Dangers Of Roadside Signs

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30934, 15 December 1965, Page 20

Dangers Of Roadside Signs

The difference between the Newmarket Borough Council and the Ministry of Works over advertising signs near the Newmarket viaduct is an important one of principle which will become still more important as the construction of motorways permits faster driving in New Zealand. Roadside hoardings have long been condemned on aesthetic grounds; but government departments, local authorities, and private concerns with a pecuniary interest in them have fought, on the whole successfully, a delaying action in their defence. By their nature such signs are meant to attract attention, which is the same as saying that they are meant to distract the attention of those who should have their eyes and their minds on the road. Lighted signs are a special source of danger. Unless sited with great care they may detract from the essential clarity of traffic signals; in almost any position they may cause temporary “driving blind- “ ness ” if they are brighter than the ruling illumination of the road. This is bad enough when the traffic is travelling at a moderate speed; on motorways a second’s confusion or diminished efficiency can cause an accident Oddly, the Mayor of Newmarket (Mr W. White) unconsciously destroyed the whole justification for these signs when, in replying to the district commissioner of works (Mr L W. McKinnon), he said: “ Anyway, the driver of a car is looking at the road, “ not the view. If he is not looking where he is going “ he shouldn’t have a licence ”. Exactly.