PEDESTRIANS’ KIGHTS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 94, 14 January 1939, Page 8

PEDESTRIANS’ KIGHTS

Different In New Zealand And England

RULE AT CROSSING PLACES

Commenting on the complaint by “Member A.A., England,” expressed in a letter to the editor of “The Dominion,” that a motor dashed up to a pedestrian crossing in Wellington when she was nearly half-way over it and, by driving on, made her choose between stopping and being run down, a traffic official pointed out that the law regarding pedestrian crossings in New Zealand was different from the law in England. In New Zealand pedestrian crossings were divided into two parts and the motor-vehicle had to yield the right of way to a pedestrian only upon the half of the roadway over which the vehicle was entitled to travel. The driver was not concerned with pedestrians on the other side of the road. In England there was no division in the crossing and vehicles were required to give way even when a pedestrian was on the other side of the road. Observance of the rules at crossings in Wellington was improving, but the habits of 50 or 60 years had to be changed. Traffic officers were stationed at crossings to teach people, but their pupils were changing all the time. Young people remembered the rules better than their elders, and when :he children who were now being instructed in schools in the proper use of the roads grew up, public conduct would improve. The co-operation of all sections of the public was essential for the safety and convenience of all who used the streets, unless an army of inspectors were to be employed. The lapses that one saw in Wellington were to be seen in overseas cities also. In the English cities where the traffic was well controlled, there was usually a much larger proportion of officials patrolling the streets than in Wellington and fewer motor-vehicles. Moreover, the city plan wag usually more convenient than Wellington’s.