SPEED IN DARKENED STREETS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 260, 30 July 1941, Page 6

SPEED IN DARKENED STREETS

Safety Council Opinion 25 M.P.H. IN POPULATED AREAS

The effect of the lighting restrictions

on road safety, and particularly toe necessity for a compulsory reduction of speed in areas affected by them, occupied the Road Safety Council for the greater part of its meeting yesterday.

The principal decision was that at night in headlight restriction areas there should be a speed limit of 30 miles an hour where hitherto there has been no limit (for instance, on the Hutt Road between Kaiwarra and I’etone), and a. limit of 25 miles an hour where there has hitherto been a limit of 30 miles an hour (for instance, in the city of Wellington). This is to be a recommendation to the Government. The further regulation of pedestrians was not recommended, but the illumination of pedestrian crossings is to be considered. The Minister of Transport, Mr. Semple, visited the meeting to assure it of the necessity of lighting restrictions. The Government had acted, he said, on the advice of toe heads of tlie Army, Navy and Air Force. It was essential for the Government to follow the advice of its expert advisers. Mr. M. F. Duckie (representative of municipalities) said that what Mr. Semple had said bore out what he had heard as a member of a deputation from the Wellington City Council that had just waited on the Acting-Prime Minister, the chiefs of staffs also being present. He would be able to satisfy other members of the city council as a result of what he had heard. On the motion of Mr. Luckie the council expressed appreciation of the information that Mr. Semple had conveyed to it and confidence in the work of the Government in this connexion. A Vital Factor.

After the Minister’s departure, the chairman, the Commissioner of Transport, Mr, G. L. Laurenson, said the Minister had requested a recommendation on the question of speed in the restricted lighting areas. Though a reduced speed was necessary when visibility was reduced speed was not the vital factor in accidents in the blackout that people thought. It seemed from the statistics that if pedestrians would take adequate care the majority of the accidents of that type would be eliminated. He quoted statistics to show that hccidents under blackout conditions often happened when vehicles were travelling slowly. The distance a driver could see ahead was not the only important thing, for people on foot often stepped out of the dark into the'beam of the headlights so close to the car that the driver had not time to stop. He pointed out that if a restriction were applied to the whole Wellington lighting restriction area it would reduce speed considerably on the Hutt Road.

Mr. Luckie said that, though nobody wanted the same speed on the Hutt Road as in the city, he failed to see harm, in a speed restriction and advocated that each public body affected should have power to Introduce limits down to 20 m.p.h. to suit the conditions of its own district. If there were difficulties in that, there should be a general speed limit in darkened areas. Tlie chairman expressed opposition to the speed limit varying in different parts of an area, saying that drivers would find difficulty in observing various limits at night.

Pointing out that drivers were still liable to prosecution if they drove to the public danger, Mr. W. A. O’Callaghan (North Island Motor Union) said “he saw no need for further speed restrictions.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. D. J. Cummings, said he would support Mr. Luckie’s proposal if the figure were raised to 25. It was much easier to prosecute by proving a breach of a speed limit than by proving dangerous driving. It was not the policy of his department to prosecute unless people were doing four of five miles an hour above the limit, and if people were doing 30 with, restricted lights they were going fast enough. When the effect of a speed limit on the Hutt Road was being discussed the chairman said the only reason for a speed limit was reduced visibility, and visibility was no better on the Hutt Road than at, say, Island Bay. Quality of Lighting. The Lighting Controller, Mr. F. T. M. Kissel, who was present by invitation, asked whether they thought drivers would be better able to avoid accidents if some of the bright lights that remained were cut out so that a driver whose eyes had become used to the dark would not be blinded by them. He said he doubted whether a difference of five miles an hour in speed limits made much difference.

Mr. C. R. Edmond (New Zealand Retail Motor Trade Association), said Mr. Kissel had made out a good case for leaving speed limits as they were. After further discussion, in which various speeds were proposed and rejected, the final motion was carried. There were several “noes.” The regulation of the actions of pedestrians in the darkened streets also was discussed, but the general feeling was that the present regulations were sufficient and that education was a better policy than prosecution. Tlie chairman said that the department felt that there should be no pedestrian crossings except those that could be illuminated. Mr. Edmonds remarked that, since drivers were responsible if thej’ struck anybody on a crossing, crossings should be illuminated in fairness to drivers. There was no resolution, but the chairman said the subject would be taken up with the local bodies and Mr. Kissel.