MARKING OF BUS STOPS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27309, 27 March 1954, Page 6

MARKING OF BUS STOPS

MAGISTRATE’S RULING NEW PLYMOUTH SYSTEM HELD INVALID (New Zealand Press Association) NEWJPLYMOUTH, Marek 26. Comments on the public’s right to use a roadway were made by Mr W. C. Harley, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court today, when he found that the system used by the New Plymouth City Council to define its Bus stops and keep other traffic off them had no legal sanction under the existing transport regulations. Through Mr J. R. P. Horn, James William Priest pleaded not guilty to parking in a prohibited place in Liardet Street on February 5. Senior Traffic Officer B. R. Hill, who appeared for the Transport Department, said that at 2.10 p.m. on February 5, Priest parked his car on an area marked “Keep clear” on the western side of Liardet street, between Courtenay street and Devon street. He left the car there for 10 minutes.

The whole length of the block was closed off at the top to give fire engines swinging room, and then for trolley-buses, said Senior Traffic Officer Hill. The area was defined by council resolution as a “keep clear" area rather than a “no parking” area, but he contended that a “keep clear” area indicated just as much prohibition as the “no parking” sign. The Magistrate said he did not agree. The common law stated originally that the roadway was for the public to pass and repass on their lawful occasions. Everybody, in his capacity as a citizen, had the right to pass over the middle surface of the roadway unmolested by telegraph poles, light poles, and so on. From time to time, through the demands of modern circumstances, that right had been whittled back, first by the erection of poles, then by the construction of footpaths, said the Magistrate, but the right still remained for people to use the remaining roadway, except to stand in groups with prams and talk. •

Legality of Procedure The next stage was the move to prohibit vehicles from being left standing, which was another infringement on the original right, the Magistrate said. But when an authority said to a driver that he could not stop, the authority had to adopt the method the law required. The law said a local authority might declare certain areas to be prohibited from parking, and set out the method by which it was done. The “keep clear” sign was not in accordance with the present law. Senior Traffic Officer Hill said the traffic regulations now included the use of the words “keep clear" for bus stops and local stands, and they haq to be placed on a sign erected on the stop. The council had always held strictly to the law. Mr Harley said the law was interpreted in favour of the public, and not in favour of the authority deciding to curtail public rights. A clear, plain, and definite set of signs was defined, and if the authority did ndt use them, it could not complain.