Driving In Lanes

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30973, 1 February 1966, Page 16

Driving In Lanes

Letters published recently in our correspondence columns suggest that motorists are uneasy or illinformed about lane driving in Christchurch. Observation confirms this; examples of confusion, of disregard for the rules, or of difficulty in applying them are not hard to find. Lane markings have improved the safe and convenient flow of traffic on several main streets and at major intersections. White paint has become an important feature of traffic engineering. Motorists must use lanes with respect and confidence. The uncertainty, and sometimes the disregard for safe and courteous practice, with which many drivers use traffic lanes is partly because the extensive laning of Christchurch streets is relatively recent. The traffic department of the Christchurch City Council and the Road Code offer instructions that are clear enough, as far as they go, and the rules about overtaking on the left have standing in the Traffic Regulations. The onus for safe passing on the left in special circumstances is on the driver who overtakes in this manner.

Road markings should be unambiguous. Many drivers fail to note the difference between those lanes which are allotted -’xclusively to right turns and those which, according to the requirements of the traffic pattern, are available also for through traffic. As long as some drivers disregard even the obvious rules others cannot place any reliance jn the system. The traffic department must also ensure that its intentions are not only clear but obvious. The thorough job of laning done in Moorhouse avenue, and the more modest laning—though potentially just as effective —in Bealey avenue and Fitzgerald avenue show up the incompleteness of the markings in Harper avenue. There, if the carriageway w T ere levelled to fill the available road space, four-lane traffic would be possible for a much greater distance than it is now from the Carlton Mill bridge. Motorists in Hagley avenue make far too little use of the four lanes available. Laning simplifies the flow of traffic but it increases the need for anticipation. Driving in lanes demands more awareness of other traffic. The driver must be particularly careful to watch the traffic behind him when he elects to change lanes. He must signal his intention to move into another lane and to move into a turning lane at the beginning of the block from which he proposes to turn.

There are many defects in the technique of Christchurch motorists using traffic lanes, just as there are deficiencies in the planning and marking of lanes. These shortcomings are inevitable during the transition to lane driving: the} can be minimised by imaginative road planning, by firm but tolerant policing, and by intelligent motoring.