Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 1937. COURTESY ON THE ROAD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 207, 2 August 1937, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 1937. COURTESY ON THE ROAD.

Arising inevitably from tlie determined effort to check by legislative means the unduly heavy toll of road traffic on human life, increasing prominence is being afforded to the proclamation and practice of road courtesy. It is a splendidly comprehensive term, capable of expression in a variety of ways — and not by the motorist alone — and the fact that it is bearing fruit is indicative of the earnestness with which the public conscience is being applied to the solution of a problem of extreme urgency.. There is one very happy element in this campaign indigenous to a sound conception of adequate citizenship—the stress being laid on the fact that the entire community is involved, with perhaps pardonable emphasis on that portion which comprises motorists. It is a national campaign for the national welfare and, although the most recent report issued by the Ministry of Transport effectively effaces any tendency to complacency by stressing the lamentable carelessness still being displayed, it is heartening to record a substantial saving of life. But if anything approaching complete suc : cess is to be obtained, it is essential that the measure of co-opera-tion so far afforded be extended and sustained. A Judge of the Supreme Court at Christchurch last week touched on an important aspect—that of dazzling headlights—when he emphasised the responsibility resting on drivers to exercise wisdom when they meet such a difficulty. The executive of the Manawatu Automobile Association, at its recent meeting, discussed at length the same subject from a different angle, when a remit was framed for submission to the conference of the North Island Motor Union asking that the Transport Department furnish information as to what steps are being taken to ascertain that warrants of fitness are being universally applied for and granted'. From the trend of the published remarks it was evident that considerable perturbation has been aroused by drivers who fail to observe road courtesy by displaying adequate and correctly focussed headlights. _ On one of the busiest arterial highways leading into the city the seven-mile section from Awahuri -three vehicles had been observed with only one light and five with their lights incorrectly, focussed. The extreme danger of such a practice is so apparent that to further stress it would only labour the point. Happily, the majority of motorists are recognising the part they must play in the campaign, and users of highways contiguous to the city have noted a greater courtesy of dimmed lights and similar

safety measures extended to them. It is, in the final analysis, an experiment in psychology—the inculcation of a spirit of citizenship expressed through courtesy hud common-sense practice.

It will be patent that the responsibility does, not end with the motorist, but must be increasingly accepted by the pedestrian and cyclist. Recently, the Greater New York Safety Conference studied the matter of road fatalities closely and labelled the pedestrian a “national traffic problem.” A portion of the report makes-timely reading: “A close study of the habits of seemingly careless pedestrians indicates that they are prone to measure the hazard of an approachiug car by distance when the only accurate measure is that of speed. .. . In some cases when they estimated the time as ten seconds the vehicle arrived in five. - Another error is the failure to note the width of the road to be crossed or the number of vehicles that are approaching.” In view of the recently published Road Safety Code in the Dominion the additional observation is interesting: “Our effort to educate the pedestrian in the safe use of the highways would be greatly speeded up if we could prove to him by legislation that there are certain things he should not attempt to do.” The Dominion possesses adequate legislation —the broad need is an intelligent conception of the implications of courtesy on the road.