MOTOR SPEEDERS.

Shannon News, 4 February 1927, Page 2

MOTOR SPEEDERS.

The Stratford Magistrate is probably right in his conclusion that the majority of defendants in cases of speeding, crossing railway lines whilst a train was approaching, and so on, are altogether unfitted to drive motor vehicles. Numbers of people who drive motor ears seem entirely unable' to judge speed, or are utterly careless of what it ‘may be. The worst offenders, however, are not car drivers but motorcycle riders. Numbers of these people, mostly youths or young men, seem to become semi-crazy when once their machine gets fairly started. This is shown by the extraordinary manner in which they dash headlong on to anything in front of them, even if it is a rajlway train passing over a crossing. They seem to go blind, and deaf too, for they tear along the streets with their cycle engines making a noise most diabolical to everyone but they do not appear to hear it. Last Saturday two of these cycle-riders rode right on to the front of a motor car containing a party visiting Ekctahuna. The car's radiator was broken and difficulty was experienced inreachin g the destination. The cyclists rode away without offering to pay for the damage they had done, and with their exhausts joyfully blasting everything along the road. The Stratford Magistrate is of opinion that the only method of prohibiting speeding is the cancellation of licenses. Fines have been increased without appreciable effect, and cancellation seems to be the only real method of control. No sympathy is deserved by the loser of a license who is shown to be regardless of the responsibilities that holding it entails. Every town suffers from niotor cycle speeding. Motor cars are being steadied up by fines and the loss of licenses in bad cases, but the roaring motor cycle still inflicts its noise and recklessness upon a suffering public without serious check. It is hard to catch them, but ways of doing so should not bo beyond the alertness and ingenuity of the police. The nuisance should be abated.