SPEED OF MOTORS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4302, 10 August 1921, Page 4

SPEED OF MOTORS.

GO AS YOU PLEASE.

A new law lately enacted in France, according to summaries published in the English papers, makes some novel departures where the control- of motoring is concerned. For instance, speed limits are abolished (presumably on country roads) where the weight' of the vehicle does not exceed three tons. Machines weighingmore than three tons are subject »o speed limits, but this, it is stated, is solely with a view to. the preservation of roadways, because “no road could withstand the rapid passage cl such heavy weights.” Commenting on the French .legislation, Mr H. Mas-

j sac Buist condemns- the practice lowed in Great .Britain of allowing vehicles of excessive weight to operate with trailers, “fco that one pair of wheels with crossbar.® of iron may subject the roa 1 to the tractive effort accessary to draw along an aggregate weight of eight ton-s and more —a force which no road yet built in this country is able to withstand.” As ,the taxation of motor vehicles is at present arranged in Great Britain, the use of heavy trailers offers . a mean s of escaping taxation. The new French law, on the other hand, makes some provision for the preservation of road surface®. These are points which will be well worth, keeping in mind when a scale of motor taxation is being framed in this country. Under the new French rules, the use cf lights is' prohibited in a’l (towns, villages, or other places provided with public lighting. Moreover, “lights are to be so arranged when the vehicle is travelling in the open country that the. rays will never rise' more than 39 inches above ground level.” ;