RIGHT OR LEFT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 284, 26 July 1932, Page 2

RIGHT OR LEFT

OPPOSITE OF USUAL RULE SHOULD APPLY TO PEDESTRIANS. A MAGISTRATE'S FINDING. "Keep to the left! Keep to the left!" How well that road rule has been driven into New Zealand children. But, asks "Super Six," should it be supplied to pedestrian road traffic? Some people argue that it should not, and every day their case appears stronger, and receives additional public support nntil the time seems not far distant when a striking change may be made to the rule * The need for the change is seen* ciearly in terms of that bug-bear of night motoring — the "black area " Car-owners all know it. That moment when passing drivers, no matter how perfect their lights, lose for a second a clear view of the road immediately ahead. If at that instant there happens to be a preoccupied pedestrian in front, keeping to the ieft, he stands a fair chance of being run down. perhaps killed. That such cases are not hypothetical has heen amply p'roved at recent inquests and court cases. Taka the unhappy fate of John Thomas Connell at Wanganui last month. His skull was fractured and his neck broken on the Great North' Road by an untimely comhination of the "black area" and the fallacy of the left-hand rule as applied to pedestrians on country roads used by fast-moving traffic. The Bench could see nothing in the evidence pointing to negligence on the part of the driver. It did see, however, something at fault with the left-hand rule. Not only has this magistrate, Mr. J. H. Salmon, found fault with the left-hand rule but he has quoted that eminent legal authority, Beven, on "Negligence" to indicate that the left-hand rule is fundamentally "out of court," as "horses and carriages should respectively keep on the near or left-hand side and foot passengers take the right." Mr. Salmon and the authority he quotes will find hearty endorsement throughout the motoring community. The law, not our left-hand community. The law, not our left-hand custom, should be put into operation, and people should be educated to walk on the right of the roads. That the public can be educated and that quickly was shown by the few weeks required for the assimilation of the "right-hand rule" (motor regulation No. 11, section 13). As the automobile associations have approved the enactment of a suitable regulation on the lines suggested, it behoves all thinking motorists to become seized with both the advantages and the disadavantages of the proposed change. First for the good points: The pedestrian benefits by walking toward the approaching traffic, and therefore is in a position to do his share to avert an aceident from the front. Against that when a pedestrian walks on th'e left he has his back to the overtaking ti-affic, and in most cases pursues the even tenor of his way, leaving all the responsibility upon the driver of the overtaking vehicle, as unwise, unfair, and dangerous proceeding. But most particularly, we have the "black area" already mentioned, and in this connection there is a good point to note. On a wet or foggy night especially, a person walking with his back to traffic is almost invisible, but when walking toward approaching traffic he enjoys maximum visibility by reason of white face, collar and Shirt front Small things, the uninitiated might say, but ask the practised driver upon wet or foggy nights on our even more popular black bitumen. Now for the disadvantages, which are relatively unimportant: When one car is overtaking another, and this applies particularly at night, the pedes1 trian walking ort the right would have j his back to the overtaking vehicle. To I the motorist, however, this disadvan- ' tage is more apparent than real, be- : cause the onus to exercise eare is al- | ready upon the driver of the overtaking vehicle. This the advantage of giving official j recognition to the rule of the road as laid down by Beven considerably out- ; weigh the disadvantages, so, concludes "Super Six," good luck to the autoj mobile associations in attempting to reduce the hazards of the highway.