PORIRUA OVERHEAD BRIDGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 68, 17 September 1936, Page 8

PORIRUA OVERHEAD BRIDGE

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I have read in recent issues of the "Evening Post" a letter, signed "Motorist," and later remarks made at the Makara County Council in connection with the suggested route of the main road overhead bridge at Porirua. The remarks suggest great alarm at the idea of a main road passing a school, but if 'the route suggested is decided upon, there is not the. slightest doubt that provision will be made for* the safety of the children. Quite a large number of children attending the school come from East Porirua, and would still have to cross the road if the route east of the railway line were decided upon (at a far heavier cost to the taxpayer). Surely with new motor regulations admirably sponsored by the Hon. R. Semple, and provision made for the safety of the children there is no cause for any such alarm.

From the Porirua Hall to the pa on the Titahi Bay road there is an 18ft bitumen road, with no footpath, a drain on one side and the sea on the other. On wet days, and without a footpath this is far more dangerous than traffic passing a school which is railed off for the protection of the children. Until recently this section of road was controlled by the Makara Council, and I am not aware of any move made to protect the children from the motor traffic.

;The Labour Government, only in power a short time, has wakened up the careless motorist, and if we only stick by it it will only be a matter of time when the "road hog" will be a thing of the past. I think, Sir, to say "Don't put a road past this place and that place" is showing a decided weakness. Put our school on the main road if necessary. The onus is on the motorist. I have driven a car for 15 years without a bad mark, and if I ever struck a child outside a school I would -know what to expect.—l am, etc.,

ADVANCE.