SAFETY WITHOUT NOISE

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 26 August 1933, Page 12

SAFETY WITHOUT NOISE

SUGGESTED BAN ON HORNS EXPERIMENT IN GERMANY. LIGHT SIGNALS FOR PEDESTRIANS. It was again suggested in Parliament the other day that “in view of the loss of sleep and injury to health caused by loud motor noises,” hooting jhould be prohibited at night in residential area/s, writes the motoring correspondent of the “Daily’ r J olograph,” London. The reply on behalf of the Minister again was that, apart from the difficulty of deciding what was a residential area, it would not be in the interests of public safety’ to pro[libit hooting.

Does tins mean that noise is essential to safety? As an experiment, 1 believe it would be well worth the while of some place like Oxford (in term-time) or Bournemouth to ban the use of hooters for a week, not merely it night, but throughout the 24 hours. They tried it not so long ago at Wiesbaden, in Germany, and the result was ■iot only to reduce noise, but to reduce accidents, so much so that the organisation of a hooter-free week all over jiermany is said to be planned.

AN ALARMING MOMENT

Anyone who has experienced the sudden refusal of his car horn or hooter .o respond to pressure knows what an alarming feeling of helplessness supervenes, and how cautious is the approach to the next corner. To he unable to make a noise is to realise, even for the considerate driver who habitually uses his hooter as little as" possible, how much he relies on it against die ever-lurking emergency. A “hooter-free week” would probably slow down movement in urban areas rather seriously, but it would teach nearly all of us that we normally make more noise and make it more often than is necessary, though 1 doubt whether it would cure many of those who “drive on the horn,” lor .hat form of bad driving is almost always selfishness rather than ignorance.

LIGHTS AND THE PEDESTRIAN

Many controversial points were raised in drawing up the trailic signs report. 'lhe problem winch passim, gave more trouble than any was tiia of the pedestrian and his relation! with the light signals system.

Hours were devoted to discussion. The practice in other countries was considered. All sorts of special do . ices or arrangements of the signal, were reviewed. At the end of it tin ommittee recorded that “they huv» come reluctantly to the conclusion ;hat at a great many intersections it will be found impossible to conibim my system of light signals with coni plete immunity from danger tor the pedestrian, even for a short period nl die cycle, without causing undue dolnv to vehicular traffic.”

The suggestion that the signals should be made to govern the move ments of the pedestrian equally with those of the other traffic was turned down, largely because of vehicles turning right or left on the green; and pedestrians are to be warned in tin hicrliway code (which none of them eve see) that it is not safe for them tc rely solely oil the signals, but must ■ wjitcb the tiaffic.