THE MELTING-POT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 426, 7 August 1928, Page 7

THE MELTING-POT

MOTORISTS AND LAWS PAYING THE PIPER At present motoring practice, if one may put it that way, is in the meltingpot. Radical changes have been made, regulations are in doubt, all sorts of gadgets have been introduced, and the law never seemed to be a greater ass. All vehicles must have rear red reflectors having an effective reflecting surface of not less than two square inches in area. There are all sorts of such reflectors on the market and there is no guide given concerning what is or what is not an effective reflecting surface.

Motorists are affixing these reflectors. Some are not efficacious, some are good, and in course of time many of the so-called effective reflectors will be condemned by the authorities. Drivers should make careful inquiry before purchasing reflectors. Certainly they cost little, but small gadgets cause trouble. It should be borne in mind also that reflectors must be affixed perpendicularly. As a driver grows in experience he finds that the motorist is a hapless wretch in so far as he is tethered to miles of don’t do this and do that. He learns that all the onus of traffic safety depends on him, that he is tagged, numbered and registered, and the cyclist and the pedestrian are privileged people, likewise the drivers of carts. So he must needs purchase rear red reflectors, rear mirrors, shift his tail light to at or near the right-hand side, not travel with a spotlight in play, nor use headlights which do not conform with the regulations. He must keep strictly to the left side and must not pass a tram on the right-hand side. Carts and lorries and bicycles do not keep strictly to the left, but that does not matter. When he leaves his car by the kerb he must get close in to the channelling, no matter how many bicycles are lying in the channelling. He is restricted in the use of portions of the roadway at certain times, though cyclists have the freedom of the road at all times. He must keep in an orderly line and think always of safety, yet the pedestrian is allowed to walk dangerously as a testing object for brakes. He must give direction signals to cart drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, and never receives a signal in return. Though cycles and carts do not carry bells, the motorist must provide a honker, not too loud, not too quiet, just dulcet toned, though the trump of Gabriel would not bestir some pedestrians from their sleep-walking. He must pay for a licence, registration and number-plates every year, pay for the roads, pay fines, the instalments on his car, pay for petrol, tyres, oil, insurance; in fact, pay the piper, and play the tune which the piper calls. He is cursed by his fellows and the cyclists and the pedestrians and the cart drivers and the tram drivers and the inspectors, and he curses them all in turn—and why shouldn’t he?