SPEEDING MOTORISTS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5095, 2 March 1927, Page 2

SPEEDING MOTORISTS.

TRAFFIC TO TE AROHA RACES. PLAINS INSPECTOR’S HAUL. Over a dozen motorists proceeding to or returning from the races at Te Aroha on Saturday or Monday last will, in all probability, be required to attend at the Police Court some time in tjie near future to explain their haste while crossing the Hauraki Plains. ■ Mr Cameron (county traffic inspector) and his assistants were busy from early morning till late at night on both days at various places between Waitakaruru and Netjierton, and had it not been for the fact that many motorists passed the word, along that speed traps had been instituted their haul would have been a heavier one. It is a difficult matter in a district so open as the Plains to hide a signalman where he can see the speeding cars and signal their passing without being seen himself. To this fact many motorists last, week-end, and on previous occasions, owe their escape.

On Saturday one car driver amazed the inspector by slowing down to a crawl about halfway through the trap. A passenger sitting on the running-board had seei> the signal. The driver of a truck saved one of his friends from being caught by staying in the middle of t.he road and compelling the oncoming ear to slow down to pass, and one motorist, annoyed at being caught himself, warned the drivers of the buses from Auckland —who are notorious offenders — with the result that they passed through the measured distance at, about ten miles an l hour. The speed limit within the county is 28 miles an hour according to the. by-laws of the council. In view of a recent decision by a southern magistrate this speed may not be held to be dangerous to the public on a clear straight road, so t,he charges will in all probability be for breaking a bylaw designed to protect the road itself. The red metal with which the roads of the Plains are blinded is thrown in all directions by fast-mov-ing cars. In fact, complaints have been received from parents to the effect that their children’s legs have been cut by metal thrown cut by passing ’cars.