TRAFFIC CONTROL.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 225, 23 September 1929, Page 9

TRAFFIC CONTROL.

MERITS OF AUTOMATIC SYSTEM. SUCCESS IN MELBOURNE. PKOBABLE ADOPTION IN AUCKLAPJ D MR. G. ASHLEY'S OBSERVATIONS. Automatic traffic control is likely to replace point duty officers at certain intersections in Auckland in the not distant future. Enthusiastic over the success of the automatic system in Melbourne, there returned to Auckland by the Aorangi ; from Sydney this morning Mr. George Ashley, chairman of the Traffic Committee of the Auckland City Council and a member of the Auckland Transport Board, and he intends to recommend its ftdotion in a report which is to be presented to the council.

Mr. Ashley combined business with pleasure in Australia, and availed himself of the opportunity of studying traffic conditions both in Sydney and Melbourne. In the latter city the automatic traffic control system, said Mr. Ashley, had been given a trial at a particularly congested intersection, and it had proved so satisfactory that it was proposed to make it general. The device was electrically controlled, and entirely eliminated point duty men. It showed three lights—green, yellow and red. Green signified that all was clear and that the traffic could proceed for a fixed period; yellow indicated that the signal was about to change; and red had the effect of etopping the traffic from travelling in a certain direction. A great advantage of the scheme was that it gave the pedestrian an absolutely safe course, a thing that he did not get Avhen traffic was under the control of a point-man. who was liable to change his mind at any moment as to which traffic was to stop or go. In Melbourne it was particularly interesting, added Mr. Ashley, to watch the crowd wait for tho change in the signal, and then sweep across the street in a great mass. The automatic device was controlled by the Melbourne City Council, but it had the wholehearted approval of the tramway authorities. The system eliminated the human element in the form of a traffic policeman, and was much more economical. Trial Suggested. "Several of us on tho Auckland Council think that Auckland has reached the stage when something in the nature of automatic traffic control might be given a trial," said Mr. Ashley. "The system will probably be tried out in certain places before it is adopted generally. If It is made general, it will be more economical than the present system, for it coate very little for upkeep, and does not require operation by hand. The device is merely set to change at certain periods, and the changes are determined by the volume of traffic at the various intersections. It operates right throughout the day, and can bo altered to suit conditions at peak periods." Mr. Ashley spent a good deal of time with Sydney's Civic Commissioners and the tramway authorities in Melbourne, and was placed in a position to seesomething of the working of transport facilities in both cities. He is convinced that the Auckland tram services compare more than favourably with any he saw. In Sydney lie found that tho trams were paying, but in Melbourne they were not owing to beincr loaded with charges aggregating £120,000, made by the Government in respect to civic management. Endeavours were being made to adjust the position. In Sydney the service was affected by motor competition, but a movement was beinjj made to combat it, and introduce legislation similar to that which was applied to Auckland a few years ago.