DRUNKEN DRIVERS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 215, 11 October 1929, Page 8

DRUNKEN DRIVERS.

"PARENT."

(To the Editor). ■ ... Sir,— Just a:line in hearty commendation of your ahle and well-timed article headed "Dru'nken Drivers" in* Tuesday's issue. I do not think any ♦. newspaper in the world conld have handlecl the subjeet hetter, I quite agree with you tliat the only effective punishment for a drunken motorist is imprisonment. As you point out,_ fines and temporary cancellation of license do not stop him, hence the grim necessity for imprisonment. He is a, menace to the life of everyone in liis vicinity, from himself down— or rather up, very much np— to _ little children. The issne is very simple, Ibnt effective : Stop drinking or- else never lay hands on a driving wheel. Why does not Parliament take action? With all respect to that august hody,.a little less eloquence now and then on other subjects would make room for some useful measure dealing withi this important matter of the public' s' safety. We severely punish a drunken engine driver, but why should a drunken motorist be treated with leliencv ? The one can only do mischie£ on the railwav line, .but the other can work havoc on every street and often footpath ! And _ also, *ag %yon . wisel.v point out, th'e "joy rider," the "road hog" and the "speed fiend"* generallv, quite need » more sever# treatment than they get ht present:— * I am. etc.,

"Napier, Octoher 10, 1929.