The Upraised Hand

NZ Truth, Issue 1149, 8 December 1927, Page 8

The Upraised Hand

WITH the motorist looming I large m the public eye at the moment, the time is seemingly ripe to touch again upon the subject of traffic control m our cities. While excellent work is being carried out by the police and officers of the various city councils many "death traps" still remain unguarded. Financial exigencies preclude the possibility of making a vast addition to the ordinary police ,force for point duty work, but the labor called for J. rom a traffic controller, except at certain busy spots m main streets, could be adequately carried out by men not provided with all the qualifications needed m the case of police, and city council traffic officers. It might be possible both to relieve unemployment and to make road travel a great deal safer by enrolling men who would be trained merely m traffic direction. It would obviously be out of the question to have even "semiskilled" men available for every danger point, but the enrolment of such a corps as suggested, would go some way m the desired direction. Incidentally, quite a large number of police constables now on point duty could thus be relieved for work of equal value and of a character calling for the display of abilities not required from men on ordinary traffic duty.