ON THE ROAD WITH A ‘MUFTI’ PATROL

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30895, 30 October 1965, Page 5

ON THE ROAD WITH A ‘MUFTI’ PATROL

Surprises For Erring Motorists

[Specially written for “The Press'* by

A. J. PETRE.]

TRAFFIC Officer John Hume, officer number 138 with the Transport Department at Christchurch, slid into the seat of the very ordinary-looking car and fastened his seat belt. The door clicked shut, and the engine rumbled into life.

Before the day ended several erring motorists were to be very surprised at the presence of the officer in that car, for it was one of the Transport Department’s new unmarked patrol cars. Already, miles away, another driver was getting into his car, a black saloon. He did not know then that his later failure to take note of other traffic was going to gain him the first traffic offence notice issued from the unmarked car that day.

But this was to happen an hour after Traffic Officer Hume and a reporter set out towards the Main North road in the plain car.

Down the Cranford street extension, on to the main road, through Belfast, and a cruising Vauxhall catches the officer’s eye. The plain car keeps pace ... “Only 32, he’s all right.” It is a perfect day, and the sun shines from a cloudless sky on the light traffic.

Kaiapoi, traffic a little! thicker. Then into the series of bends beyond the town. In front a grey Morris Minor, its driver oblivious to the car behind, cruises along at 30 m.p.h. with its right wheels just short of the centre line. No room for passing here, so the slow progress contin-

ues. “I think we’ll tell him he’s a bit slow.” The patrol car accelerates until its bonnet is just behind and to the right of other car. Traffic Officer Hume puts on his cap and touches the siren button briefly. The driver’s startled face stares back, and the Morris pulls quickly to the side of the road and stops. “You could have pulled over,” the traffic officer says. “You can do 30 m.p.h., but you must avoid obstructing other traffic. The middle-aged driver is sorry. An embarrassed grin. “Thank you, officer.” Verbal Only A verbal warning suffices, and the shock of being stopped was robbed of its worst sting by the officer’s pleasant and polite greeting. Perhaps, as is hoped, he will go on his way with a better impression of traffic officers, and a better understanding of the importance of courtesy towards other traffic. “I hope the plain cars will have the effect of making drivers think cars near them

just might be traffic officers,” says Officer Hume. “Maybe they will then pay more attention to other traffic.” On down the main road. North of Woodend a black Holden overtakes. Neat, but a little fast, and the plain car tags on behind. The Holden pulls away. The driver had not looked as he passed, and now he makes another mistake by ignoring his rear vision mirror. The plain car’s speedometer hovers around 70 m.p.h. Traffic slows it down, the Holden pulls away. Through Saltwater Creek, the Holden moves faster. The speedometer is around 80 m.p.h. Passing Truck Curves come up. The Holden slows, corners neatly, straightens, and then the sirens wails briefly. Quickly the car stops. "Good morning ... too fast, apart from that you were driving quite well.” But the checked 75 m.p.h. is too much. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to issue you a traffic offence notice.” A commercial traveller. We followed him for five miles or more. Back through Kaiapoi. Around an open-road curve at a lazy 40 m.p.h., and a big articulated truck coming the other way is passing three cars in a row. The plain car turns and pursues. The truck is stopped and the driver warned about his overtaking. “What if I had been coming around that curve at 55?” Officer Hume asks him.

“A telling-off is often very effective,” grins Officer Hume as he slides back into the driver’s seat. Over the Waimakariri bridge a Triumph Herald coming the other way overtakes with very little room to spare. The plain car swings around, back over the bridge and again the siren sounds. The now familiar reaction—a surprised face staring back. Again the offence was too bad for a warning, and an offence notice for careless use of a vehicle is issued. The afternoon activities start when a truck pulling a tractor moves off from a Carmen road stop sign in front of main road traffic. This time a written warning is issued. -. . . “It’s more effective than a verbal warning. It has been recorded, and carries more impact Attention Lack “Too many drivers do not pay enough attention to what they are doing,” Traffic Officer Hume says. The effect of the plain car? “Without it we would not have caught those two this morning . . . the chap in the Herald said he would not have passed if it had been a marked patrol car coming towards him.” Down Blenheim road, on the look-out for bad lane discipline. “Public relations are very important,” says Traffic Officer Hume. “And the public can do a lot to help us, too. Telling us there has been an accident along the road, for instance, or if there is an obstruction or danger.” It is very important to be polite and tactful when speaking to a driver, the officer says. “If you are not, they won’t hold a grudge against one officer, but against the whole force. We must have the public’s co-operation.

“People I have spoken to all think the plain car is a good thing, and appreciate what we are trying to do. Of those I have stopped, only a few have commented on the plain car, though. Most of them accepted it without comment.” Discouraging Into Rossall street, and a Vauxhall with an elderly driver pulls out from the side of the road without signalling or without the driver looking for other traffic. He turns left into Rhodes street from the right-turn lane. A written warning is issued. Officer Hume gets back into the car. The Vauxhall driver gives a good hand signal—and pulls out in front of an oncoming car. “What can you do!” Around other suburban roads, motorists seem wellbehaved. Then back on to the Main South road, and just past Rolleston an Anglia, indicator going, comes up to pass a Holden following a truck. He is almost alongside the Holden when it begins to pull out. The Holden is soon stopped. “I feel you should have been watching more carefully,” the driver is told. He produces his licence, which is all in order. A warning to pay more attention and keep a sharper look-out, and he is sent on his way. As the plain car cruises back alon* the Main South road, Traffic Officer Hume talks of the danger of driving when upset. Sometimes, he says, he has stopped a person for driving badly and found tears from some family bereavement, argument, or other emotional upset. “You tend to take it out on the car. If you’re really angry or upset, it is better to keep away from the car for a while.” Man Upset The patrol car approaches the Deans avenue-Riccarton road roundabout along Deans avenue. An old Morris cuts across it in the roundabout, the driver staring straight ahead. Siren. The driver looks confused, slows, speeds up, slow-, and stops. “I’m afraid he didn’t anticipate that!” A coincidence . . . the man was very upset about a family bereavement, and was preoccupied and distracted. He did not see that patrol car until it was too late to give way. He will probably get a written warning. “Drivers are all human; you have to remember that, and treat them on an individual basis.”

As the patrol car was stopped, a taxi drove past. The driver looked, saw the officer, slowed, and looked again. But he was one of very few who took note of the plain car. Most drivers never gave it a second glance, whether it was moving or stopped. Dozens went their way along the roads never dreaming a traffic officer was driving behind them in the plain car. Those stopped knew nothing of the car’s presence until the officer put on his cap, pulled alongside, and sounded the siren. Day and night, plain cars could be anywhere. “Business” is often at its most brisk at night, particularly at the week-end. And that is just six hours in a plain clothes traffic patrol car, on an average week day.

THE FULL VIEW “I have always been interested in new ideas and in looking forward. I am a great one for tradition, but I still think you have to look in both directions.” Dame Alicia Markova, director of the New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, in an interview in the 8.8. C. World Service programme “Here and Now.”