The R.A.C. and Safe Driving.
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THE Royal Automobile Club recently appointed a special committee to consider ways and means of increasing the safety of the roads especially in regard to warning signs and the respective traffic values of crossing and converging roads. The recommendations of this committee were considered at a meeting of the R.A.C. General Committee on Thursday, July 16th. The Council consists of representatives of all the affiliated provincial motor clubs and other allied organizations of the parent bode. It meets twice a year to discuss matters of national importance, such as legislation, taxation, upkeep of roads, and to enable the committee of the R.A.C. to obtain the views of motorists generally on all such matters. Sir Henry Maybury, the Director-General of Roads, attended from the Ministry of Transport and took part in the debate.
The recommendations of the committee—which are embodied in the following series of reselutions—were very fully dismissed, the unanimous opinion being that their adoption by the authorities would leadto a marked decrease in the number of accidents on the roads. It will be seen from the resolutions that an endeavour has been made to consider all road users, and not only those who pass speedily from one big town to another. Of particular interest is the recommendation in regard to the use of signs painted on the surface of the road and used either independently or in conjunction with the ordinary signs by the roadside.
The following is the text of the recommendations, which represent one of the most important steps yet taken to secure immunity from road accidents :—
(1) That where two or more roads converge or cross, one of these roads must, for the purpose of each particular junction or crossing, be determined as the chief road and the others as subsidiary roads, each junction being considered on its own merits.
.(2) That overtaking on "blind" B30
corners, highly arched bridges and crests of hills which are sufficiently arched to be " blind " is always "driving to the public danger," and therefore a class of driving suitable for action by the authorities against offenders.
(3) That warning signs be used as follow :—
(a) All chief roads near where they are crossed by subsidiary-roads should bear a special warning sign, indicating the proximity of that subsidiary road whenever the existence of the subsidiary road is not apparent, and only then.
(b) All subsidiary roads near where they cross chief roads should bear a warning sign indicating the proximity of a chief road.
(c) In the case of a subsidiary road coming into a chief road and not crossing it, the necessity for a warning sign for such junction should be considered.
(4) That the warning sign should exclusively be placed on the left-hand side of the road.
(5) That the disposition of warning signs (whether triangle or other) as in
stalled at present should be carefully revised by selected committees of experienced motorcar drivers, under the guidance of some single central body, notably in order to remove all signs which are not stringently necessary, thus securing real importance to the warning sign.
(6) That the form of the warning sign adopted should be so protected by law as to make its unauthorized use an offence.
(7) That signs painted upon the surface of the road form an effective warning signal.
It was made clear that the committee did not intend by its resolutions that the user of a main artery be given a right of way over the user coming from a smaller road, but merely to warn traffic on minor roads that it was approaching a major road and therefore to be on the qui t-iv-e. The resolutions will be forwarded to the Minister of Trans-port, and it is hoped that that Department will consider the possibility of giving effect to the Club's recommendations