Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, NOVEMB. 27, 1917. MOTOR TRAFFIC BY-LAWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1757, 27 November 1917, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, NOVEMB. 27, 1917. MOTOR TRAFFIC BY-LAWS.

VARIOUS local governing authorities luive passed by-laws regulating the speed of motor traffic within boroughs. The point is: What is a safe speed? Some hair-brained individuals fhink nothing of rushing through the main thoroughfare at anything from 20 (o 30 miles an hour, regardless of consequences. Such irresponsible drivers must be checked, and it is with the object of punishing them, and to protect the lives of saner individuals, that bylaws are enacted. An appeal case is now before the Wellington Supreme Court to define what is a reasonable by-law in respect fo the speed limit in congested areas. In Greytown the by-law specifies twelve miles per hour, and Petone eight miles. The appeal considers the bylaws unreasonable. Counsel for appellants pointed out in support of this that in England the maximum speed was twenty miles per hour, but there was power, on the application of municipalities of not less than 10,000 inhabitants, to apply for an order restricting this speed to ten miles per hour. In the largest cities in England the maximum speed was twenty miles. In Wellington there were two speed limits. In what might be called the city streets the council thought that a speed of fifteen miles per hour was reasonable, and in the rest of the city, outside the congested area, the speed was twenty uiile.s per hoax’. The Foxton borough notice board seeks to regulate the speed to 10 miles, which, by the way, is more honoured in the breach than the observance. When the decision is given in the above appeal case local authorities will get an indication as to what is a reasonable by-law in this connection. We think the maximum should be fifteen miles, but where there are dangerous intersections it should he legal to impose 10 miles, and with the local awkward approaches to our main thoroughfare and the proximity of the school, this limit should be adhered to locally. Further, the Council should erect warning signals near the school, and at the very dangerous intersection of Johnston Street and Avenue Road and Russell Street.