Minister "Appalled" By New Motorway Driving MOTORS AND MOTORING Mr. Marples using a police car radio to tell policemen to allow motorists through when he opened the motorway yesterday. One of the first public acts of Mr. Ernest Marples, the new Minister of Transport, was to open the London to Birmingham motorway yesterday, and what he saw of the first traffic on the road frightened him. He was appalled, he said, at the speed at which some cars were travelling-he had nevcr seen anyone going so fast and ignoring the rules and regulations. Out of the first four cars he saw three were n',i in traffic lanes and one had broken dot n. He suggested two mottoes for drivers using the road- Take it Easy" and "If in Doubt, Don't." The lessons learnt from the traffic conditions on the motorway would be studied and any necessary remedial action would be considered, even including a speed limit, either maximum or minimum. He hailed the motorway as a great technical and administrative per- forrnance which marked a new era in road construction. Welcoming his predecessor, Mr. Harold Watkinson (who is Minister of Defence). at a luncheon given by the contractors, John Laing and Son Ltd. and Tarmac Civil Engineering Ltd., he said that no Minister was more entitled to the credit for this road than Mr. Watkinson-a sentiment with which all motorists will agree. WASTED YEARS Mr. Watkinson added his own word of caution when he asked motorists in the interests of their own safety to use this great new road with reasonable caution. Care was especially necessary, he said, for those who have not driven before at sus- tained high speeds. Mr. Watkinson emphasized that it was no good regretting the wasted years when road construction lagged; they must face the situation as it stood. A good start had been made by increasing the production of new roads twentyfold since the road pro- gramme started seven or eight years ago. Nevertheless, an immense task lay ahead. The growth of traffic was striking!) described by Sir Owen Williams, who designed the road and supervised its con- utruction, when he said that the 2,000 new vehicles now coming on the roads every day would occupy one mile of motorway. Mr. J. Maurice Laing, managing direc- tor of John Laing and Son Ltd.. paid a tribute to Mlr. Watkinson for his vision in proceeding with the road so rapidly, and in particular for paying frequent visits to the site to talk personally to the men work- ing on the job. There had not been one stoppage of work due to labour troubles. An Automobile Association official said yesterday that Mr. Marples seemed to have been " a bit hasty " with his remarks about motorists' use of the road. " The first cars on the new road were admittedly going flat out. That was only to be expected. But when motorists realized the danger of high speeds they calmed down and average speeds were about 60 m.p.h., which is reasonable for the motorway." BREAKDOWNS HEAVIER THAN EXPECTED PETROL SHORTAGE AND OVERHEATING An A.A official said last night that break- down calls on the new road had been far heavier than expected. Calls lo the motor- way patrol centre at the Broughton flyover excecded 100 within nine hours of the open- ing. Petrol shortage, overheating, and tire trouble headed the list of causes. The A.A. said the vast majority of drivcrs had excellent driving behaviour but re- ported two bad habits-hogging the outside lane and straddling two lanes. By 7 p.m. 13.000 vehicles had been counted at a point mid-way along the motorway. After an initial burst the traffic settled down from 3,000 an hour to a steady 1,500. On the A5, which the motorway relieves, there were only 500 vehicles an hour compared with 1,100 a week ago. The average speed dropped from about 80 m.p.h. during the first half hour to 60 m.p.h. and then 50 m.ph. A Bedfordshire police official said that among the many calls they had dealt with was one from a motorist whose engine had dropped out of his car. MINISTER "APPALLED" BY NEW MOTORWAY DRIVING HINT OF POSSIBLE SPEED LIMIT AFTER STUDY