Auckland on Wheels

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 121, 12 August 1927, Page 8

Auckland on Wheels

Work of the Traffic Police IN the next set of city by-laws will probably be a provision prohibiting- motorists from turning to the right at the Grafton Bridge intersection. Driving down Symonds Street from the Khyber Pass, a motorist will then be unable to turn directly on to the bridge. The arrangement should help to simplify traffic control at the busiest corner in Auckland.

i UCKLAND is a city on wheels. At Jr *- some time or other, during the day, the units of its elaborate transport system carry the great proportion of its citizens. Trams, buses, private cars, taxis and bicycles, all co-ordinate in helping the populace to move about. Watching every outlet from the city’s business quarter, the corporation Traffic Department knows the trend of the great daily movement. It sees where new congestion develops, and where old congestion is aggravated by more and still more traffic. So it knows that the need

for a new eastern traffic outlet is now a matter of urgency. GLUT AT GRAFTON BRIDGE Statistics show that at peak hours the Grafton Bridge intersection is the city’s busiest. That corner is the only one where night-duty is a set assignment for the traffic police. Every evening the point is controlled until 8 o’clock, so that the lines of theatrebound cars can be moved through without confusion. Even so, the officer sometimes has to hold up 200 yards of cars on the bridge, while trams and other motors are taking their turn in Symonds Street. It is all vastly different from the time when the Grafton gully was spanned by a low-level footbridge—and there was a cab-rank opposite the New Zealand Insurance Company’s building. Seven years ago the development of motor traffic impelled the City Council to organise a Traffic Department. Then an infant —regarded in the light of an interesting experiment

—the department had a staff of three, [ headed by Mr. G. R. Hogan, the pres- ; ent chief traffic officer. It now has j a staff of 30, and IS point-duty police- | men are maintained constantly on the job. TRAFFIC OFFICER’S STAGE Theirs is the most conspicuous phase of the department’s work. The point duty officer has an almost theatrical occupation. His stage is his post at the centre of a busy intersection, and many stop to watch him, as he marshalls the traffic passing by. It is now nearly a year since the City Council decided to take over the point-duty arrangements. Before November 1, 1926, the police had handled the duty, and had been paid to do so by the council, but at no time did the Police Department look after as many intersections as the City Council now controls. The heaviest work falls on the men at Customs Street and the Grafton Bridge. On busy days, however, there is heavy traffic across all the corners, and the period on duty is often excessively wearying. This winter the traffic police have worked under wretched conditions, exposed practically every day to rain and bitter winds. All their equipment is supplied by the City Council, and includes serviceable overcoats, waterproof boots, leggings and white gauntlets for night work. There is also the little wooden grating, which lessens the risk of rheumatism from constant contact with wet bitumen or concrete. Nearly all the men have had previous point-duty experience, some of them overseas, for Auckland was the pioneer of municipal point-control in New Zealand. Tact and watchfulness are two of the qualifications for their job. Sometimes an erring motorist has to be admonished, or even prosecuted, but the Traffic Department’s principle is always to educate, rather than oppress. DIVISION OF DUTY The division of duty among the traffic police is interesting. One shift goes on at 8 a.m., and works until 10. After that there are hour spells, on and off, until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, when the early shift goes off, leaving the 10 a.m. shift to carry on for the remaining two hours. Evening duty —every point is watched on Friday nights—is always specially arranged. But the City Traffic Department does a lot more than i 3 expressed by the signalling hands of the traffic police. Its work covers, also, the issue of motor licences, dog licences, disposition of newspaper sellers, and even the inspection of theatres. In every phase but one it deals in record figures for the Dominion. The exception is bicycles, Christchurch being the bicycle paradise. Seven years ago the revenue of the Auckland City Traffic Department was £4,000. Now it is £50,000.