Motoring
The Ordinary Motorist and the New Road Bill
IT is doubtful whether any Minister of the Crown, with the possible exceptions of a very few Chancellors_ of the Exchequer, has ever laid before the House a Bill So pro- mising or so practical as-Mr. Oliver Stanley's new Bill. His Road Traffic Bill is open to criticism in more than one direction. It would be a miracle Of legislation, an acclaimed Work of genius it it contained nothing on which not a minority but the majority of sensible people did net agree, but when its clauses areearefully Considered in the light of everyday *experience, ',of 'the terrible casualty figures, and of the Minister's own .admirable broadcast speech in which he dispassionately prophesied black disaster • over the Easter - holidays, it is immediately evident that not only exceptional foresight, but also a degree of courage seldom found in the pronouncements of Govermiaents, has inspired its anther. He has in nearly every aspect taken the bold. course and, what is at least as important; he has based his case on the assumption that while everybody who uses the King's Highway is in part responsible fOr the daily 'fatalities, in greater or less degree, nearly everybody is a sensible, decent person only too anxious-to do his 'part in' a general movement to promote everybody's safety.
That is most refreshing. We know our motor road-hogs as we know other cads on the road, the -type of selfish animals who ride bicycles, drive trams, taxis, butchers' carts and walk without the smallest consideration for others and therefore to the common danger. They are comparatively—few in number, but -their disgusting behaviour is so blatant that a widespread atmosphere of mutual distrust and dislike among all .classes of road- users has for a long time resulted: In its provisions- the new Bill gets all this into the right proportions. - Instead of laying the blame for every disaster on the driver of motor vehicles in general 'and of private cars in par- ticular, as has been done hitherto, in effect if not in so many words, Mr. Stanley takes it for granted that only the few, of all types of road-users, are responsible for the ugly scandal. if, in its main provisions, the Bill becomes law, it will stand out as one of the fairest measures on the Statute-book, for it will make a real and simple appeal to the instincts of the most sensible and law-abiding people in the world.
The most important clauses, from the ordinary mo- torists' point of view, are those which deal with com- pulsory driving tests, the temporary suspension of licences, the adoption of walkers' safety crossings, on the Paris model, in towns, and the possibility of controlling the note and volume of hooters. Nobody will object to the-new driver being compelled to satisfy authority that he knows enough about a ear's mechanism of control, its capa- bilities and inabilities, -and of the highway code before he is allowed to take out on to the public road what is potentially a very dangerous machine. I do not believe that it will have any effect on the road-hog, who is a person either with an outlook that would make him an object of hatred in any circumstances where he was free to behave as he pleased, or constitutionally incapable of estimating risk. He, like others who will never make good drivers, will pass with ease any test in driving a car in the ordinary way even upon our crowded roads. The test will improve neither his driving nor his character, but it should, - at the worst, strengthen the hands of magistrates in their dealings with bad cases.
"You have been taught what to do, what is safe, what is dangerous, what is discourteous. Your licence is a receipt for that lesson. You have no excuse. You are, therefore, deliberately responsible for this accident." It may reasonably be held that such a remark from the Bench might not always be absolutely just, but as measures not much less than heroic must be taken in the present crisis, it is at least possible that this aspect of the situation, in conjunction with the temporary cancella- tion of the licence, would in time have a repressive effect. At all events, provided that in the tests at least as many marks are given for real knowledge Of the code 'as for actual driving skill, it is well worth trying. The can- cellation of licences for short periods on conviction for careless driving is a practical suggestion, but before it can work satisfactorily a proper definition of the word careless is necessary. It means anything or nothing, or rather it only means something when an accident occurs. An accident may be due to carelessness, as it may be due to recklessness, ignorance, lack of skill, or, in rare circum- stances, bad luck. The suggestion suffers from a drawback common to most of its kind : the charge is made by one or more persons who may not have the requisite experience and knowledge of driving. Any experienced driver knows how difficult it is always to be sure that a piece of driving, over in a couple of seconds, is really dangerous or careless when the witness is on foot, as a village constable would be. The evidence of the mobile police would be of greater value—but how many of these will be necessary to have an appreciable effect, and will that number add seriously to the congestion on the roads ?
Traffic lanes are already in operation near London, and so far as my own experience of them goes, before, during and after the holidays, I do not think that their moral effect will last without supervision. The idea is simple and sensible and if the Englishman were not, in spite of his respeet:for the law, so stubborn an individu- alist, it would probably be an automatic success. As it is, and judging from what I saw in a week's driving, some- thing more forcible than mere suggestion will be needed to keep the slow traffic from trespassing and, as a direct consequence, the fast from again overtaking in a more or less dangerous manner. Time and again I saw 30-miles- an-hour cars sticking in the fast section and the fast cars either crossing the boundary between the " up " and the " down " lanes in order to pass them, or hooting aggress- ively, if understandably, and thereby creating a " nervous " and therefore a risky situation. The ignorant, the stupid and the inexperienced driver con- siders himself to be the best judge of what is safe behaviour. Add his inborn objection to being drilled in mass formation and the difficulty of educating him is discouragingly apparent.
The proposal that cyclists' rear mudguards should be painted white is sound but it does not go far enough. There is only one thing that will decrease the risks of the cyclists at night, and that is the compulsory tail- light. The objection that has been raised to this plan is frankly incomprehensible unless it is based on the theory that no man in this free country should be compelled to take measures for his own safety. As an old cyclist myself, I have every sympathy with a body of road-users who are at a heavy disadvantage in present-day traffic conditions, but if I used a bicycle today for either pleasure or getting to and from my work, I would hang half a dozen lights on it, if necessary, without considering the law at all. Short of being supplied with lights for nothing, the cyclist is now in far better case than he has ever been. For is. 6d. he can get a miniature battery light which cannot by any stretch of imagination add to his physical burden, or, unless he is a fanatic, offend the principles of the freeborn subject. The proposal to enforce a standard of efficiency in rear red reflectors is a step that makes no progress worth recording, admirable though it obvious- ly is in intention.
The best points of a thoroughly practical Bill are the compulsory education of novices, in the tenets of the Highway Code, the temporary cancellation of licences, the adoption of walkers crossings and the imposition of a 30-miles-an-hour speed limit in avenues and built-on roads. The worst is the absence of a clause compelling local authorities to maintain roads in a safe, non-skidding condition. In a recent debate Mr. Stanley told the House that he proposed to make future grants for re- surfacing roads contingent on their being scientifically banked, but that is not enough. Slippery roads are responsible for many serious accidents.
JOHN PRIOLEAu.
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