SYDNEY BRIDGE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 315, 31 August 1932, Page 7

SYDNEY BRIDGE

early Notoriety for accidents and suicides.

SYDNEY, Aug. 13. Though the great bridge has been linldng up the two sides of the harbour for only a few months, it has already secured an evil notoriety for itself in several distinct ways. First of all, it is a death trap. Last Friday night two policenien were standing on the motor-way near the central arch of the bridge engaged in their duty of controlling traffic. A motor-car approached, they stepped out to signal to it, and both were run down — one killed on the spot, the other dying a little later in the hospital. The tragie end of these two young constables — Bush was 26 and M'Gunn only 23 — has produced a very deep impression on the public mind here and pity for their wives and families has strengthened the conviction that something must be done to guard against such terrible occurrences in future. The driver of the car on the fatal evening, "Mick" Pollson, a well-known trainer, was regarded by the police as a capable and experienced motorist, but, as he must stand his trial for manslaughter, it is not possible to discuss the degree of his responsibility yet. But there is a g-eneral consensus of opinion that motor traffic over the bridge involves very sefious darigers to the general public. Two Reasons. There are two principal reasons for this — the natural tendency to "speeding up" while crossing the bridge, and the confusing lights which make driving difficult and dangerous at night. As to the speeding, it was stated in the Daily Telegraph that Commissioner Childs narrowly escaped being run over at the very spot where Bush and Mc'Cunn were killed; and a little later Superintendent Mackay and Inspector Prior, of the C.I.B., were very nearly run down at the same locality. Mr. Childs naturally thinks that the speed of motor-cars should be .carefully restricted, and this applies not only to the portion of Bradfield Highway which crosses the bridge, but to the difficult approaqhes from the city side, where there are many traps for the unwary. The chief danger is the lighting. Everybody seems to admit that, with all the lights burning, the bridge is quite s&fe for motor traffice after dark, but for purposes of economy the authorities had cut down the lighting by two-thirds, allowing only one lamp in three to be lit up. The saving was only £400 a year, and the effect was certainly to confuse and bewilder motorists with patches of confliating lights and shadows. Since this tragic fatality the full power of the lights has been restored, in accordance with the original scheme. But this precaution has come too late, and amid the vast throngs of spectators who swarmed in thousands through the city streets last week to follow the funeral cortege I am sure that the great ma"jority of the men and women there present had already convinced themselves that, with a little reasonable fore-thought and care on the part of the responsible authorities, this disastrous tragedy might have been avoided.

The ToII of Sulcides. But the bridge is not only a deathtrap; it is also a suicide lure. Last week another suicide was recorded from the harbour-bridge footway, the fifth ; and only a week bef ore the bridge had claimed its fourth victim. The last suicide was the case of an Englishman without relatives in this country and out of work, so that this disaster can hardly be attributed to anything but the desperation born of want and loneliness. But large numbers of well-intentioned people insist that something can be -done, and should be done, to deter those tired of life from using the bridge as a means of self-destruction. Even the Daily Telegraph, which is usually rational enough, has remarked that "the Transport Department should do something to make such mad acts impossible." But surely it is obvious that, if people want to kill themselves and they are denied the opportunity in one direction, they will seek it in another, and the mere presence of the bridge is not iii itself more incentive to suicide than the existence of the heads or the harbour. To erect barricades or obstacles of any kind along the footways would surely be waste of time and money. The Salvation Army, with characteristic common-sense, has put up notices at the Gap requesting would-be suicides to reflect a little and come and talk things over with the officers at Salvation Army headquarters. Strange as it may seem, this appeal has in several instances had the desired effect, and it seems that intervention of this sort is more likely to prevent suicide than the lofty pa'rapets or barbed-wire entanglements which some horrified members of the great public have proposed.