TRAMWAY SAFETY ZONES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20075, 12 October 1928, Page 11

TRAMWAY SAFETY ZONES.

ASSURANCE OIF SECURITY. NEW DESIGN FOR MELBOURNE. [from our own correspondent.] MELBOURNE, Oct. 4. So many motor fatalities have occurred within Melbourne's safety zones that the officers of the City Council have been engaged in devising means to make safety zones really safe. Under the existing system an area of the road close to the chief tramway stops is enclosed in a broad white line, as is the case in Sydney. In Melbourne this seems to have. given the people a false sense of security and more than one death has occurred because a pedestrian has ceased to exercise reasonable care once within the zone. Then again cars out of control, or even those driven by drunken motorists, cannot 'bo prevented from entering a safety zone, simply by a white line. It was clear, therefore, that some other method would have to be devised, or the safety zone system abandoned" altogether. It lias been decided that the measure of safety extended to occupants of the zonef must be independent of the, drivers erf vehicles. In future the end of the zono nearest to the incoming traffic will be protected by a large concrete pillar with a massive base extending the full width of the zone The pillar will bear lights at both the apex and the base, and will remain illuminated throughout night. Its object will be at once to define tha limit of the zono and to prevent any vehicle, whether out of control or not, from invading the area set apart for pedestrians The pillar will be sufficiently massive to stop any vehicle that might bo driven against it. The remainder of the zone will be marked by porcelain or bright metal studs, and the far end, which should not require any protection will hear a luminous "button" to define it. These zones are to he placed in the main traffic arteries leading from the city proper. For use within the city the officers recommend raised type of safety zone with protecting "lighthouses" at the traffic end, where the street illumination is considered insufficient. Theso raised areas, with the additional safeguard of an iron railing, are considered to be the safest form of protection, but they are too expensive to place ab other than the busiest places within the city proper. It is planned to place such zones at ergry stopping place in the city area. Sixty safety zones of tho type adopted for outside the city will cost £(>000.