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COMMERCIAL MOTOR
Recognized in Business and Military Circles as the Leading journal.
The Authority on all forms of Motor Transport. Largest Circulation.
Conducted by EDMUND DANGERFIELD.
Vol. XX. No. 515. Editor: EDWARD S. SHRAPNELL-SMITH. 2 I st Januny , 1915.
No New Highway or Motor Legislative Investigations Until the War is Over
We are asked from time to time how the several Government Committees Which were so much in the public eye at the end of July last have been affected by the war. It may be recalled that our own and our supporters' interests appeared likely to be brought to a new phase, and possibly into conflict with important local-authority and certain other interests, by reason of investigations into all highway, motor, toll, traffic, and allied matters. A Joint Committee of both Houses was constituted, and it was announced that the chairman was to be Lord Balfour of Burleigh, with the terms of reference as follows: "That it is desirable to inquire and report as to the present law relating to the running of motor omnibuses and trolley vehicles under statutory powers and -otherwise, whether any amendment is necessary with respect to the control to be exercised by-Iocal authorities, and what contribution if any should be payable towards the cost of road maintenance by the proprietors of such vehicles." It was almost simultaneously promised to the local-authority representatives that there should be a Departmental Committee of the Local Government Board to inquire into technical points connected with the classification, construction, definition, and limitations of all types of road vehicles and tractors. There were rumours as to the constitution of this expert committee, but no official announcement was made in any complete or final form. Other events followed in rapid and—by this country—unforeseen succession. It now transpires that all these schemes for re-examination and revision of highways and traffic statutes are left in abeyance.
Personal application by the writer to the proper official quarters at the Local Government Board has placed us in the position to record definitely that nothing has been done since the end of July, and that nothing either can be or will be done while the war continues. We had already on several occasions anticipated this situation when dealing with answers to queries, but it is now satisfactory to us to be able to confirm those replies to readers with authority. The suspension of the activities of one committee and the halting in regard to the other even befora its appointment are good points for us and our friends. Users of heavy motor vehicles and of light tractors are gainers by every month which is denied to the parties who resent the rapidity of the progress of mechanical transport. Unveiled hostility from certain backward local authorities is being discounted in advance with each further lapse of time, because such people are thereby automatically transferred from a one-time majority to a reactionary minority which may before long barely hold up a shamefaced head against intelligent and progressive brother delegates of other local authorities. Again, thanks to the excellent data and records which are being accumulated by the Road Board, each month adds to the inter-related maintenance and traffic lore which will isolate the incompetent and laggard individuals who seek to hide their own inefficiency behind a cry of" Down with motor traffic !" Each month that passes is helping the cause of commercial motoring in several ways that cannot be denied it, of 'Which it cannot be deprived. The attitude of the man-in-the-street, of the great body politic and the voting machine, has been materially altered in a favourable sense by reason of the vital part which mechanical transport has borne in the war. There will be no diminution, we believe, of that helpful factor. The air of indifference and superiority of pro-tramear men, which pose they affected for their own narrow and selfish reasons, is surely yielding to inexorable facts, and the cause of the motorbus, the true conveyance of the poor man and the poor local authority, also makes excellent headway month by month. These two sources of widespread and popular support are of very great significance. They are developing apace ; they forbid artificial restraint by any interests which are in opposition to. motorbuses. We expect much of them in the near future, by way of desirable consequences, and we are convinced that we shall not be disappointed. The results of these deep-seated workings of the popular mind will tend in the direction of more consideration for the traffic of the period, of the motorbus and the motorvan. There must be a. readiness on the part of heavy-motor and other commercial-traffic advocates to be conciliatory to the legitimate requirements of private-car owners, to the end that the road may be used to the best ad % antage, by all. To the parochial view of the road for the village and not for the country, there must be unflinching resistance. The day of detail investigation is beneficially deferred.