BRIDGE A "DEATH-TRAP."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 207, 1 September 1932, Page 9

BRIDGE A "DEATH-TRAP."

NEW PROBLEMS IN SYDNEY. MOTORISTS UNDER SUSPICION "ANYONE IN A DINNER-JACKET." (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 26. The trouble over the traffic on and near the bridge seems to be increasing constantly in complication and intensity. The "World" has been working up a vigorous newspaper campaign over this question, and it has demonstrated to its own satisfaction not only that the bridge Jβ a "death-trap" for the policemen unfortunate enough to be detailed for duty there, but that there are two other "death traps" at either end. On the North Shore side, when the motorist turns out of Bradfield Highway—the main road for bridge traffic—he is liable to run into all sorts of trouble that was invisible the moment before. And at the south end, where the approach is broken up by a circular grass plot in the middle of a most perplexing series of converging streets, it is almost impossible to get fairly on to the bridge without the risk of a dangerous collision. The police themselves, naturally shocked at the recent tragic fate of two of their comrades while on duty on the bridge, have been demanding "danger pay," and talking about restriction of speed and even- "mobile transport" — feeling that they would be safer in a car themselves than dodging other cars on foot.

And the motorists, having got over the shock of this unfortunate incident, are now complaining that the police are becoming too persistent in their efforts to exercise control. Mr. Norman, a wellknown resident of Mosman, stated publicly that anybody wJio drives his car in a dinner-jacket is under suspicion at once, and is asked to dismount on some pretext or other—the real object being to discover if he can walk straight. He added that the pertinacious inquiries of the "traffic cops" are most unpleasant to harmless drivers, and that one evening when he took his wife across the bridge in their car, "they asked us for everything" but our marriage certificate.

It- i* easy to. understand that- the recent tragedy has, eo to. speak, "got on the nerves" of the police as well as the motorists. But, after all reasonable discount is allowed for this, it seems quite clear that the approaches to the bridge leave much to be desired by those whose motto is "safety first," and the City Council will be compelled to do something to minimise the risks.