Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31564, 29 December 1967, Page 5

Auto Gossip

by

A.J.P.

Lights Again Failure to comply with traffic-lights is becoming prevalent in Christchurch and intersections controlled by lights require considerable caution. Some “professional drivers” in trucks, taxis and buses set a bad example. Watch Needed I The authorities may need to keep an unobstrusive I watch at some intersections in an effort to catch offenders who observe the light when a patrol car or traffic officer is in sight. Three Times Earlier this month I saw three flagrant cases of lightbeating in a trip of three miles along Colombo Street. The first was at the Moorhouse Avenue intersection, where a bus travelling north crossed the intersection after the light had changed to red. although the driver had time to stop. Further north a taxi in front of me at the lights moved across the intersection while the light was still red: it did not change until he was about 25 yards further on. The third offender was another bus driver who moved before the light had changed. Worst Case One of the worst cases 1 have seen involved a taxi which had stopped ahead of me in Oxford Terrace at the Manchester intersection. The light was red when the driver arrived at the intersection, although there was no traffic, coming. He slowed, looked left and right, then continued regardless of the red light. A car which had appeared over the Manchester Street river bridge had to slow to let the taxi make its left turn into Manchester Street. Danger The worst danger from beating lights occurs at wide intersections, such as that of Bealey Avenue and Papanui Road-Victoria Street. If a

driver continues from Victoria Street into Papanui Road on the last seconds of the amber light, Bealey Avenue traffic is likely to get the green light before he has cleared the intersection. Some accidents at this intersection have resulted from this. Quote Of The Week “Whether they be blue, red or, as is more usual, a wishywashy violet masquerading as one of the primary colours, the politicians of Britain seem to have a secret fixation about the car being a luxury that it is wipked to own.”— From an editorial in “Motor" on the rising cost fo motoring in Britain.