REGULATING TRAFFIC.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2031, 18 August 1920, Page 8

REGULATING TRAFFIC.

It is encouraging to see organisations outside the City Council participating in a conference called,.to discuss the best means of regulating street tralfic. Christchurch, owing to its peculiar original "lay out" —a courtesy term in the present instance—has traffic problems which are more involved, perhaps, than those of other cities in the Dominion. The entrances from north and south to the Square are cases in point. It would be difficult to imagine a more dangerous intersection than the bank corner. Even so, it is to the credit of the traffic control and travellers alike that serious accidents are so few. Last night's meeting decided, after a not very fruitful discussion, that the "cone" system, or stone blocks at intersections, was most likely to produce the desired effects. It will be time enough to express an opinion on the theory when it has been tested. Undeniably, something more than existing arrangements is necessary to make the streets safe alike for wheeled traffic and pedestrians. It was scarcely fair to try and load the shoulders of the Tramway Board with the blame. The scheme which • insists that all lines shall lead into the Square and that the Square must be used as a distributing centre is of yesterday not to-day. The Sun's opinion is that the traffic congestion could best be relieved, and permanently relieved, by the construction of more direct tracks between the present termini. Instead of all the tramlines converging on the Square through narrow tunnels of buildings, loop connections should be established in adjacent streets at convenient points. Thisjwould clear both of the main entrances to the Square and reduce the volume of pedestrian traffic which daily and nightly streams thickly through the heart of the city. As the Tramway Board shrinks from the task, the next best thing to be done is to devise means of ensuring safe and uninterrupted passage for users of the streets in the hub of the city. If the suggestion referred to helps in that direction, it will' be so much to the good. As it is, the position is far from satisfactory.