SLAUGHTER ON THE ROADS
Sta,—I should like to explain why I oppose Lord Fairfield's pro- posal, fair at first sight, to penalise pedestrians for not wearing white patches in the darkness. (Persuasion is another matter—I wore such a patch before the war and I preach the virtue of such a practice.) Pedestrians have already the fear of death and fear of a fine is not likely to have a greater effect. To make the wearing of a white patch a legal obligation means that the absence of such a patch is reckoned a negligence, and therefore in case df a death the motorist is at once absolved and no enquiry is made whether he was driving recklessly and dangerously. The magistrates, coroners and chief officers of police are motorcar-minded and seize any such excuse. We have an object-lesson in the red rear-light for bicycles. It did not protect bicycles. On the other hand, the rear-light encouraged cars to go faster and increased the fatalities of pedestrians as well as bicyclists. The cyclist is easy game. Prosecutions were numerous and fines of a quarter of a week's wages were common. There were no prosecutions of motorists for exceeding the speed proper to dimmed lights. There were few prosecutions for disregarding speed-limits and fines did not reach a quarter of a week's salary or income. The pedestrian would be even easier game than the cyclist; the consequent bad feeling even greater. The motorist is hard to stop and hard to get convicted. But prosecutions here and there, now and then, are feasible and would inspire caution. If prosecutions of motorists could, by indicators or otherwise, be rendered easy and likely to obtain convictions, and if they were steadily enforced, then the regulations for pedestrians and cyclists could be tightened. A fifteen m.p.h. limit is better than a twenty, but better still would be the enforcement of the duty of the motorist to adjust his speed to his own lights and his prosecution for dangerous driving if he did not adjust it.—Yours faithfully, Cade House, Heathfield, Sussex. F. GATES.
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