SPEED OF SERVICE CARS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 724, 25 July 1929, Page 10

SPEED OF SERVICE CARS

FIFTY PER CENT. INCREASE ALLOWED SOUTHERN SUBURBS’ ROADS Service-cars travelling on roads through the southern suburbs are to be allowed to-■travel at a 50 per cent, faster speed than at present permitted. This was agreed to at a meeting of local bodies this morning. The traffic committees o£ the Otahuhu Borough Council, Papatoetoe and Manurewa Town and the Manukau County Council met in the board room, Papatoetoe, this morning, to consider the speed of service-cars. Mr. T. Clements, Maj T or of Otahuhu. presided. Applications were received from Messrs. W. White and Sons, Thames, and A. Newby, Hamilton, for permission to run their service-cars at the maximum speed permitted under the Motor-Lorry Regulations. The traffic inspector reported that these service-cars or buses are vehicles in respect of which heavy traffic licence fees are payable, and are governed by tbe Motor-Lorry Regulations as regards speed. The speeds vary in accordance with the class, as defined by the weight, to which any particular lorry belongs. Lorries fitted with pneumatic tyres and designed principally for the carriage of passengers are allowed an increase of 50 per cent, on the speed allowed under the regulations. As the weight increases, the legal speed decreases, so that in some cases the maximum speed at which the vehicles may legally travel does not greatly exceed 20 miles an hour, no matter how good or safe any particular section of road may be. Regulation 5, Clause 6, of the regulations authorises a controlling authority to permit owners of vehicles of the classes to which service-cars and buses belong, to travel at speeds greater than the speeds set out in the regulations, provided that the maximum speed fixed by sucb permission shall not be more than 50 per cent, greater than the maximum speed provided by the regulations. The control of the vehicles at present, continued the inspector, was impossible unless the number of inspectors was increased to an enormous extent. He stated that the damage to roads, even concrete, was mainly due to the combination of weight and speed. With the increase of these vehicles the tendency must be for a decrease in the speed allowed, but service-cars, being a well-established and recognised means of travel, it seemed only reasonable that these public vehicles should be allowed to convey their passengers at speeds which would be considered reasonable for private vehicles. If the speed permitted is exceeded the local authority has the power to cancel the permit. On the recommendation of Mr. F. M. Waters, chairman of the Manukau County Council, it was agreed that the traffic inspector’s recommendations be adopted on trial for six months.