White Lines Make Motoring Safer

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23061, 11 June 1938, Page 12 (Supplement)

White Lines Make Motoring Safer

IMPROVEMENTS IN AUCKLAND STREETS

TNCREASING use of white lines, painted on the roadway at various intersections, is being made by local authorities in the vicinity of Auckland, and this move is one that will be welcomed by all road-users, as tending to promote greater safety and ease of traffic control. With winter at hand, and fogs likely to be encountered, the lines should prove a boon to motorists travelling at night. White lines, and white-painted tardrums at the roadside, have long been used with success on the Great South Road between Auckland and Hamilton. Motorists travelling on this highway, particularly visitors from the south, have frequently mentioned the value of the system, and have paid a tribute to the authorities responsible for its introduction. The extension of the scheme to the city itself, on a more generous scale than in the past, is definitely a move in the right direction.

In addition to the ordinary white lines, wriggly highway markings, warning drivers to reduce speed for some hazard, are proving popular and distinctly valuable. A case in point is at the five-road junction at the southern end of Newmarket, where the road branches to form the Great South and Manukau Roads, and where two sideroads join the main highway. Moderate speed is essential at this corner, yet motorists, specially those who have been travelling smartly along the Great South Road, inward-bound, were inclined to come on the crossing far too fast until the wriggly line was painted as a warning.

A substantial improvement in traffio control, without the need for an officer to be on duty, has resulted from the painting of white lines at the inter-

spction of Grafton and Park Roads, City. Motorists are making increasing use" of Grafton Road, and before the white lines were painted, four out of five drivers turning from Park Road to Grafton Road were inclined to cut the corner, to the danger of themselves, and of anyone they might meet. It has been noticed that since the roadway has been clearly marked, nearly all drivers keep to the proper side and take the corner in an orderly manner.

Those responsible for highway markings should always remember, however, that motorists, who are after all the people who have to read the markings, are liable to be approaching rapidly, and that small lettering, in more or less square characters, is of little value. There are in the Auckland suburbs half a dozen "Slow" signs painted on the pavement, in letters so small that even on a fine day a motorist has difficulty in reading them. At night they are useless.

Elongated letters, out of all proportion when looked at by a man standing on the road, are best for attracting the attention of motorists. Drivers can thus read them easily, the letters seeming to grow and take shape as the car approaches. A particularly good example o? this type of lettering is that on the Manawatu Gorge Road. Most important of all is the frequent renewal of the road markings. The scurrying of thousands of tyres a day sdon makes the lettering and arrows indistinct, and careful maintenance is needed if the signs are to be of lasting value. A sign that is not immediately legible is of little use. but there is no excuse for drivers ignoring those that are clear, in bold style, and freshlypainted.