Compliance With the Law. .
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THERE IS EVIDENT throughout the country a disposition to secure a strict adherence to prescribed traffic conditions ruling heavy vehicle traffic. We have seen thoroughly organized raids upon motor vehicle drivers in connection with. the possession and validity of driving licences. Following upon this, came the thorough scrutiny of number plates ; previous slackness in this direction having resulted in the use of plates -which, bY their thousands, were illegal in form, position and condition. There has been a crusade upon lamps, their dimensions and, more recently, their position relative to vehicle width. Motor vehicle speed has always been the great basis of police attack upon the new made of read transport, but the old police trap, with a method of timing that was hopelessly crude, has now given place to the speedometer method of gauging the speed of the suspected vehicle, although it is obvious that this method can be quite as inaccurate as timing over a measured distance. .
Now comes up again the carefully laid schemes of the local authorities for ascertaining axle weights of vehicles passing over the roads. We illustrated in our last issue the •erection of portable platforms on the axleweight ascertainer foundations on the Portsmouth road, these platforms having been removed from the foundations fixed near Sutton. We should not be surprised to learn that it is the intention of the Surrey County Council, in whose area the two ascertainera referred to are situated, to lay clown similar foundations on alternative roads, so that any attempt regularly to avoid a testing on one road can be countered by moving the portable platforms, from time to time, from one road-to the other. '
It is quite fair to argue that, if the authorities do not, "do the heavy" (to use the witty headline to the paragraph anrompanying the illustration), the heavy will do them, by running axlevreights beyond the legal load, thus msking the illegal vehicle to appear more economical than the light vehicle, but at the expense of the ratepayer who has to foot the bill for road repair.
It is claimed by the makers of the axleweight aacertainers that the weighing of a vehicle can be accomplished in seven minutes, so that the ground for objection on the part of transport operators is small. It is necessary for road makers and maintenance departments to know the weights going over the highways, so that the "tool" is really, as they contend, a necessary adjunct to the proper upkeep of our highways.
Taxation as a Means to Better Roads.
THE PROGRAMME-for the Conference which is to be held in October has not yet been published, 'but -we believe that we can, fairly safely-point to some of the subjects -which must necessarily come up for discussion.
It ig to be remembered that this Conference is essentially Imperial in character. . It is designed to consider problems, not from the point of Great Britain alone, but from that of the Empire as a whole. In this country, we have, for a long time past, ,. recognized the principle that the proceeds of motor taxation should be devoted to road improvement. At the moment, the principle has been shaken, and it would Deem that we are expected to pay not merely for the improvement but also for the maintenance of roads. We are, however, given 'clearly to understand that this is merely alemporary arrangement, and that the principle formerly recognized is still appreciated a,s being sound. .
In the Empire Overseas, or, at any rate, in some portions of it, we believe that this principle has not yet been endorsed and, probably, a representative Conference would afford the best means of ventilating the matter and inaugurating effective action. We know, from our own experience that, if it is proposed totax motor vehicles, the attitude adopted by their, owners towards the scheme of taxation depends very largely on the purpose for -which the tax is levied. Motor owners do not admit that they are proper subjects for taxation, merely for purposes of general national revenue. They are, as a rule, inclined to agree that, if the taxation is reasonable in extent and if the proceeds of it go to the improvement of roads, it is net unreasonable to require them to make a special contribution.
The road and the vehicle, as we have often said, are the two equally essential parts of motor transport. The one is useless without the other ; therefore, it is worth the while of the owner of the one part to pay something in order to make the other part more efficient. We believe that, if this general principle were unanimously adopted throughout the Empire, it would lead to the rapid improvement of roads, partly because the motor owners who paid the taxation would be constantly watching road development and complaining if it were not sufficiently rapid, and partly because, at least, the nucleus of a fund for the work would be provided and it would be the definite 'business of someone in official quarters to see that the fund was judiciously expended. In countries where motors are comparatively little used, it would be absurd to suggest that the whole of the money required for road improvement should be provided by existing motorists. It should be provided rather by potential motorists or motor users ; that is to say, by the whole community, because every member of the community stands to benefit from road improvement.
Our suggestion is only that the existing motor user should be regarded as a. special class and required to make a special levy of a strictly moderate character, and, moreover, for a, very definite purpose. Were this done, we should have a certain section of the population perpetually pressing for improved roads and having the right to exert special pressure. The result -could only be the accelerated formation of public opinion, along lines making for better roads and more efficient motor transport.
