The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, February 18TH, 1913. CHECKING THE SPEED OF MOTOR CARS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1065, 18 February 1913, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, February 18TH, 1913. CHECKING THE SPEED OF MOTOR CARS.

The speed at which motorists drive' their cars through inland towns has been regulated in a novel way by the Petone Borough Council. After much careful thought, the councillors have hit upon a cheap and effective way of checking the speed, without the aid either of a costly by-law or the services of the man in blue. By its means the safety of life and limb is secured, the dust nuisance is greatly abated, and the roadways are prevented from being torn up by an excessive speed of traffic. The means adopted is by putting down asphalt crossings with a rise of from three to six inches sloping from the level of the ordinary roadway. The chaffeur who desires to ignore the warning of this little rise in the road level, and rushes over the obstruction once, is very chary about repeating the experiment. Writing about the effect of the check on motors going at an excessive speed, the Petone Chronicle says a car receives a shock so great that it at once wants attending to by a motor doctor. The result of the cleverly devised scheme of the Petone Council has been that the motor cars proceed along Hutt road at a moderate rate of speed. This is what has been required for some time, as it was absolutely unsafe for pedestrians to cross the road, owing to the danger of being run over by the motprs. So much had

been said against the danger o i traffic which might be caused by the crossings that the Petone Fire Brigade had a trial run along the Hutt road on Sunday. The driver was on the look-out, and states that there is absolutely no danger to traffic that is properly conducted. At present there is a nice little hurdle for the motor enthusiasts to accomplish at full speed, but an easy grade for careful drivers.