THE RIGHT OF ROAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1922, Page 3

THE RIGHT OF ROAD.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Some time ago a well known gentleman of Stratford was fined for not giving way while driving his motor car. Can you inform mejf the bylaw under which he was prosecuted is operative in the Clifton County, and, if so, who is responsible for its enforcement? If such a by-law exists it is i bfeing infringed daily to the risk of life and limb of the users of our road. Any j motor car driver on the New Ply-mouth-Uruti Road can inform you of the action of a number of motor lorry drivers who not only refuse to give way when met or overtaken, but also bear over towards the passing motor car, forcing the latter on some parts of the road into a very dangerous position. A few weeks ago a collision took place a few miles past Waitara, in which a number of the occupants of the ear were severely injured and the car demolished. In this case the other vehicle was a motor lorry. Later on • another collision took place just past Waitara, and again a motor lorry was one of the vehicles. Numerous accidents have been averted only by the skill of the drivers of the motor cars. Quite recently a earload of ladies was forced into a dangerous position by a motor lorry, and was only saved from precipitation into a deep gully by skilful driving. The shocks caused by these narrowly averted accidents are sometimes, in the case of ladies of nervous temperament, far-reaching in their effects, and serious consequences have followed. When a lady on entering a motor car on her way to New Plymouth or Waitara is heard to remark, “I hope we won’t meet any motor lorries; they are a perfect nightmare to me,” I think it is quite time that some action was taken to alter the present state at things. An ordinary person has no chance of taking any action. The Lord help anyone whoi even dares to complain. Henceforth, he is a marked man. and must be prepared to get along the road the best way he can. Tn some cases where an exasperated driver has complained he has been met with extended fingers at the end of a nose. Can you assist in getting this matter rectified for the sake of the women and children?—l am, etc., MOTORIST. Waitara, April 39. [Under the Public Works Act such actions as above described constitute an offence, and the offending drivers may be prosecuted at the instance of any user of the highway. The law is weak in that it does not compel lorry drivers to use reflector glasses, as it should do. Then offenders would be without the excuse which in some courts locally has saved them from punishment.— Ed.]