CONTROL OF TRAFFIC

Taranaki Daily News, 31 October 1935, Page 11

CONTROL OF TRAFFIC

BRITISH DEVELOPMENT CO-ORDINATION OF SERVICES. MR. J. R. CRUICKSHANK’S VIEWS. * SCIENCE IN TRAFFIC CONTROL. Some interesting observations upon general transport conditions and the control of motor traffic in England are made by Mr. J. R. Cruickshank, New Plymouth, who returned recently from a visit to the United Kingdom. “Since my last visit to England,” he says, “enormous developments have taken place in motor traffic and methods of controlling it and in a general way there has been a wonderful reconciliation of road and rail transport interests. For instance in London the underground railways and the motor-omnibus services are now merged into one big transport concern. The big railway groups instead of fighting road transport have become financially interested in the leading motor-bus companies throughout the provinces. The British Railways have speeded up their services and reduced train fares. Luxurious motor coaches are on the roads 7 whereby you can travel through rural England at prices which were not dreamed of a few years ago and if speed is the essence of the contract the airways provide it. “At one of the big motor-bus stations in London, I ascertained that no fewer than 38 different bus companies made this particular station their depot, and during the August bank holiday weekend, about 800 buses were dispatched from this depot alone for various places on the South Coast, handling approximately 28,000 passengers between them. “To cope with the ever-growing traffic of heavy commercial vehicles, buses, and privately owned cars, new roads and by-passes have been built in many parts of the country. Patrol and service work has been brought to a most efficient point and control of traffic by automatic signals is an accepted feature in every town, city, or built-up area where traffic is heavy or congested. The success and smooth-running of automatic signalling is apparent to any observer, and it is seldom that the driver of any type of vehicle fails 'to obey the silent command of the Robot. “One needs only to look down Oxford Street in London from a point of vantage, say near the Marble Arch, to note the enormous volume and cross-stream of traffic automatically directed by the constantly changing red, orange and green signal lights stretching as far as the eye can-reach to realise the quickness and efficiency of the system. The Ministry of Transport is now experimenting with a new control device emitting an invisible fay, which when broken by a pedestrian, holes up traffic Long enough for him to cross in safety. TOLL OF THE ROAD. . “In spite of all these devices in the interests of public safety, the toll of the road in Great Britain is still terribly heavy. For the first week in September, the figures recorded 148 killed and 4913 injured. During the past year total deaths and maimings amounted to over a quarter of a. million. It has been truly said that the scientist and engineer in creating the motor-car let loose a force which to-day they are unable to control. “The careless or inefficient driver still constitutes the real danger of the road. One transport authority in. England recently stated:—“The scientist may help to an increasing extent to predict and provide for the action of an individual in a given set of circumstances—he may also help to keep off the road the demonstrably unfit, but unless and until science and not a human driver assumes control of the vehicle, the occasional error of judgment, the momentary lapse of attention, the states of body and mind which induce neglect of precautions and the taking of risks, will cause a certain number of breakdowns in any system of automatic control.” “One very marked feature of London motor traffic to-day is the absence of horn sounding. It is now an offence to sound a motor horn within 10 miles of Charing Cross after 11-30 p.m. Evidently this restriction of horn blowing at night has had the curious effect of bringing the horn into general disuse, but whatever the cause the fact remains that it is now an exception to hear a motor horn in London during the day even in traffic congested areas. FACILITIES FOR MOTORISTS. “The wonderful condition of the English roads for motoring, the splendid patrol services provided by the various automobile associations, the charting, classification and numbering of all main and secondary thoroughfares, are too well known to need further mention here. As a matter of fact the motorist in England to-day is seldom out of reach of expert advice and assistance, for at all important crossroads and at intervals on all Class A roads in England, Scotland and Wales, are to be found patrols or service officers whose duty it is to direct traffic, to issue warnings where necessary, and in a general way to render service and give information to motorists. At most principal crossroads and at intervals on main roads, telephone boxes are also available. “The great increase in motoring during recent years has created many problems apart from actual control of road traffic. For example the development of ‘ribbonbuilding,’ as it is called, has become such a nuisance that special legislation is being framed to check it. Where new by-pass roads have been constructed (sometimes at very heavy cost) for the purpose of avoiding the narrow streets and congested traffic of towns or cities, rows of houses have in many cases * sprung up on either side of the by-pass and parallel to it, thus defeating the very object for which the by-pass was constructed, and adding to the motorists’ responsibilities instead of easing them. PARKING AREAS. “Another problem facing most of the municipalities in Great Britain is that of parking. It is obvious that the only way to prevent the blockage of traffic in towns and cities is to provide adequate and compulsory parking areas, conveniently and centrally situated. Not many months ago the British Minister of Transport stated that when a car owner used the streets and highways for parking his car, he was not only putting land out of use,' but his abuse of the roadway especially in congested areas was the main cause of traffic delays and the frequert cause of accidents. It is now generally admitted in Great Britain that this complex problem has reached the stage where definite action is imperative, and in towns and cities where surface areas for car-parks are not available, municipalities are con- ' sidering the construction of large public ghrages either several stories high or underground. NEW ZEALAND CONDITIONS. Motoring conditions in New Zealand are of course on a somewhat different plane to those existing in the Old Country, and as we are situated in New Zealand I should say that our general traffic control is satisfactory. By the term traffic control I mean the measures taken to ensure safety and speedy opera-

tion of all forms of motor traffic and not that form of control which attempts to penalise or sacrifice all forms of transport in the interests of the railway. There is one feature in connection with motor traffic on English roads which we might emulate in New Zealand and that is the alertness and courtesy of the drivers of heavy motor vehicles and their readiness to give way to overtaking traffic. There are a great number of these vehicles on the road, both steam and petrol driven, some of a very heavy type and drawing large trailers, but invariably when a motorist comes in sight of a lorry ahead of him, the driver not only starts to pull in to the side of the road, but as likely as not will be simultaneously signalling the motorist to pass him, provided, of course, the road ahead is clear. In New Zealand I fear the average lorry driver either cannot or will not see overtaking traffic, and is very conveniently deaf and blind to the efforts of the overtaking motorist to secure sufficient road room to pass. “In the matter of parking areas, I think the time is not far distant when municipal authorities in New Zealand will have to tackle the x . oblem of providing compulsory parking areas in order to keep the main streets and side streets of our towns and cities clear for moving traffic. In most English towns and cities, the parking of cars in a prescribed area is compulsory, and in charge of a uniformed official who collects the prescribed fee and issues a numbered re-

ceipt to the motorist; in fact, more or less the same process as depositing baggage in any cloak room. The motorist in return for his small parking fee has the satisfaction of knowing that his car is practically safe from theft or damage in his absence, and incidentally he will know where to find his car when he wants it. It is generally recognised in England that any efficient system of traffic control must simultaneously provide for the regulation of pedestrian ; traffic.”