ROAD PLANNING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 February 1939, Page 7

ROAD PLANNING

DEVELOPMENTS IN DOMINION AND ELSEWHERE PRECAUTIONS FOR GREATER SAFETY. EXTENSIVE WORK IN HAND. In the development of road safety precautions, Governments, through their public works departments, transport departments, and other avenues, are contributing a great deal to aid and guide the motorist, the rider or driver, and the pedestrian. Rules, regulations, speed limits and general “codes” of the road are not invented for restrictive purposes, but for protective reasons—and everybody shares in that protection and must contribute his part by observing them. On the other hand, the communal interest of the citizen, represented by the Government or. by the local authority responsible, is also contributing materially to these protective measures. Throughout New Zealand at the present time extensive road construction is being carried on, and in all this work the safety measure for road users is being closely watched. Roads in New Zealand, as in other countries, were. not built originally for fast-moving ’ traffic. The result has been that practically every road in New Zealand has had to be reconstructed and improved as year after year brought new problems. That process is still goring on and must continue for many years before New Zealand’s reading system, good though it is under the circumstances, can be equal to the requirements of the future. Nevertheless, a great deal has been done and is being done. Roads are being straightened, grades eased, cambers adjusted, and dangerous bends removed. In addition to this, concrete and bitumen surfaces are rapidly replacing the old macadam highways, bridges are being replaced and widened, and level crossings eliminated. OVERSEAS SYSTEMS. Faced with statistics showing that people are killed and injured through road accidents each year in ever increasing numbers, Great Britain, the United States, and most European countries have realised that fast-mov-ing motor traffic is here to stay and must be provided for. In those countries, startling new developments, involving a complete new technique of road construction and planning have been evolved. With those progressive systems, Mr Gainor Jackson, an ex-chairman of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, deals in interesting fashion. Mr Jackson has recently returned from a tour of the world. During his travels he paid a great deal of attention to traffic problems and the manner in which they are being dealt with by various countries. “During my recent trip abroad, in the course of which I visited some 15 countries, I was impressed with the measures being taken in every country for increasing the safety factor for vehicular and pedestrian 'traffic,” he states. In every country in Europe, main thoroughfares are being widen-' ed, and in many cases new main highways have had to be built around towns and villages by by-pass roads, so as to avoid the bottlenecks which occur in the narrow streets of the old towns and villages. • Wherever possible main arterial roads through villages and towns are being widened by setting back the building lines, but this process is slow and costly. Hence, the necessity for building by-pass roads. GERMANY’S HIGHWAYS. “To meet the growing needs of traffic, Germany has laid down a complete network of huge concrete thoroughfares covering the whole country. These are known as Adolf Hitler motor roads, though it is generally recognised they are being built also for strategic purposes. These huge thoroughfares, often of four to six traffic lanes in each direction, are divided in the centre by a raised strip about 12 feet wide so as to separate opposing lines of traffic. “Level crossings have been avoided, some ingenious methods to this end being employed. The best known of these is the ‘Four-leaf Clover’ system. Motor traffic on these roads is obliged to maintain a speed of 35 miles and up. Sharp bends have been obviated on these roads, which run for miles in dead straight lines.

“It has been found in overseas countries that many of the road accidents occur on bridges which are narrower than the highway. These narrow bridges act as bottle necks and cause congestion. In all countries bridges are now being constructed wider than the immediate traffic requirements, to provide for the future. Where duplication of bridges has been necessary, traffic moving in different directions is diverted to one or other of the bridges to increase the safety factor. “Another safety measure that is being introduced in England and America is the provision of raised ‘island round-abouts' on main thoroughfares at road intersections and the corners of adjacent property rounded off so as to form a ‘circus’ at these intersections. This ensures that all traffic goes round the ‘circus’ in a clockwise direction where the traffic keeps to the left, and anti-clockwise where the rule of the road is right. "These island roundabouts regulate and slow up traffic at road intersections. It has been found that they practically eliminate collisions and have greatly reduced the loss of life and injury at these points. This system is generally in vogue at the world’s busiest intersections, such as Piccadilly Circus in London, the Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Bastille in Paris. These raised roundabouts are indicated at night by red electric lights, so that all approaching traffic is warned to slow up at intersections. PEDESTRIAN SAFETY. "In most of the American cities the crossing of streets by pedestrians is regulated by a 'Stop-Go’ electric light system at main intersections, pedestrians crossing with the vehicular traffic moving in that direction. Officers are on point duty to see that pedestrians observe the rule. In Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, this rule is rigidly enforced, and the same applies to Germany. In London, pedestrians are given more freedom of action, but there island safety zones are provided for pedestrians in the centre of the road.

"In most countries recognised pedestrian crossings are marked with white lines at street insections where drivers of vehicles might expect them. In England, pedestrian crossings are further indicated by the familiar Belisha beacons, a 12-inch orange coloured sphere mounted on a black and white striped standard. "In all large cities in the United States and in England, parking in the main thoroughfares is entirely prohib-

ited. It is generally conceded that roads are provided as thoroughfares and not for parking. Parking of cars on the sides of the streets obscures vision of pedestrians crossing roads. This is a major cause of accidents. Private parking lots in central situations are provided in all American cities, the parking charges varying from 15 to 25 cents per hour. “To overcome traffic congestion, New York has had to build massive raised ‘skyways,' such as that skirting Manhattan Island on the Hudson River side, from the Battery to the George Washington Bridge.”