TRAFFIC CONTROL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22609, 28 June 1935, Page 14

TRAFFIC CONTROL

NEW AUTOMATIC SYSTEM A decided advance in traffic control has been brought about in England during the past year, according to a bulletin issued by The Automobile Association, and local authorities, particularly in the south, are now installing " vehicle actuated " traffic signals. This type of signal allows for fluctuations in the traffic stream which was not possible with the older system of time-cyclo lights, to which class the colour signals at the Stuart street-Cum-berland street intersection belong. The result is that at times when there is little traffic a driver does not have to wait for the lights to give him the right-of-way as this is automatically brought about by controls placed in the road and operated by his car as it passes over them. Not only has the new type of traffic control become quickly popular in England, but a report from Sydney states that one set of vehicle-actuated controls has proved eminently satisfactory there, and further supplies have been ordered. Opinion in Dunedin regarding the only automatic traffic control in use here is divided, but it has been found to give general satisfaction. The introduction of the more modern system, however, would probably meet with the full approval of motorists. The superiority of tho new controls is amply attested by the fact that a statistical review made recently by the Automobile Association disclosed that while a year ago 75 per cent, of the automatic traffic signals in Great Britain were of the time-cycle style, the new. method has been so widely adopted that the percentage now stands at 51.5, and in Surrey 90 per cent, of the installations are of the modern type.