CORONER’S VIEWS ON SPEED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 982, 27 May 1930, Page 6

CORONER’S VIEWS ON SPEED

IS SECONDARY IMPORTANCE Dr. F. J. Waldo, tlie senior coroner for London, at a recent inquest fol- | lowing a motor fatality, said that speed j as a factor in traffic fatalities is of | secondary importance. He stated that he had examined the evidence ! very carefully in every traffic fatality j case coming before him during the | past year, and 1929 was a record year. I He had had as many as three cases a j day to deal with, and he had failed to j find anything pointing to excessive | speed, especially in the case of pri vate motor-cars, as a cause of death. When Dr. Waldo gave evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1910 on the Prevention of Traffic Fatalities, he said that in his opinion it was of first-rat j importance to deal with dangerous or reckless driving, and he recommended that the police should concentrate chiefly on this clause in the Mott’. Act of 1903. Dr. Waldo suggests that provision should be made for increased penalties, aud that magistrates should cancel licences in appropriate cases, including those in which drivers have been proved to be physically unlit. He recommends that serious cases or subsequent convictions be treated with imprisonment without the option of a fine

A SIX TON SPEEDSTER A recent issue of ‘‘The Commercial Motor” describes a very remarkable vehicle which will carry six tons “at speeds almost comparable with those of a moderately sized private car . . . a vehicle which can be started by a quarter of a turn of the startinghandle. “A vehicle which will haul its sixton net load up a long gradient of one in twelve at 12 miles an hour, and up a gradient of one in four and ahalf to five and a-half with consummate ease.” This Guy six-tonner, built in response to a definite demand for such a vehicle, has met with a. gratifying reception with some of the largest users of commercial transport in England.

GRAND PRIX RACES Preparations are well forward for the two Grand Prix races to be held by the Sports Motor-cycle Club at Henning’s Speedway’, Mangere, on Tuesday next. The straight in front of the score board will be replaced by a narrow S-sliaped bend, which will necessitate constant gear changing. The solo event will be over 50 miles and the side-car race over 10 laps.