CAR HORNS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 42, 18 January 1938, Page 2

CAR HORNS.

LAW EFFECTIVE. PREVENTION OF NOISE. HOBART, Jan. 5. The general effect of the ban on the night use of motor horns in cities and main towns in Tasmania has been to increase the caution exercised by motorists and pedestrians, though instances have occurred when accidents might have been avoided by timely warning. Under the Tasmanian law motor horns may be sounded only in cases of emergency up till 8 p.m. After this hour it is an offence to sound a motor horn. Motorists have readily fallen in with the regulation, -and it is rarely the sound of a motor horn is heard in the streets of Hobart, even during peak traffic periods. The result is extraordinary quietness, compared with the streets ,of mainland cities, which the greater volume of traffic would not entirely account for. QUIET'NIGHTS. The ban is especially effective at night, when householders’ rest is not disturbed by screeching horns, and, with a few "minor objections, the law can he said to be entirely satisfactory to all sections involved—motorists, pedestrians, and householders. “At first I did not like the idea, hut I am convinced that indiscriminate sounding of motor horns is unnecessary,” said a prominent driver. “The majority of pedestrians have become more careful in the absence of warnings of the approach of cars.” “Pedestrians do not have to be screeched at to get out of the way of approaching cars,” said a man in the street.

“Peace, perfect peace, except for barking dogs and crowing roosters,” commented a householder.