OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 221, 26 January 1928, Page 4

OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS.

MOTOR CONTROL. The trend of affairs appears to indicate that a clash is approaching between that section of the community who are not car owners and the local bodies. There are two causes which will lead to trouble. One is the increase in the number of proceedings that are being taken against motorists breaking the by-laws governing the speed that cars can travel at; the second is with the speed limit which many authorities are now fixing. No objection can be taken to i control. It is essential. And the bulk of motorists will be in accord with the general principle. It is desirable that through towns, or passing schools, or where roads cross or converge, or where traffic is heavy there should be a limitation and control of speed. It is well that local authorities should see that their bylaws are observed within reason. But conditions must be taken into consideration. Is it reasonable to say that because a certain speed is defined when a motorist is passing a school that it is to be observed when there are school holidays or at night when the school is shut? A portion of a road may be very busy during certain hours of the day. At that time 25 miles an hour may be an excessive speed, and 15 a reasonable one. But at other times of the day and at n'ght there may be hardly any traffic. To define 25 miles an hour as excessive then is unreasonable.

The position is that under the law the Tines secured under the Motor Vehicles Act and regulations under it and under local by-laws, go to the local body whose officers lay the information. There is quite an impression that some local bodies have become imbued with the idea of “ get rich quick ” at the expense of the motorist. It would appear as if there is a big element of local body moneymaking behind the proceedings in the courts on by-law case days. Motorists are brought before the court for exceeding the speed limit at times when there is no traffic on the road, and when it is quite reasonable to proceed at the speed at which the car is being driven. The circumstances are not taken into consideration. Certain local bodies are obtaining a most unenviable notoriety in by-law cases, and the law or by-laws appear to be used primarily for the production of revenue rather than, as they should be, for the control of traffic.

Some local authorities are placing almost absurd restrictions on the speed which may be obtained by a

car. Twenty-five miles an hour has been fixed by some county councils. It is said that the new Government regulations allow for a thirty miles maximum, which looks like another effort to bolster up the railways against the incursion of service cars into revenue. Again circumstances are not allowed to enter into consideration. With many of the moderatepriced cars it is found on the good road that thirty-five miles an hour is the speed at which the best is got out of the engine. With the high-power cars thirty-five miles is a very moderate rate. The standard of the road is also a controlling factor. On some country roads twenty-five miles would not be likely to be exceeded. The surface of the road would be an effectual bar to high speeds, except with maximum discomfort. But with good roads the position becomes very different, and since the motorist is now a contributor to the upkeep of roads he will ask for good surfaces. With a long straight run in the country, with no side roads, and with a good surface to make it penal to exceed twentyfive miles an hour is stupid. Motorists with good cars will certainly not observe it, and the by-law may simply be used as a revenue providing source. The Motor Vehicles Act defines liability for “ recklessly or negligently ” driving a motor car, or for any person “ who drives at a speed or in a manner which having regard to all the circumstances of the case is or might be dangerous to the public.” This really means reasonable speed, and is a great deal more in the interests of the public than the effort to control everything by che fixation of arbitrary limits. In conjunction with this there is the personal equation of the capability of the driver, control and condition of the car. A person, a capable and experienced driver, who is in a ear which has received regular attention and which has strong brakes in perfect order, is liable to be fined for exceeding some restricted limit by a few miles per hour. Another individual, a poor driver, with an old car which never received attention and on which the brakes are cut of order, dodges along at a mile under the by-law defined speed and is not called upon to appear in court. And yet the second driver is the greater menace to the community.

What is reeded is reasonable control. And because this is being departed from there is bound to be trouble between the two sections.

The penalising of motorists in the United Kingdom and in the United States has reached scandalous proportions, and the motorists of New Zealand would be well advised to use every means in their power to prevent a similar shameful state of affairs in this Dominion.—Morrinsville Star.