ROAD DANGERS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 723, 26 December 1933, Page 2

ROAD DANGERS

LORD COTTENHAM DECLARES SPEED IS NOT THE CAUSE. FOOLS RESPONSIBLE. piscussing the resumption of the speed lim.it o,n British roads with the Daily Mail, Lord Cottenham says: If the Government reimposes a spe,ed-limit for priv.a.te motor-cars it will be no more or less than a confession of incompetence, and will make no permanent contribution towards public safety. It will serve merely as a sop to public opinion, and a very temporary one. When it is discovered how temporary it is — ,a slight psychological improvement, perhaps, until motorists get used to flouting; the regula- ' tion again — the official mind will have to think of something else. With any luck, it may hit upon the bright ideas of enforcing the existing law and of ' really starting to control traffic. But it does not do to be too hopeful. Enforcing road safety might be an unpopular move to start with; mor.e unpopular, perha.ps, than just ' letting people go on being: killed and road transport go on being inefficient. As for controlling traffic, that would mean that the official mind had something to learn, which is almost inconceivable — to the official mind. .No; if the retrogressive step of bringing back speed limits (which for thirty years were proved to be a failure) does not work, obviously there is only one course for the official mind