TRAFFIC CONTROL IN CAIRO
ZONES PAINTED IN COLOURS LIEUT. FAIRBROTHER’S IMPRESSIONS A description of the roads system of traffic control in .Cairo was given by the former secretary of the Automobile Association (Southland), Lieutenant M. C. Fairbrother, now on active service, in> a letter which was received by the executive committee or the association at its meeting last night. ' “Here in Cairo the organization is called the R.A.C. of Egypt,” he says. “I called on the secretary, who is an Egyptian, and was made an honorary member. There is quite an elaborate club here, and a fair tourist department, but no patrols. Actually, there are very few roads, and consequently little need for signs. A road to Suez, one to Alexandria, and one to Port Said just about tell the story, except of course the ones radiating from the city itself to the suburbs.. Signs for these are pretty sparse. “Some of the things which are amazing are the civic activity and the traffic control. Those roads which are constructed are, near the city, all carefully cornered and lined with a stone kerbing. At the very least of the bends the road will widen out and the traffic stream is divided by a safety zone sometimes only wide enough to accommodate pedestrians and sometimes wide and long enough to accommodate a sizeable garden plot and footpath. The suburban roads are invariably . lined with trees and the garden plots in the safety zones filled with flowers and shrubs, and always lighted. “The kerbing of these zones is invariably painted in alternate black and white stripes about 12 inches wide and are kept painted. That is what you need at the east end of Tay street where the garden plots start. The scheme is most effective and the colour stripes stand out very clearly in car lights. These zones are very common. They are to be found at every tram stop and every pedestrian crossing. Egyptian police control the more important points and they do quite a good piece of work, roundly slating any transgressors, and sometimes boxing small boys’ ears.
“Just now the lights on these zones are painted blue and that is all the light one gets at night in the city, except an occasional red, which marks the air-raid shelters. It is most eerie being in a strange and blacked-out city. I was there the other night with some friends from camp, and we had to rely entirely on the gharry driver and mostly, I think, his horse’s ability to see in the dark. However, we arrived at our destination.
“The war has really got under way now and it looks as if it will be our way soon. We are all fit and well and able to do our part now with confidence.” ■
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Southland Times, Issue 24227, 10 September 1940, Page 8
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465TRAFFIC CONTROL IN CAIRO Southland Times, Issue 24227, 10 September 1940, Page 8
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