found that the British commissioner scheme differs very little from the New Zealand Government's commissioner scheme. The British Bill provides for fourteen traffic areas. Mr. Veiteh's Transport Bill provides for eighteen (that number being the number of the existing highway districts, which districts have been adopted for the traffic control organisation). Again, the British Bill provides that in each of the fourteen traffic areas there shall be a traffic authority of three commissioners. The parallel provision in Mr. Veiteh's Bill makes the number of commissioners five instead of three. This substantial concurrence will increase the wonderment that many people felt at the New Zealand Parliament 's sudden stampede last session away from a Bill the traffic control provisions of which compare so favourably with the measure that has commended itself to the British Ministry of Transport, after an exhaustive inquiry in the Old Country. According to British Official Wireless, the terms of the British Bill "are generally approved by the British Automobile Association and the Eoyal Automobile Club, the two great organisations of motorists." OVERLAPPING SERVICE, FARES, ETS. Compare the sentence that opens this article with the following summary of cognate proposals in the No. 2 report of British Eoyal Commission on Transport, cabled by the New Zealand High Commissioner to the New' Zealand Prime Minister not long ago: "Great Britain should be divided into fourteen traffic areas, in each of which there would be a traffic authority of three commissioners, who would assume full responsibility for licences of all public motor vehicles carrying nine or more passengers. Commissioners should be given power to eliminate unnecessary service and to supervise timetables, fares, and speed limit." If the above is a correct expansion of the summary sent by British ©ffieial Wireless, then the area commissioners in Britain will not only license as stated, but on the regulating side will have power to deal with time-tables, fares, and speed limits, and to prevent overlapping service. Similar powers now belong in New Zealand to the local authorities, but under Mr. Veiteh's Transport Bill they would pass to the area commissioners. An obvious argument for the change is that a licensing local authority may, and often does, own competing traffic services, so that it is doubtful whether such local authority can act judicially, and in one case the New Zealand Court of Appeal has prohibited a local authority from so acting. The iive-coinnussioncr plan of Mr. Veiteh's Bill comprises: (1) An engineer of the Public Works Department, who shall also be a member of the District Council of the District Highways Board, the licensing districts and the highway districts being identical; (2) a member with special knowledge of motor transport, to be appointed ou the recommendation of the Minister of Transport; (3) a county representative; (4) a borough and town district representative; (5) a representative of local authorities (if there is or are any) carrying on public transport services within the area. LOCAL AND THROUGH TRAFFIC. An area licensing authority as set up above shall have power over bus services carried on within its boundaries, but not over through services passing through two or more licensing areas; for such, another special licensing authority is provided for in the Bill. And a Dominion Transport Appeal Board is set up. As to speed limits, a recently-cabled forecast of the British Bill stated that the disregarded speed limit of 20 miles an hour for motor. traffic will be scrapped, and that a speed limit of 30 miles an hour will be adopted for three types of automobile (the bus, the heavier commercial vehicle, and the char-a-banc) without speed limit for the other types. In New Zealand the local authority licensing system has led to a great deal of confusion over speed limits as well as over other matters. The British ixoyal Commission on Transport "describes the local authority licensing system m the Old Country as chaotic? And in some respects the word could be applied to New Zealand. But in New Zealand much of the chaos has been and is avoidable. Although a great part of ast session's Transport Bill was lost, the existing l aw gives the Trans tD f partmciit of the Dominion power to deal with speed limits; and local bodies could avoid making various ineffective bylaws by referring to the ■ Department instead of attempting to over-ove'r-ride 7 P°WerS tha* they cannot ONLY JUSTIFICATIONS FOR LOCAL LIMITS. to^lMn T r\ B, °f- a CirCular TranLnrt- auth«lties > the Minister of J ransport now points out that "in general the only justifications for local speed limits are that certain roads re }Z e f° eetion against speeds in excess of the proposed limit, and that dangers exist against which the regula faon table of speeds does not provide a sufficient safeguard." But" the require ments for the fixing of local speed Urn lt's "(1) The local speed limit may not exceed that laid down in the taTle of speeds in regulation 15 "(2) Whether the bylaw or other authority was in force before or after the regulations, a copy of it must be sent to the Minister, together with a sketch plan or map of the locality showing the position of the signs of class D. "(3) Signs of class D under the re^ gulations must be erected as prescrib-

c<l in elaiißc (12) of regulation 16, and «ie signs must strictly conform to the requirements of that regulation. "(4) Failure to comply with any of llie above requirements renders "any prosecution liable to be upset on a teehnicahty. In this connection, see particularly clause (23) of regulation 16. -llio desirability of having a uuitorm system for determining speed limits throughout the Dominion is obvious both from the local bodies' point of view and that of the road user, and it is hoped to have the co-operation of all local authorities in seeing that these provisions of the motor vehicle regulations are complied with. This co-oper-ation is sought particularly in. the removal of the many out of date and unnecessary speed limit and other signs which are still prevalent. These are quito useless for the purposes of supporting prosecutions, but result in contusion and considerable non-observanec-ot authorised signs. "In order to encourage a complete observance by road users of the signs that will be decided upon, it is proposed to gazette periodically, for public information, a list showing relative details of bylaws forwarded by local bodies in terms of the regulation. "It is recognised that local bodies are empowered to pass the relative bylaw before its submission to the Government, but it is suggested that the practice which has already been adopted by some, namely, that the bylaw be submitted in draft form to the Minister of Transport before being passed, could with advantage be followed by all local bodies in future. In cases when the bylaw is not concurred in, this course, if followed, would eliminate unnecessary expense to local bodies in the alteration or removal of signs and amendment of bylaws.'' CO-OPERATION AND ADVICE SOUGHT. The desire of the Transport Department to co-operate with and not dictate to local authorities arid others concerned is further shown by the following circular issued by the Commissioner of Transport, Mr. J. S. Hunter:— "It is now nearly eighteen months in Do Co e \ c motor vellicle regulations, iJ^b, dealing generally with the control of motor traffic on the roads were brought into effect, and the Hon. Minister of Transport has directed me to communicate with all. local authorities and other interested parties with a view to obtaining any suggestions for their amendment, curtailment, or addition which practical experience of the regulations might have showa to be desirable. Any suggestions for the improvement of the other regulations dealing with motor traffic (e.g., the motor-lorry regulations) would also be welcomed and given careful consideration. It is proposed to call a small representative conference of the local bodies and other interested parties as soon as possible for the purpose of (inter alia) reviewing these regulations and any suggestions received as a result of this communication will be submitted_ to the conference. It would help if in. submitting any suggestions/ these were identified, by reference in numerical order, to the appropriate regulation and clause. Any replies should be forwarded to reach this office not later than 10th January, 1930."