Compulsory Insurance of Thirdparty Risks Again Proposed.
Page 1
Page 2
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
T"proposal to make it compulsory, as a. preliminary to the issue of a licence, for the owner of a motor vehicle to insure against his liability to any third party as a result of accident or damage caused by such a vehicle is being revived in the House of Commons by Mr. Wardlaw-Milne. The similar proposal made in the House of Lords by Earl Russell was, it will be•remembered, rejected, and Major Price has given notice of an amendment for the rejection of the new measure.
There is„. perhaps, need for some reform of the present cOnditions under "which . the victim of a. traffic mishap may find himself unable' to obtain compensation becanse the culprit may be a man "of straw, but similar hardships arise in every walk of life, and the question may fairly be asked whether there has been a sufficient change in conditions occurring through the development of road traffic to make it desirable to effect so drastic an alteration in the relation of man to man as is here contemplated. If we Start with road traffic, we must logically provide for the thousands of risks which we all run in life, and those risks may occur anywhere in the scale of importance from great to small.
If a measure could be introduced which would be fair to everybody—to motor driver, to insurance company and to the third party—there could be no valid objection to it,but that is where the rub comes in The Minister of Transport has often expressed the conviction that the difficulties in the way are very great, and he is -preparedto do no more than to institute an experiment in the case of public passenger ,services by including a "provision for compulsory insurance in the projected Road Traffic Bill."
It Is always difficult to avoid hardships and anonialleS Whenever an artificial condition is set tip. A driver may be merely unfortunate in his road experiences and incur the displeasure of the officials, of the .inSurance companies. He might a.ctually be a careful and considerate driVer; but .through sheer misfortune be placed on the list of the "banned'! and, being uninsurable, be unable to obtain a licence. In the opposite.case, the bad driver who is lucky to be able
to shift the onus on to "the other man" would come under no such corrective influence.
The case of the hospitals is on all-fours with that of the injured second party (he becomes a " third party," of course, only if the motor driver's risk be covered by an insurance company). The hospitals are put to considerable. expense in treating roadside accident cases and, being supported by voluntary contributions, cannot make a charge. It seems as if some way out must be sought for 'the relief of these analogous cases—perhaps by the creation of a fund from which hospitals can be recouped their outlay and injured second parties can be recompensed, a compulsory contribution to the fund being demanded from the -proved culprit. Such a proposal, however, might bring, in its train, other problems to be solved.
Braking . Efficiency on • Six-wheelers.
THERE are many people,. not thoroughly conversant with the six-wheeler in actual • service, who cannot understand why braking on the. four wheels at the rear should be any. more effective than braking on the two rear wheels of a four-wheeler, assuming the respective Vehicles to be of a similar load capacity. It has been proved in .actual practice that the efficiency of braking on the six-wheeler is certainly far in advance of that on the fourwheeler, providing that the layout of the con-, nections is well arranged and that the power available is ample.
Friction, of course, depends to a great extent upon pressure, but there are other matters to consider. The efficiency is often greatly reduced in a four-wheeler as a result of wheel bounce, for even if the tyre does not actually leave the road the pressure on it may Momentarily be reduced toan almost negligible amount, so that the wheel tends to lock. This means that the actual braking power which can be exerted is considerably less than that theoretically permissible without lecking the wheels. The wheels of a properly sprung bogie follow road contour much more closely and, consequently, the loading pressure is far more consistent. There are other factors, such as the spreading of the .tyre under the load. This spread may be sufficient to assist the wheel in skating over mud, but, if more 'lightly laden, as in the ease of the tyres Of a six-wheeler, the tread is better able to retain its shape and to . cut through the slimy surface. This, of course, is chiefly applicable to wtirk during wet weather.