STREET SAFETY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18235, 20 November 1924, Page 8

STREET SAFETY.

RED FLAGS AND WHITE

LINES.

MOTORISTS MAKE SUGGESTIONS.

During the dying stages of last night's meeting of the Council of the Canterbury Automobile Association, members became prolific in their suggestions of new business, and the meeting, which had shown signs at 0 p.m. of lapsing into the committee stage, livened up, the discussion continuing till 10 p.m. A variety of topics was introduced, ranging from parking-places to the attachment of red flags Jit the rear of heavily-laden lorries.

Sir B Falc-k, vice-president, who recently returned from Australia, mentioned soma of tho improvements m traihe control he had noted in the Commonwealth. He referred to tho 'bus versus tram-car battle which is in progress on the other side of the Tasman, and to a Bill before Parliament proposing to tax the lorries and char-a.-ba.ncs out of existence. A commercial vehicles owners' union had been formed to fight tho authorities on the question, and the new organisation was experiencing no difficulty in getting members and funds. Turning to local traffic conditions, Mr Falck said that a feature which struck him upon his return to Christchurch was the absolute lack of control of cyclists. Those persons dashed through pedestrian and other traffic at 20 miles an hour in places where a motorist would be fined for speeding if he drove at 15 miles an hour. The streets in the central area were being called upon to carry a good deal of traffic, and as the years went on they would have to carry more. They could not widen the streets, but they could get the use of an additional three feet on either side by covering the channelling and making vohiclcs keep close to tho kerb. Mr F. W. Freeman, who a few months ago returned from Honolulu, and who contributed some interesting articles in the form of interviews to the motoring pages of "The Press," gave members two suggestions for the 'improvement of the city by-laws. One was that the American system of compelling lorries to display a rod flag in the day and a red light at night at tho roar of overhanging loads. A very real danger was occasioned by such overhanging loads as timber when the laden vehicle swung round a comer, and the carrying of a sniall flag or light would allow following vehicle drivers to gauge moro accurately the length of the overhang. Mr AV. B. Carey mentioned that a fatal accident had'recently occurred on the Hutt road through the tail lamp of a lorry being obscured by the load.' Another suggestion Mr' Freeman had to make was in connexion with parking Within tlio city area. Tho present centre-of-road system he described as obsolete, and full of menaco to the safety of all road users. They should adopt the American system of marking spaces in white lines on tho sides of streets for a certain number of cars, each space being sufficient to take one car. The parking should be done at an angle, that was, tho cars should be run into their allotted places nose-first, and stand at an angle of forty-five degrees to tho footpath, nob parallel to the kerb. He moved resolutions recommending the Council to adopt tho red flag system for all loads' overhanging four feet or more of the rear end of a vehicle, and the roadside parking within marked spaces.

These resolutions were seconded by Mr H. B. Kennett, and.after being endorsed by members were adopted.

Mr Falek mentioned that the railway station carriers had protested against being moved from their former stand on the station side of Moorhouse avenue to the north sidej in order to allow taxis to be parked on the south side. He said that some further adjustment might be required, but he considered tha£ the City Council had acted on the right lines in making the alteration. Formerly, when the taxis stood on the north side of the avenue they had created a very real danger by dashing across the roadway to pick up "fares." On Falck's motion, it was agreed that the Association support the City Council in the alteration, and recommend that the new system should be given a fair trial before being amended in any way. '' This Association,'' stated the resolution, "is of the opinion that the present arrangement serves the convenience and safety of the public to a far greater extent than the former one." ,