ROAD RISKS

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1934, Page 9

ROAD RISKS

SO3IE DANGER POINTS

IS MORAL SUASION ENOUGH ?

SHORT STAFF SUPERVISION

"The campaign which is being conducted this week by the Accident Prevention Committee is a very good effort indeed,", was the opinion given by an old motorist to a "Post" reporter today, "and the candour of the committee, in handing out blame for accident to all parties, motorist, walker, and cyclist, is something now, and nearer the mark, too; but there is room for something more than moral suasion in an accident prevention campaign which hopes to be effective. It- is all very well for the City Council, in association with the Automobile Club and other bodies, to givo sound advice, but advice will not clear up the constantdangers that exist, in the city. Something concrete must be done as well."

Danger points particularly mentioned were tho Lanibton Station pedestrian crossing in the evening, when the supervision was generally withdrawn at the very hours when tram, motor, and train passenger traffic was heaviest and when drivers and pedestrians were impatient to get home; the corner of Featherston and "Whitmoro Streets, speed regulations as to intersections were treated as non-existent, except on the rare occasions when an-- inspector is on duty, and this open spaces at tho junction of Taranaki Street, Wakefield Street, and Jervois Quay, and in front of tho Central Library, where traffic lines meet from several directions and often confuse pedestrians. At the.•Central Library, too, it was remarked, speed regulations apparently did not exist, and though a- driver who went through. Kaiwarra and Kgahauranga at over 20 miles an hour ran a risk of finding trouble, even if there was not a stray hen on the road, he could with absolute safety (as far as risk of piosecution "went) take tho library intersection at 30 miles an hour at any time.

"Tho insistence upon 20 miles an hour through Kaiwarra and Xgahauranga is to most motorists annoying and ridiculous in the extreme —even the authorities apparently recognise that 20 miles an hour is too low and ; seiaom take action unless 25 is exceeded—and it becomes more annoying in comparison with the lack of action taken elsewhere where street dangers are greater," the reporter was told. "The difficulty of. supervising''traffic —fill traffic, pedestrian and cyclist as well as motorist—is bad. enough at any time and under tho best conditions, L-ut in Wellington tho difficulties of traffic authorities are doubled by the obvious fact that the department is understaffed. There is much that the City Council can do to reduce the. risks on city streets, but something more than an under-strength staff is needed to do the job." ' "' ■'