The Honour of Motorists The statement that in January of
this year 50 per cent. more motor vehicles were licensed than in January, 1933, is a satisfactory index of returning prosperity. From another point of view it provokes very different emo- tions, for it means that the potentialities of death and devastation on the roads of this country have been in- creased alarmingly. Those reflections, as the Minister of Transport pointed out in his unconventional and effective wireless talk on Tuesday evening, are inevitable on the eve of a holiday period which in previous years has filled Mortuaries and hospitals throughout the country with the victims of needless road accidents. This Easter the roads will be more crowded than ever before, and the degree of care that suffices on a comparatively empty road will not suffice on a full road. The duties of good citizenship do not cease when the citizen takes his seat at a steering- wheel. The Ministry of Transport Bill, designed to increase safety by legislation, is not available as these lines are being written, but without any further laws at all motorists are perfectly able, if they only will, so to control the dangerous vehicles in their charge as to giVe the country the unique experience of an Easter clear of road accidents. They shoUld be on their honour to do it.
