MOST MOTORISTS TAKING IT EASY

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5289, 30 December 1946, Page 6

MOST MOTORISTS TAKING IT EASY

Amusing Attempts At Getting Home Most motorists' in the RotoruaTaupo area seem to realise the main weakness of their vehicles and are cutting their speed to suit their rubber, so to speak. Traffic Department officers, who have been patrolling the district continuously over the holiday period, state that they have iseen very little evidence of exc'essive speedir-g on the part of motorists with poor tyres. The more modern vehicles with new tyres are maintaining a fair speed on the highways, ibut motorists who are not so fortunate are making quite sure that they wiri have their vehicles under control should anything untoward happen. There have been a few amusing attempts by stranded motorists to reach home or some place where they can make more or less effective repairs. Inspector B. P. Muggeridge reports one case of a motorist whom he found busily stiuiffing a trailer tyre with wool through a blow-out hole. Another opportunist, deciding that wheels were much easier to obtain than tyres, had dCcided to return home, a matter of 16 miles, on the bare rims. Yet another, who was notforunate enough to carry a spare bag of wool in the car, used grass to m'uich the same effect. The main causes of brushes and accidents in the Rotorua area over the holiday period appear to have been caused by ignoring the rule "keep to the 'left." In practically all cases, wheel marks have indicated that at least one, if not both vehicles involved in a by'ush, have ventured to the wrong side pf the road — sometimes only a few inches. If this rule were faithfuilly maintained, road casualties would be cut by 50 per cent.