18 JANUARY 1935, Page 2

The Road Safety Problem— The thirty-miles speed limit for cars

in built-up areas is to be introduced in .a couple of months ; the " Belisha beacons" arc to be made general 'throughout the country; motorists (it is rumoured) are to be stopped to have their brakes and tyre-surfaces inspected ; the first charge against a motorist for failing to give way to a pedestrian at a Belisha crossing has been heard and decided against the pedestrian (on the ground that he vacillated); Mr. Hore-Belisha has instituted an intensive investigation into the direct and accessory causes of fatal accidents on the roads ; The Times has published independently an analysis of 34 fatal accidents in one coroner's district in the Home Counties, showing the blame to lie in 10 cases with pedestrians, in 8 with motor- cyclists, in 6 with pedal cyclists, in 4 with private car drivers, and in 3 with lorry drivers; the Automobile Association has published information on the use of safety railings at the pavement-edge. Such is a selection from one week's items of news from what is coming to be known as the traffic front.

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