Traffic Advisers The Minister of Transport has acted wisely in
appointing a Standing Road Safety Council, which will meet weekly. The road-traffic problem is viewed from quite different angles by motorists, cyclists and pedestrians respectively, and the advice of a body which includes representatives of all three is precisely what the Minister needs to guide him. Zones of silence are well enough, but no one will claim that they reduce accidents. The danger is that they may increase them. And the Minister's business is with a reduction in the accident rate. In that connexion study of regulations in force in other countries such as are quoted in an article on a later page of this issue on "Road Safety in America," should be, as no doubt it is, his perpetual concern. But he is there to see the best use, as well as the safest use, made of the roads of this country. To that end he might well require proof of capacity to attain a minimum speed-limit in the case of commercial vehicles. A lorry labouring up a hill at ten miles an hour or less offers an almost irresistible temptation to cars behind to pass it even when there is no clear view ahead. An inefficient vehicle ought not to be allowed to create a hold-up.
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