Watch Your Step! ... Hazards of City Streets

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 822, 16 November 1929, Page 17

Watch Your Step ! ... Hazards of City Streets

jj " !l '•> Prevent YOU savins you from yourself, Mr. all iC time au.t energy lessen«taods in the muddle of pedestrians, motors, motor-eye]is and trams and itirects these atoms of civilisation along their proper paths. You would probably find him a polite and obliging unit td a well-trained eity force, but as to its being an easy job, well . . . ! Trnffie control —probably the greatest problem facing the cities of the world today—is Indeed a problem in Auckland Here there arc few of the square eity blocks found in so many Streets here twist and turn, wind round hills, converge at odd angles; in fact do everything except help the traffli! department. Laid out by early residents who

tailed to foresee the great deal of traffic which was to come, and then raced with most unusual topography, the city does not conform to the best plan for handling traffic. At Customs and iAlbert Streets the traffic officer is faced with five routes from which vehicles may issue., higher up Albert Street, Swanson Street shoots suddenly downhill and then diagonally across Queen Street to Shortland Street. A little further up, Vulcau Lane, now fortunately being widened, runs blindly Into Queen Street, while Wyndham Street does the same thing across the way a few yards further up. Victoria Street shoots downhill into Queen Street, uphill on the other side, to divide suddenly on a steep angle | and disappear around the foot of Albert Park. Motor-cars, trucks and j motor-cycles sweep down one into another, shoot around corners and dodge in front of tramcars, while | pedestrians scamper here and there, jumping from footpath to street and j etreet to footpath again. And this goes on all day and at j times far into the eventng, while hard ; working officers stand on their square I of pavement and with arms moving like windmills watch over pedestrians j and drivers alike. Most American cities are laid out in j perfect squares, with straight intersections and right angle corners and |

tbis makes traffic control comparatively simple. The volume of traffic In most of these cities is tremendous, but with such true intersections it is Dossible to use mechanical devices for traffic control which would be practical in only a few places here. Lights suspended in the middle of tbe intersection are used in most of

l “' American cities, the colour of tlio “HIM shown indicating wliat the traffic >5 o do. The larger cities use towers lor the same svstem. while one-way streets, no-parking areas and safety rones for pedestrians, make the control much simpler. This system would probably prove

difficult to use in Auckland, however, -is de\ ices for diagonal intersections and five-street corners would have to e most complicated arrangements, petlc'tri• e American system the - light signals. “Jay-walking” is, of mYY. prohih j teil an<l Pedestrians mav loss at the intersections only. I'edestrians here, watching their . mntor e ;jl° dK '!. S r ° m between "parked . motor-cars and leap across the street in front of oncoming vehicles. It i develops into a system of look, jump, hesitate, look again and then fly for i ,

the opposite footpath. It is not much fun for pedestrians or motorists and is a constant source ‘of strain to the tramcar mot or men. There are, of course, few people who will take deliberate risks when crossing streets, but the slightest miscalculation may result in disaster and the human nervous system must receive many jars in the course of a day in city traffic. So far this year 15 persons, men,

women and children have been killed in traffic accidents in the City of Auckland. Fifteen families have been bereaved, all this despite the strenuous efforts of the traffic department to safeguard human lives. This toll of life is recorded in a little black-bound ledger at the Town Hall and pathetic visions arise as one runs down the list of accidents which have occurred in each year. Every so often in the list a line or two of writing in red ink shows the loss of a valued life while many serious injuries are recorded.

oi A O\J A. 11 . H/ L. 1.1 -tJi oOA . ) ' Starting on January 13 one reads of a collision between a motor-car and motor-cycle in which two women were injured. Next day a woman is injured when knocked down by a motor-van, a week elapses and we read of two men seriously injured in a collision between : a motor-car and lorry. Half-way down I the page we read: “February J. corner ! Street and Street, motor-car ! and motor-cycle collision, rider badly | injured— Pillion rider died two hours later.'" | At the top of the next page:—“Feb-

ruary 7, corner and Roads, man thrown from sidecar—‘Died few hours later.* ** A little farther on:—“February 17, Road, boy with trolley struck by motor-car — *Boy died shortly after * ” Every few inches one comes across j the line of red ink that spells a j tragedy. A woman was knocked down by a motor-car and died a few hours j later; two men were pinned in a burn j ing truck following a collision and !

