MOTOR VEHICLES BILL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 September 1924, Page 7

MOTOR VEHICLES BILL.

POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION.

CITY MOTOR INSPECTOR’S COMMENTS.

In discussing the Motor Vehicles Bill Mr. H. Macintosh, chief city motor inspector of Christchurch, had some interesting comments to make.

A great deal depended on the regulations which were made by Order-in-Council as to how the new measure would work in practice, said Mr. Macintosh. It would remain to be seen if the chief officers in charge of the carrying out of the law were practical men, experienced in the intricacies of traffic control, both as regards carrying out regulations and in actual practice. At present it was not clear who was going to see that the provisions of the Bill were carried out. The registration of vehicles and the issuing of vehicle licenses were matters which were left in the hands of the P. and T. Department, but it was hardly probable that the officers of that Department were going to assume responsibility for the carrying out of the /provisions. The larger municipalities had traffic officers, but it was not likely that the local bodies would allow thenofficers to do the Government’s work, particularly in view of the loss of revenue those bodies would suffer as the result of the Government taking over the registration fees. The police, in the local district at least, already had their hands full, according to the last published report of the superintendent, who had made application for the appointment of eleven additional men for his district. The Bill mentioned inspection only in one instance, and that was regarding the,fixing of brakes and inspection of same. This wa s a question upon which further advice would probably be received after the Special Committee of the House had heard evidence.

Under the Bill owners had to make personal application on the prescribed form for registration. This was likely to lead to difficulty, for the City Council had found that when registration was done by correspondence motorists made all manner of mistakes. It was sometimes difficult enough to get all the ? required information out of the persons desiring to register when , thev made their application across the counter, and when the person takin" the particulars was an expert. What was going to be the position when the motorist filled in the form at home, or went to a P. and T. Department officer for information? Under the local body by-law the dealer selling the car could register it in the new owner’s name, but in the new Bill there was no provision for anyone but the owner to register.

The issuing of identification marks also presented a problem under the Government scheme. If one letter, such as C, were used for the whole of Canterbury, for instance, how were the authorities going to allocate numbers to the various post offices. All these were points which would have to be settled. It was not clear what powers blanch post offices had in the matter of registration, collection of fees etc Mr. Macintosh heartily approved of the conditions regarding reckless driving but he did not agree that licenses to drive should be issued to persons of a £ e - favoured an age hmit of 17 for males and 20 for females. His experience of accidents made him ni ”V in f" a t opinion. The compulsory notification of change of address was an excellent provision. Under the proposed legislation the Government would have power to cause local bodies to erect signposts but nothing was said as to bearing the cost of such work. The drivers’ license fee was fixed at ss, but he considered that 5s for motorcyclists and 10s for cars would be equitable.

Ihe provision that all accidents should be reported to the police-was a wise * hls connection, Mr. Marinesll l idd i- d ' a i. Present the City Council s traffic office gave all facilities to pei sons involved in accidents for acquiring information, but there was nothing i„ the Bill to show that 'a diner would have the right to inspect the Government register of vehicles It was provided that any local authority could issue a license to any person who satisfied it of hi s competency to drive. This might lead to applicants avoiding the large centres and obtaining then- hcense to drive from IT 1 ! 1 ?i ltside bod v, with the result that the certificate would be petency. S eVlde,lce of a driver’s com-

Definitions .were required in several linor instances. The seating space for passen ," er vehicles, a definition of p ying for hue and such matters remained to be settled. It seemed only fair that some provision should be made for local bodies leceiying the costs of prosecutions, seeniK that thej would „„t get re ,l e m?e tiom fines imposed under the regulations of the proposed Act. The limitation of size of vehicles was a point which _appealed to the insnector and he added in conclusion that one’good result of the Bill when brought %to oi ce would be that it lvould produce a census of cars in the Dominion