Making Roads Safer

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31167, 17 September 1966, Page 3

Making Roads Safer

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 16. Fewer long, straight roads would be constructed because the safety emphasis now was on smooth “flowing” alignment which fitted the road to the country with a series of large curves, said the Minister of Works (Mr Allen) today.

“Long straights are monotonous and tiresome and therefore dangerous,” he said. “Headlight glare becomes a problem and usually at the end of long straights there is a sharp curve—a nasty trap for the unwary.

“Engineers now recognise the need to avoid sudden changes.

“We have many long straights in New Zealand, but in future, you won’t see many

more of them,” he told the New Zealand Automobile Association’s conference. “You will be getting the flowing alignment.” Parts of three State highways were already under construction using the flowing alignment methods. They were the National Park-Tura-ngi highway, sections of the Wairakei-Taupo highway, and the Tekapo-Pukaki highway. The flowing alignment was ideal for tourist scenic routes.

Citing the Wairakei-Taupo highway as an example, Mr Allen said the new highway could run straight for four miles and a half. “But if this was done we would have another monotonous road fraught with the dangers of headlight glare and sun glare. Drivers would be hypnotised by the constant staring ahead and there would be a lack of attention by the very weariness of the straight line.”