WHERE TRAFFIC MOVES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 764, 10 September 1929, Page 6

WHERE TRAFFIC MOVES

METHODS IN AMERICA CHRISTCHURCH MAN’S IMPRESSION Amazed at the volume and control of motor traffic in the big American cities Mr. Len Treleaven, managing director of Amuri Motors, Limited, has returned to Christchurch. He told “Chassis” of the Christchurch “Sun” that the tendency seems to be to give pedestrians their “heads” as one would do with a horse. The vehicular traffic is controlled by lights and traffic officers, and the pedestrians use the roads at their peril if they disobey the flow of the ever-moving lanes of traffic. At some intersections there are traffic lights in addition to two, three, or perhaps four officers, and traffic must move along. No one, even with a clear street, would dream of going against a red light. If he did, well, fines are imposed on the spot. Speed is the secret of success; there is no dawdling or the motorists hears all about it. In Detroit one finds that the traffic lines have all_ been repainted in a single night. "The work of repainting is always going on because Detroit knows that traffic control starts with lines. Along some streets in U.S. cities the lines run along the roads for miles out into the country, the lines in- j dicating slow and fast traffic, and the ! speed depends on the leading car. in Chicago the traffic men are armed with a waddy and a couple of guns! No driver of a licensed vehicle! would think of passing over a railway crossing unless he had stopped 50ft away, got into low gear and j j started again. Private owners can take the risk, but dead-heats with; trains mean a win for the iron horse. Everyone must stop before entering a main road even 30 and 40 miles i from a city. The roads are specially j i marked by number and colour. Traffic men doing over 60 ou motor-cycles i keep motorists up to the mark. Fiues j are paid on the nail. I Headlights have to be adjusted regularly, and so have brakes. A traffic man watches a car pull up, and if in doubt he will have the car tested at once. A fine depends on the result. Most motorists carry a ticket on the screen to say when the brakes were tested. Acceleration and j brakes must be O.K. to save disaster and fines in America. Mr. Treleaven considers that the sales organisation in New Zealand has nothing to learn from America. The second-hand car problem is in a pretty mess over there. The front lawns of suburban homes are used by sellers of used cars. Not to have the latest model is poor economy in U.S.A. The roads were wonderful. Mr. Treleaven travelled 600 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It was concrete or bitumen all the way, despite the fact that 150 miles was travelled off the main road. In U.S.A. Mr. Treleaven met Mr. P. J. Hopkins, of Christchurch, Messrs C. and A. Todd, Mr. T. A. Low (Auckland), C. Neunhopper < Melbourne), j and J. Thompson, of South Australia, ! all in the motor business.