THE NEW PLYMOUTH TRAMWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1922, Page 6

THE NEW PLYMOUTH TRAMWAYS.

(To the Editor.) Sir, — In the interest of the public of New Plymouth I think it is about high time some notice was taken of the way the electric tramcars are driven in New Plymouth. I consider if they are allowed to go on as they are doing tncy will soon become a menace instead of a help to the New Plymouth residents. Besides being at times carelessly driven, they are poorly lighted, especially the big ones. The drivers of tramcars in New Plymouth, or at least some of them, seem to imagine they own the road, and several times I have only averted an accident to my car by turning down another street. Now any motorman should, at cross streets especially, always have his car under perfect control and be able to pull up at once, and then the person who has been the cause of him pulling up should be brought before his betters if he is in the wrong; but it is not so in New Plymouth. There have been several accidents lately, and in almost every case the tramcar has not pulled up until after the smash. I will admit that there is also a lot of carelessness on the part of motor drivers, but they are generally brought to book and made to pay; but as I mentioned before, it is high time now, that after all these accidents happening with trams colliding with lorries, cars, and even bumping into each other, that something was done.—l am, etc., SAFETY, [Some reflections our correspondent makes upon the magistracy are deleted, in the first place because we feel they are entirely unfounded, and secondly because we cannot allow them to appear under a nom de plume. The other matters have been brought to the notice of Mr. R. H. Bartley, the tramways engineer, who said that if the ! writer would refer any complaints or breaches to the Borough Council, either publicly or privately, they would be only too pleased to make investigations, as they recognise that the tramways are run in the interests of the public, whose safety must be a first consideration. In connection with the several collisions that have occurred recently, Mr. Bartley points out that these, with one exception, were not due to the fault of the motormen, who are specially instructed to be careful in their driving, and to be prepared for emergencies. If the cars were to slow down at evefy street corner the timetable would never be adhered to. The one case in which blame was attachable to a motorman was when one car bumped into another, and the offending motorman was discharged. As far as the other cases mentioned by our correspondent are concerned, Mr. Bartley assures us that the reflections on the tram-drivers are unjustified, and the allegations have no foundation in fact. —Ed.]