ROAD CURVES AND SAFETY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 142, 17 June 1937, Page 8

ROAD CURVES AND SAFETY

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—The vejy able address recently delivered to the Society of Civil Engineers by Mr. F. M. Hanson, one of the engineers to the Main Highways Board, and reported at length in Saturday's "Post," concluded with the words: "The accident-proof road may be a mere vision, but this vision should animate highway engineering endeavour." No one denies that there is room for improvement in road conditions, but experience has already proved that the better the road, the ! greater the speed, and few people will subscribe to the belief that more accidents are caused by road conditions than by speeding. Recent statistics prove the contraryThe absurdity of blaming the roads for the accidents, and exonerating the road-users, is revealed by the Editor of "Municipal Engineering" on February 11. Replying to specific instances of alleged road-blameworthiness cited by Mr. G. T. Bennett, the county surveyor for Oxfordshire—who is quoted by Mr. Hanson—he said: "In every case the motorist was to blame for not exercising elementary precautions. Thus, where vision ' was entirely obscured by hedges and earth banks, and a cyclist was killed, if the motorist had j no chance to see the cyclist in time to avoid an accident, his obvious duty was to slow down to a walking pace, and nothing can excuse his blind driving." Mr. Hanson also quoted" some suggestions for road safety, and one of them was "the segregation of traffic, including cyclists and pedestrians." It is obvious, of course, that if there were no cyclists or pedestrians on our roads, ] there would be no accidents involving these classes of road-users, but then every highway would be converted into a speedway. The presence of cyclists and pedestrians on the road often acts as a deterrent to speeding, and their absence encourages it. The Hutt Road from Thovndon to Petone is a case in point. Mr. Hanson states that "transition" curves have long been recognised as necessary on railways, but the Hutt Road runs parallel with the railway nearly all the way, and yet it is stated to be the most dangerous road in New Zealand. Apropos, during the course of a lecture at the City and Guilds (Engineering) College, University of London, on January 25, Mr. H. Alkev Tripp, Assistant Commissioner of Police, New Scotland Yard, said: "At every main crossroad, the cycle track ceases and the cyclist, if he wants to make a right-hand turn, is either thrown into the maelstrom of a.general roundabout, or has to force his way across the whole traffic stream. If fly-over junctions are constructed in which cycle tracks are incorporated, the danger to the pedal cyclist is greatly increased, because he has to cross at a sharp angle a stream of motor traffic running with confidence in an undirectional flow." By all means, let our roads be improved, but do not let us blame existing roads for the hideous slaughter that is caused by the speeding motorist. —I am, etc., C.T.C.