ROAD CLASSIFICATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 951, 19 April 1930, Page 16

ROAD CLASSIFICATION

COUNCIL LIMITS UUPHELD ENFORCING REGULATIONS Reporting to a meeting of the V aiternata County Council on Thursday, the engineer stated that he had received a visit from an officer of the newly - constituted Transport Department, who was obtaining first hand information regarding the difficulties of various county councils in enforcing regulations governing the classification of roads. When the difficulties had been pointed out, continued the engineer, i advice was received that the question would be taken up fully on the return of the officer to Wellington. ‘ The question of damage to county roads due to speeding motorists was also taken up with the official, and he pointed out that the' council's remedy for this trouble was in the declaration of a speed limit on the roads in question. I pointed out to him that a great deal of opposotion was to be expected from the motor associations, if the council put forward a restriction of, say, 35 miles an hour for speed on most of our roadways, but after proceeding over various roads the representative was satisfied that the suggesetd by-law was a reasonable one in view of the fact that our roadways are lightly metalled and could not withstand the ravages of fast-moving motor-vehicles. “He instanced a case worked out by a formula arrived at at a conference of road authorities in Milan some three or four years ago from which it was discovered that an ordinary SOcwt motor-car travelling at a speed of 35 miles an hour has caused as much damage to the road bed as a fourtin truck travelling at a speed of 30 mites an hour. “From his point of view lie said that much of our difficulties could b«» overcome if speed restrictions were rigidly - enforced and he asked me to communicate to his department at a later date what steps we were taking to enforce the heavy traffic regulation and the speed limits approved by the Minister.”