Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1927. THE EVOLUTION OF ROAD TRAFFIC.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3687, 6 September 1927, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1927. THE EVOLUTION OF ROAD TRAFFIC.

MAGISTRATE Stout ma ! de some caustic comments during the hearing of a charge at the local S.M. Court on Friday, by the Manawatu County Council’s traffic inspector against the driver of a passenger char-a-banc for exceeding the 16-mile speed limit) on the Fox-ton-Himatangi highway. The magistrate hesitated as to whether he would dismiss the case as trivial, but he entered a conviction. The speed at which the ’bus was travelling was alleged to be 33 miles. The County Council has complained against the speed at which service ears travel along the highways holding that such speed damages the road surface, and increases the cost of maintenance. But is it fair to lay all the. blame on the service cars? For every service car on the highways there are hundreds of private cars and in many cases the speed at which the latter travel exceeds the former —yet for some reason or other the service cars are sorted out for condemnation. The whole point of the matter seems to be that local bodies fail to realise the altered condition of transport by road, which demands that roads must be constructed to meet modern requirements of locomotion. It is futile to argue otherwise and until permanent highways are laid down the cost of maintenance will increase and prosecutions —except in exceptional cases —will not reduce maintenance costs. Service cars have come to stay and are recognised as necessary and convenient means of transport and the owners of such services are heavily taxed and therefore they have a right to consideration.