NIGHT DRIVING

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 128, 30 December 1938, Page 4

NIGHT DRIVING

ttKKJIKLTJNU JLtOAIKSTUJ) ADOPTION v IN KINULANI) One ol the adjuncts to. traffic safety at night which came under the notice ol Mr, CL N. T .(foldie, Into assistnnt chief Iraflic inspector, Wellington, in the Uhl Country, was a now rebooting; roud-xli'id, wlucli combines in a most ingenious fashion a stationary relleetor and a road mark level witu the roadi .-jiud'acc. 'this stud, a case ol which has been imported hy the city engineer's department ter use in Wellington, is a sturdy tour-longed piece of solid castiron l;jin. sipuire. Its top carries a sprung ruhhor pad, convex in slmjie, protecting two “eyes” in the form of clear glass marbles, which show half an inch above the level of the read. These are the collectors. As traffic passes over a stud the rubber centre is pressed down momentarily, an action which cleans the reflectors by causing them to brush against a. pail. 'l'hus the reflectors t which are only half an inch in diameter) are always clear for duty, no matter Imw dusty the iroad or heavy the trallic. Mr. ((oldie, who has just returned from America and Klnglnnd, says that •Sheffield commenced hy ordering ot) studs, and, having tried them out, ordered ‘JUd;,) more. Todmordon also gave them a trial and ordered .‘WOO; the West Riding ordered, between 8000 and 0000, and the city of Leeds .%,000. The company manufacturing them was also receiving orders from the t lontinent.

‘‘The new reflecting stud is being used all over Kngland to deline road centres ami sides • also to outline pedestrian crossings,” he says. "In some places they are being used lor all three purposes in the one street. There is mi doubting their value. The rellectors pick up I lie headlight beams ot ears .with fidelity, the eil'ect at night being almost the same as when such lights are picked up hy the eyes ol a wandering eat.”