How Britain Tackles Her Traffic Problems

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22961, 12 February 1938, Page 12 (Supplement)

How Britain Tackles Her Traffic Problems

[from our own correspondent] LONDON, Jan. 10 "y ALUABLE data on a largo number of topics affecting the welfare of the motorist has been obtained by the secretary of the Automobile Association (Wellington), Mr. W. A. Sutherland, who has been in England since December. He has spent a good deal of time at the Automobile Association head-

quarters in London and has also visited its area offices at Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Guildford. Pending the completion of his overseas tour, Mr. Sutherland is unwilling to f pronounce final judgment on the matters he has studied, but he said that so far as traffic is concerned it was clear that New Zealand did not have to face the type of problem presented in London and tho other large

English cities. He has spent considerable time inspecting the automatic traffic -light systems in use throughout England, and commented on the fact that many small towns through which he had passed had the clectromatic vehicle-actuated lights in operation. Everywhere they were proving most satisfactory and he was looking forward to the time when they would be used more extensively in New Zealand. Mr. Sutherland mentioned that prac-

tically every road he had passed over in. Britain was permanently surfaced. He thought, however, that the superelevation or banking at corners could be improved in very many places. Ho felt, also, that the policy of constructing roads to take three lanes of traffic would ultimately be replaced by the building of wider carriage-ways. One very satisfactory feature of new road construction in Britain was the extent to which footpaths and cycle tracks were being provided, although he had observed the fact known only too well to English .motorists that cyclists still preferred the roadway to the specially-built trucks. Mr. Sutherland has found traffic islands or roundabouts, which are extensively used at intersections, to be very effective, under British conditions.

Parking Difficulties Asked his opinion of parking systems in Britain, Mr. Sutherland said there was 110 uniformity of procedure in different towns. There appeared to be a stricter enforcement of parking regulations in Birmingham than in other cities he has visited, but the Birmingham Corporation had provided a largo municipal car park capable of accommodating about 1000 vehicles. As ia most motorised countries, parking was a serious problem in Britain, and local conditions and circumstances appeared to dictate the severity with which the regulations were enforced. Mr. Sutherland will leave shortly to continue his investigations in Canada •Mid tho United States. He will be ■about a month in America, but the llate of his departure from Vancouver is not yet certain.