ROAD SAFETY

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 31, 13 August 1952, Page 4

ROAD SAFETY

^PPEALS by the Transport Department, press and radio propaganda and the grim warnings of tht casualty lists week by week, do not appear to h^ve had the ^esired effect of making the New Zealand roads much safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. The casualty rate still remains distressingly high. Not a day passes without a record m the daily press of a road accident — more frequently road accidents. Admittedly, every effort is being made by the responsible authorities to reduce, by traffic control, regulations, road signs and prosecutions of offenders, the dangers of modern road travel. The problem, however, traces back to the human factor. With all the car'e and skill he may exercise, the cautious driver has still to reckon with the fool at the wheel of another car or truck, with the reckless speedster on a motor-cycle, with the irresponsible who has had too much liquor before starting his vehicle on the highway. It would seem, on the record, that this human factor should be more rigourously ^ontrolled. If warnings continue to be ignored, penalties should be stiffened, and the eligibility of "accident-prone" drivers for the continuance of their licences more closely examined. All road accidents involving damage, injury or death, should, without exception, be the subject of an cfficial investigation, the cause ascer£ained, the responsibility " sheeted hoine, and the offender disciplined.

In a letter to the Times of this issue, a correspondent, aProgress,,, draws attention to the need for' at least two pedestrian crossings in the main street of Taupo township, and a marked bus stop at the Post Office. The writer makes the point — and it is a good point — that the summer traffic in the main street is heavy enough to warrant better safety measures than at present exist. The Town Boardj it was reported recently, has the matter !n hand, and is awaiting action by the Main Highways Board —

. Tongariro Street is on the main high« way — in regard to the marking of n centre line in order that the locaily controlled angle-parking lines can also be marked. There is no doubt that too much double-parkmg is going on, and this constitutes a danger to vehicles backing out from the angle-parking places. Much also remains to be done to make the road intersections safer than they are by clearing the corners and splaying them" back to the survey lines. As things are, many of these intersections, their approaches obscured by broom or manuka, are traps for the unwary. The Town Board adfriittedly is doing something about it, and if property owners would co-operate more energetically in clearing their own frontages, the dangers of these crossings would be considerably minimised.