FOOT CROSSINGS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 8

FOOT CROSSINGS

MOTORISTS' VIEWS

After more than eighteen months since the regulations were brought into force many features in relation to pedestrian crossings remain unsatisfactory, states the annual report of the North Island Motor Union. Obligations of all road users would be more faithfully observed if there were uniformity in indicating crossings. In some localities the outlines are indicated with white paint on the road surface, in others with yellow, While in some places crossings are denoted by coloured concrete, and in others rubber plates set into the roadway mark the crossings. The union has requested the Minister of Transport to investigate satisfactory methods of marking crossings which may be universally adopted. A cause of great inconvenience to motorists arises at night ahd in wet weather when it becomes almost impossible, to distinguish markings on road surfaces of bitumen for a distance ahead. Unless a motorist is familiar with the particular street he may be almost on the crossing without being aware of it. The union has suggested that at a suitable distance from a crossing a triangle or some other indication be set in the line of traffic on the roadway to give warning to motorists that they are approaching an authorised crossing. The method is considered to be more effective than kerbside indicators, which are often out of the line of vision Of drivers or are blocked from view by parked vehicles or lamp-posts. Much remains to be done in educating motorists and pedestrians in the proper use of these crossings. .