Ilam-Clyde Road Traffic Control Questioned

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30803, 15 July 1965, Page 12

Ilam-Clyde Road Traffic Control Questioned

“Regardless of controls, there will always be accidents at intersections because of human errors,” says the chairman of the Waimairi County Council Cr. O. C. Mitchell) in reply to a letter to the Editor of “The Press” complaining about hazards at the intersection of Clyde and Ham roads.

The letter, signed “Ham,” is as follows: —

“Now that there has been an accident at the ClydeHam road junction, perhaps one may inquire once more whether any steps are going to be taken to mitigate the hazards of this crossing which are perfectly obvious to anyone living in the vicinity. A few years ago, in this same area, there were two bad crashes at the junction of B.ryndwr and Jeffrey’s roads, and, as a result of urgent representations, the authority concerned lost no time in taking appropriate action: yet the traffic there is a mere trickle compared to what traverses the Ilam-Clyde crossing, where, moreover, the numerous heavy vehicles using Bam road are apt to go charging across with little regard for traffic on Clyde road, which indudes a bus route.”

In his reply, Mr Mitchell says that visibility is good at the intersection, and he assured the correspondent that it was kept under constant surveillance. There were many accidents at intersections controlled by “stop”

and “give way” signs, and I also at light-controlled inter- ’ sections, such as FendaltonClyde roads. “The intersection of Clyde and Ham roads is not comparable with the intersection of Bryndwr and Jeffrey’s roads, one being in a fairly large commercial area, whereas the other is in a residential areas,” Mr Mitchell continues. “As the intersection com-; plained of is in a commercial. area, the speed of traffic can ■ be expected to be slower | than on an average residen- i tial road because of a greater: volume of traffic in a com-' mercial area, the number of ■ traffic movements adjacent to ’ the intersection, the number of pedestrians and the exist-) ence of a pedestrian crossing. “If one of the roads at this , intersection were to be given • preference over the other i road, through some form of control, higher speeds would result, because the traffic on the through road would rely on observance of the signs ’ by traffic on the other road. “An accident arising from the non-observance of the; signs could, therefore, have far more drastic consequences than where a motor-; ist is forced, through prevail-! ing conditions, to keep his : speed down and to observe ■ the rule of the road, that is,! to give way to all traffic ap-1 proaching from the right at an intersection.”