TRAFFIC REGULATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18025, 25 February 1922, Page 8

TRAFFIC REGULATION.

Any consideration of modern traffic problems from which an effective system of regulation may be expected must commence from the premises that, with the improvement of road surfaces and tho growth of motor and electric traction, allowance must be made for comparatively high speeds, and that the responsibility for safety must be shared between pedestrian and vehicular traffic. That there are greater dangers in our streets today than 15 or: 20 years ago is primarily due to two causes—probably of equal importance—the public has not become accustomed to the sudden increase in the speed of traffic from that of the carriage horse to that of the motor-car, and drivers of motor-vehicles have not as a whole practised the caution which is essential to safety. Attention has recently been directed to the frequency of accidents, in many cases fatal, in which pedestrians, motor-cars and tramcars have been involved. It has not always been possible to apportion the degree of responsibility, but on the whole these accidents have been attributable to ignorance or carelessness. For every accident that has occurred there have been many more in which mishaps have been avoided, and these dangers have arisen through indiscretion, ranging from pardonable mistakes to recklessness that cannot be condoned. This presentation of the matter may be criticised because it appears to lay almost equal responsibility upon the pedestrian and the vehicle, but no progress will be made until it is recognised that safety in street traffic depends upon mutual consideration. It is true that however careless they may be, pedestrians do not deliberately cast themselves into danger, so that their capacity for harm is limited. On the other hand, there are in Auckland, as in other cities, drivers of motor-vehicles who, either habitually or occasionally, drive at such reckless speed that they become a menace to all other users of the highways. To eliminate this danger more rigorous control and drastic penalties are probably necessary. There will still remain the problem of devising a. general system of regulation that will reduce the dangers of the streets to the minimum. In this connection the experiments and experience of other large cities will be instructive. They tend to the conclusion that less will be achieved by elaborate regulations than by a systematic education of the public in a comparatively small number of simple rules, the uniformity of which is obviously essential. The results obtained in Sydney by such methods, of which a description is published in another column to-day, are striking. There a large volume of traffic is confined to narrow streets, but speed has been obtained and congestion avoided by a general observance of orderliness, so that everyone proceeds upon his occasions lawfully. The last word is really the key to the whole situation. However' skilfully devised, neither national laws nor. local by-laws will be effective until all classes of traffic are lawfully conducted, not because of the risk of penalties for but for tho common protection,