Council Wants Sign Reworded For Safety

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30937, 18 December 1965, Page 16

Council Wants Sign Reworded For Safety

Fears that the wording of an Automobile Association road sign on the Little Akaloa road might lead to a fatal accident, have prompted the Akaroa County Council to take remedial action. The council decided yesterday to confer with the AA. officials about having the sign reworded to give motorists a better idea of the conditions ahead. Cr. 1. H. Menzies, who raised the matter, said it would be on his conscience if the council could not get something done. "There is a long history of accidents on the road but, by the grace of God, there have been no fatal injuries,” he said. “At least 20 vehicles have

gone over the bank, including three furniture vans with all the worldly possessions of the people concerned." Cr. Menzies said that the danger had become greater since an original sign at th* top of the hill leading down to the bay reading “Steep grade, low gear essential” had been replaced by another reading “Steep grade two miles.”

The road flattened out halfway down the hill and motorists did not realise there was another steep grade until they met it in top gear. Cr. Menzies moved that the council confer with the AA. with a view to having the sign reworded and another placed on the flat stretch between the two grades. The motion was carried.