TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 145, 16 December 1926, Page 11

TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

mi INADEQUATE STAFF

s| BYLAWS NOT ENFORC€D

&ND ANYTHING BUT CONSOLI£j DATED.

*■"■"§& ""Considering the distinctly patchy . $|>Vature of Wellington's traffic con-!%?-ff, rol—patchy because it is thor'^jiugh, during certain, hours, at .sonic V joints, as thorough as an made staff can niako it at other |%»oints, and, more generally, misssj?.tyig altogether —the city's accident . b'vvfecora is exceedingly light. It is £t£«ileasant to think that that satisi**?* aotory state of affairs will eon;js&inue indefinitely, but that is f<'& mprobablD, for month by month &*5 ieiv motor vehicles are being ilaced upon the roads. $&' t, was suggested some time ago $£§" en the new agreement between the f>j lice Department and the City CounSV as to points control -was being dis- '#* ised, that at least two, and probably !*;t|ce, more intersections would receive 3^ [ular attention from the Police — Ss^ st Office Square, Taranaki-Manuers ■*S£ efets, and Lambtori Station—but the >\s> iposals remained proposals only, and iijjSi iffic looks out for itself and gets SjvK ing for itself. Possibly there is not ■yjj sd for control during the full work■£V x day at these and other extra points, l"%. t'xhiring the rush hours tangles and r<rj< nor jams arc of frequent occurrence. &iINOK BYLAWS KOT ENFOBOED. s^Thc staff of the traffic department is inadequate to man these and extra points as a regular thing, r^'el'so attends to ono or more as the. iV* right or comparative lightness of! '•'£ her duties permits, but it is not in ■aJ» at regard that the skeleton staff ia iij'bst" up 'against it. Its steadiest job, rer and above such matters as the isij^ing of licenses, inspection of private %& Id tradfi vehicle/ collection of fees, **' utt roan, heavy traffic and general &"' pcs, detail work in connection with *?,' iwkers, porters, rangers, dogs, second-' £A; md dealers, auctioneers, lies in the V*ji|ideavour to enforce what may ■ be r^-irmed the; minor bylaws, riot on the *£;arface of tremendous import, yet of '.'v'ial*importance in keeping the city's ?-1 heels running smoothly. Office, in--5; Section, and licensing work leave Mitle *,"/ we under the present system of ■workX* ~& or an efficient supervision—or any ri, Spervision at all—oi' parking-places, £'jt street lengths where parking, though C-*|rohibited, is a regular thing, of cutj"jng corners, intersection speeds } in and 'v 1 stside the city area, blocking of doorf; 'ays by standing cars, and seeing to \if ie- observance of a score, maybe, of if icely-printed and seldom observed by- ',« iws. A great deal of complaint lias ';*; Ben' made of the fiendish noise . of ; V: lotor-eycle exhausts, particularly in ro- ;> dential areas at night, but if a city v* tspeetor'- takes upon himself to move yj it. to suburban areas he does so at /jjfe* expense of duties, which pilo up, "fcb'above his head, 'inVtho. city.area. 'I ACTION LONG DEFERRED. ;I|'Bver so often a "raid" of ono kind. ■J*-another is mado with the object of "'stringing homo to motorists that such !ittd such a practice must stoj) forthwith, that overdue licenses must be. ijlid, or that drivers without licenseslust call for them with considerable iapatch. The raid is at bost a patchy iefjiod of control; but its results be-an-re still more patchy when for some oason, or a combination of reasons, the epartment is .iriiable to.follow up. the *i<t by further action. There are a fdat many motorists, at the' present inie- who aro still expecting tho dcliv: D'"/ 11- blue papers promised them in .jjity "raids" of months ago. .Sonic of. .ijfi'cm will in duo time receive their fall's, others will not, for, so. it is stat'J <!>':•. Pll6 -of these pleasant papers was ?| (Jin's; Jitt-lc. time ago tossed into "the [J i'astepapcr basket becauso pressure of 'jC'ofk in tlie.City Solicitor's office and *$pqn the traffic staff had deferred those •SctJoT.s from week to week and month jKjjr-jijoiith until they were too stale to be j&oiijsidorcd. Traffic cases, it is generally :§omsid.(!red, should be brought on not later than seven days following, the takn'g of the, address, but \-cry frequently he'; seven days are considerably stretch!(l'"out in Wclington's traffic and by!lw psisus, oven to the point of the docufreiits being -consigned to the wastejapcr basket. " ... ;iHE TANGLE OF THE BYLAWS. ,T.bcrc is another matter in which .raffle control, in the broader siciisC,' is iiadc difficult in Wellington, and that ■na-'that tho city's bylaws aro still in a particularly hazy state as far as the %nan, in the street is concerned. It is **ai(J; that there are not half a dozen really complete copies of the bylaws in Wellington or anywhere else, and those isopies are not bound, but cons int. of one main voliieo and a pile of leaflets, additions, cancellations, and amendments, that aro understandable, providing one has-real understanding and an unlimited capacity for studious digging in. It is two or three years since tho council decided definitely and finally that it was high time that its bylaws should Be consolidated and niado understandable, but tho new volume is not out yet. Neither can it be brought out until guch.timc a3 tho Government's new traffic regulationn are mado known after, »tli6 New Year. ■-.It is understood that tliese -regulations wiM be most comprehensive, so much so that local bodies will require .only such traffic bylaws as are called for by purely local conditions; in other words the Auckland motorist in Wellington, or the AVell'ngton motorist in Auckland, will know just whore he stands as regards all main traffic rules.