MOTOR REGULATIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 316, 29 March 1928, Page 18

MOTOR REGULATIONS

A.A.A. LECTURE NEW RULES EXPLAINED The great interest centred in the new motor regulations was shown by the attendance of several hundreds of motorists at the explanatory lecture arranged by the Auckland Automobile Association at the Unity Hall last evening. "TN view of the great amount of -■'ground to be covered, the new regulations* are exceedingly satisfactory,” said Mr. G. W. Hutchison, secretary of the A.A.A., who was thp lecturer. He said that although his association still had several suggestions, he did not intend to criticise the Government’s legislation. “The Auckland Automobile Association, he said, has been fighting for many years to secure uniform national regulations, and it was interesting to note that several of the new clauses have long been adopted by the Auckland City Council, which appears to be the pioneer in ‘ motor legislation. “We killed 23 persons in Auckland last year,” said Mr. Hutchison, “a figure that is far too high, and reveals a very serious state of affairs.” In his opinion, accidents are due to three main causes, which are responsible for 75 per cent, of the trouble. These causes are speed (i.e., a rate of speed which is unreasonable considering the circumstances at that time), the cutting of corners, and failure to give proper hand signals. Mr. Hutchison also contended that the test for new drivers should be much stricter. At the beginning the lecturer gave a resume of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924, dealing with registration and licences! under which the new regulations were authorised. The newly gazetted regulations were then gone through, all the important clauses being read out and explained. Attention was given to the duties of traffic inspectors, the requirements of lights on cars, dimming, parking at night, braking power of the car, horns, luggage carriers, left-hand steering, pillion-riding, overtaking vehicles, passing trams, the offside rule, and general traffic instructions. Particular attention was given to the instruction for hand signalling, and the question of speeds. Motorists are now required to give only two simple hand signals, one to indicate a slowing down, and the other to indicate a right turn. Dealing with the section regarding speeds, Mr. Hutchison said that there was a general requirement that no vehicle should travel at such a speed that it would be impossible to pull up in half the distance visible ahead. Four limits are set out, and excess of them puts the onus on the motorist of proving that he was not committing the offence of “driving at a speed which might be dangerous.”