The Choice of Ploughs for the Trials.
IT IS AN AXIOM, both iii public and private life, that it is impossible to please everybody, and that whoever may try most often succeeds in pleasing nobody : which would appear to afford an excellent example of when not to attempt the impossible.
In ordinary commercial pursuits it is generally advisable, at least, to incur the gratitude of as many prospectiVe clients as possible. The merchant's slogan is frequently, "We endeavour to please." We hardly imagine, however, that the most servile of salesmen would subscribe to the nation that it was his duty to ingratiate himself with the people from whom he was in the habit of making his own purchases. Yet, that is what certain of the tractor agents appear to desire from the Royal Agricultural Society. of England, in demanding that the Committee should so govern their actions as to please the tractor makers and agents, in the matter of the regulations for the forthcoming trials.
This situation, which would have been regarded as impossible, has arisen in connection with the selection of the ploughs, for we are given to understand that certain entrants of American machines are strongly protesting because the implements which have been selected for their use during the test are not to their liking.
It is essential, above all things, to realize that it is a tractor trial that is contemplated, not a ploughing match, nor even a trial of ploughs. The ploughs are not going to be considered in the matter ; they are not to be judged ; they are, in fact, hardly necessary to the performance at all, except in so far as they allow of fairly accurate estimates of the fuel consumption and acreage per hour of each competitor, for which purpose it is essential that the implements used by each of the various competitors in each class be alike.
Again, these trials are being promoted and carried out by the farmers' representative body, for the benefit of farmers. The sole object is tliat of discovering the best amongst those tractors which are on the market. They were initiated by the Royal at the request of its members, and they will be carried out, most impartially, and at considerable expense to the promoters. It is surely preposterous, therefore, for a2.4 any coterie of manufacturers or importers to attempt to dictate the conditions of the trial, SO long as there is nothing in those conditions which is unfair or can seriously be said to be liable to injure the prospects of the machines which are being tested—to wit, tractors (not ploughs).
It is perfectly true that the manufacturers are represented—by the S.M.M. and T.—in the body which is carrying out the trials, but their position is rather that of acquiescence in the trials, and teinporary abandonment of their own projected event, rather than that of actual participators in the drawing up of the regulations of the tests. In any case, it would still be invidious for them to attempt in any way to interfere with the specific conditions of the trials which are, rightly, laid down by those who desire to see their requirements, as regards tractors, properly filled. And this apart from the fact that the existence of any suspicion, in the minds of farmers, that the Manufacturers had so interfered, would -vitiate the trials and nullify their results.
We have not, it may be noted, discussed the manner of the selection of the ploughs. Obviously, if the promoters of the trials may choose the methods of . prosecuting the trials, they may select the instruments, on the principle that the greater includes the less. We understand that, after arbitrarily limiting the choice to implements of British make, a decision which is perfectly logical, as coming from the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the final selection was by ballot, by selecting papers from a bat, thus depriving the maker whose plough was chosen of any excuse for claiming kudos from the fact. If any fault can be found with the method adopted, it is rather that the Society did not exercise the prerogaa tive to which it had a clear right, and go the whole hog in respect of its arbitrary choice, deliberately. selecting those implements which were considered the best for the purpose.
The Speed of Motor Coaches.
IT IS PERHAPS rather surprising, in view of the opposition which has been manifested in various quarters against motor-coach traffic in general, that few complaints have been heard, so far, as regards excessive speed. It is, probably, a testimony to the care exercised by coach proprietors in the choice of. their. drivers, and to the good judgment of those men. But there is, of course, no particular inducement to a driver to drive fast. Passengers, moreover, do not wish to travel at excessive speeds, as, quite apart from the question of comfort, one of the chief reasons for their patronizing the coach. is that they wish to observe the country through which they pass.
There can be no doubt, however, that the existing 12 m.p.h. limit is much too low even at the present time. With the wider use of pneumatic tyres, it would be quite absurd, and, unless it were increased materially, would either hamper the movement very considerably or lead to constant infractions of the law. .
If the proposed new Road Traffic Bill become law, it should be one of the first tasks of the Minister of Transport, under the wide powers which be will then be givea, to raise the motor-coach speed limit to a reasonable figure.