TRAFFIC BREACHES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 40, 26 November 1937, Page 6

TRAFFIC BREACHES

PREVALENT IN ASHBURTON. MAJORITY OF DRIVERS TAKE CARE. A TROUBLESOME 25 PER CENT. “Seventy-five per cent of the motor drivers want to be careful and are willing to be shown how to avoid breaches of the regulations, but the other 25 per cent, deliberately take risks, resent, with very bad language, any remonstrance with or correction of, their faulty driving or parking. For the safety of the majority, these people should be severely dealt with, but they have gone so long without having been brought to book for their misdemeanours that they have come to think they have the right to carry on as they have been doing.” This statement was made in the course of a severe criticism of the lack of traffic control in Ashburton this morning by a man who has been closely associated with motorists and motoring over a number of years, and who has been prominent in bringing the rules of good motoring before car owners and drivers. “One of the greatest menaces in this town is the youth who gets into his father’s car and drives round the streets, breaking speed regulations on the straight runs and at the intersections, and ignoring the parking laws. There are a number of this type in Ashburton, and it seems that as soon as they get behind the steering-wheel they go mad,” the speaker added. , “They are not content to drive round in a leisurely fashion. They must load up the car with their friends and the whole party become completely irresponsible, careering noisily (about, shouting and laughing, and often enough there are three or four in the front seat, jamming the driver into a position where it is impossible for him to exercise that complete mastery of tho vehicle that modern motoring conditions, with their sudden crises, demand.” “The Timid Hand.” .Referring to the manner in which many motorists, he regretted they were in the majority, .signalled their intention to turn, this authority said that “the timid hand” was very noticeable in Ashburton. By this he meant those drivers who project hardly more than their fingers out of the window beside the driving seat. “That is not a turning signal,” he said. “It might mean a man is knocking the ash off his cigarette, it might mean he is pointing out some object to a passenger in his ear, and the traffic following him easily misses this shortened signal. There is another bad feature of this turning signal. Many drivers wait till they are almost on the turn before they put out their hand. Others have actually started, a turn before they signal. And these are the ones who glower most unpleasantly if their fault is pointed out to them.” Careless Parking. The carelessness shown in tho matter of parking cars in the streets of Ashburton has been referred to on numerous occasions, but still there are drivers who pull up outside the white indication marks near the channels along side those already parked, leaving little room for through traffic. This trouble is particularly bad in Burnett Street on Friday afternoons. It seems it is too much trouble for drivers to leave cars in the regular parking places and walk to offices or shops, but those same people will go to Christchurch, park their cars near the river and walk half a mile to the Square and think nothing of it. When this aspect was referred to the authority quoted above, he said: “They take notice of the rule in Christchurch because they knowi they will have to face the consequences if they do not. It is all a question of control, of proper authority. If motorists know they can get .away with these little things they will go a bit further. That leads on till the whole thing is out of hand.

“That has been made very plain in Ashburton. The law is the law, and it should be enforced, in the interests of the defaulters themselves, apart from any question of the protection of those drivers who wish to do the right thing.” An Interesting Suggestion. A suggestion that is worthy of consideration by the authorities was made to a “Guardian” reporter this morning with the object of reducing the parking congestion in East Street. It was that on Tuesdays and Fridays permanent parking in East Street should be prohibited, and that a portion of the reserves between the railway line and West Street should bo set aside as a parking area. A large number of cars could be placed there, and at the present time the lawn on that site was not really necessary. It was taking up a good deal of time in the mowing of it, and not all the lawn need be used, though the whole area would take a great load off the main street on busy days if cars were permitted to park. The suggestion added that it would bo well to tar seal the reserve, or that portion taken up for parking purposes, and that the cost would not be great, while at the same time East Street would be a much safer thoroughfare.