POINT DUTY IN CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19474, 2 November 1926, Page 10

POINT DUTY IN CITY.

COUNCIL TAKES CONTROL. NO MECHANICAL SIGNS. AVOIDANCE OF CONGESTION. The decision of the Auckland City Council to take over the control of all vehicle traffic at the principal city intersections was pnt into effect yesterday. This dntv has been carried ont by officers of the Police Department for the past thirteen years but police control ceased on Sunday. In order to undertake these duties the City Council recently appointed an additional twelve traffic officers, bringing the strength up to 25. The city officers took over the main traffic points at 8 o'clock yesterday morning and maintained continuous supervision until 6 p.m. This system will be continued daily with control of the more important intersections in the evenings when traffic is heavy. One feature of the new order was the introduction of the manual system of signalling as employed by the London police and the removal o( the mechanical signs formerly used by the police. Generally the new system appeared to work very well and there were indications that the nse of uniform signals throughout, the whole city area will make it easier for motorists to follow the directions of the points officers and thus prevent congestion: at intersections. It is th 6 intention of the' council to mark all intersections with white lines indicating the limits to which vehicles may advance when stopped by the pointsmen. In each case the line for motor and horse vehicles will be 20 feet. from the intersection and that for tramcars 26 feet from the intersection. The effect of these lines will be that when a stream of traffic is halted the vehicles will be clear of the footpaths thus enabling pedestrians to cross while traffic is held up. So far only the Customs Street intersection has been so marked.