MOTOR DRIVERS' LICENSES

Hokitika Guardian, 17 October 1930, Page 8

MOTOR DRIVERS' LICENSES

N.E W REG TJ RATIONS

AGE LIMIT AND FITNESS OF

APPLICANTS

WELLINGTON, Oct. 14

New regulations relating to motordrivers have been prepared, and <>"e being circulated in draft form to local bodies motor associations, and other interested parties for their comment prior to the issue of regulations lor the licensing year commencinig on June Ist next.

In making ths announcement today, the Minister of Transport(tlu> Hon W. B. Taverner) said that the regulations consolidate those at present in force and make several important amentmcnts to them. These amendments were thoroughly considered by the Conference which recently sat at the invitation of the Minister of Transport to consider means of reducing traffic accidents, and are summarised as follow:

(! ) An applicant for a driver’s license must certify to his physical ability to drive safely, and if he is not prepared to give the necessary certificate, he must obtain and present to the licensing authority a satisfactory medical certificate. In case of applicants to drive a vehicle used for hire, a recent medical certificate of fitness to drive for hire must be supplied with' each annual application for a driving license. (2) Provision has been made to overcome that abuse of.the present regulation caused when motorists do obtain their licenses to drive from the proper- licensing authority. Cases are frequent in which am applicant is refused a license by one local nntlioritv and is successful in obtainng it from another.

(8) It is provided that new dri> - must be put through a comprehensive driving test and oral examination on the laws and regulations which apply to driving, both test and examination being basically uniform in their nature throughout the Dominion. The general nature of the test apd examination is specified in the regulations.

(4) An age limit of twenty-one years is specified in the case of drivers of vehicles weighing over a ton and a half unladen but the clause safeguards those drivers who may be under this age limit and; who .were already engaged in driving the respective types of vehicle before November 1, 1930. A general age limit of fifteen, years applies to all other motor-drivers, as fixed by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924. (5) Drivers of motor omnibuses licensed under the Motor Omnibus Traffic Act. 1926, are required at present to get two licenses, possibly from two different authorities, and a regulation is inserted to do away with this duplication. The Minister also announced that other regulations, namely, those under the Public Works Act dealing with heavy traffic, and those under the Motor Vehicles Act dealing with general motor traffic, have been revised, and will be circulated in the same manner at an early date.