died later from burns: a man was > knocked down by a motor-van and, killed almost instantly. “Died few minutes later”, “died few hours later”, | “died on way to hospital”, “killed instantly”. “dead when picked up”, are j quotations from this record of fatali- j ties. Altogether, 10S accidents are re- ! corded in the book and it speaks well { for the traffic department that fully 9-0 j per cent, of that number were outside j the area controlled by point duty men. There are twenty traffic officers on point duty and ten points are controlled j in the city area. The total staff which I carries out. the department’s heavy duties is 3” men, of whom 2S are uniformed men. There are three motor-cycle officers and as they are all sworn-in as special j constables they have the full power ot police constables. The department is controlled by the City Council and is. without doubt, one of the hardest- : worked units of civic business. One f the biggest problems facing . the department at the present time is j the prevention of congestion on the i main streets. This is made extremely I

, difficult by the absence of parallel streets. Running parallel with Queen Street is Albert Street on one side and High Street, for a short distance only, on the other side. The absence if linking streets between Albert and Queen Streets makes the former praci tically useless in the relief of coui gestion. Parking is prohibited oil | Swanson Street, which is extremely I steep and narrow, while Wyndham j Street is also a steep grade that is not ! popular with motorists.

! On the other side, there is no parallel j street from Quay to Shortland Streets i and starting from there is High Street, ! a very narrow thoroughfare, unpopular 1 with motorists, which runs only to Victor.’a Street. Vulcan Lane and ; Durham Street, the linking routes, are | both one-way streets on which parking I is strictly prohibited. In an effort to try and reduce the ! number of accidents and prevent con- ; gestion by speeding up traffic, Mr. Hogan endeavoured to have pedestrians cross the main streets at right- ; angles only. Enforcement did not take place, however, and pedestrians continue to risk their lives by dashing across the streets anywhere and at any angles. With the installation of automatic traffic control, which the council lias under discussion at the present time, this “jay-walking” may be strictly prohibited, although the type of automatic signals installed will decide the question. In American cities, where automatic control by lights suspended in the centre of intersections has proved a great success, “jay-walking” is strictly prohibited. Infractions of the by-law there may result in one’s appearance before a magistrate and a line. Aucklanders should respect the freedom which they now enjoy and assist the traffic department by not taking unnecessary risks and dashing across the street whenever the whim seizes them. The placing of traffic domes in various parts of the city has been effective , in reducing the number of accidents. \ These have proved of great service at j

intersections where accidents frequently occurred and have reduced the number considerably, according to statistics. Subsequent to the permanent use of the domes the Council is | now experimenting wlJi white lines j which are also proving very effective. These have to be constantly renewed, however, and can only be put down during fine weather. In connection with the relief of traffic congestion, Auckland should profit by the lesson which the city of Sydney has learned during the past few months. There, after years of consideration, it was decided to widen certain streets. It cost the adminis- j trative body millions of pounds and might have been done for only thous- j ands a few years ago. Auckland is

j faced with a similar problem and the time will no doubt come —in the : opinion of many it has come—when a number of the city streets will have ito be widened to handle the ever- . increasing volume of traffic. And so Auckland faces the same problem that is facing cities the world over. The solution is not simple, for it is a difficult thing to please everyone and hurt no one. Pedestrians and motorists, tramcar officials and shop keepers, all demand their rights and the traffic department of the city couni cil has to consider them all. However, life and limb must be protected and traffic congestion relieved so everyone must be expected to do his or her bit j to help find a solution.