Abstract
ON September 10, at the British Association meeting in Norwich, Mr. A. T. V. Robinson opened a joint discussion in Sections G (Engineering) and J (Psychology) on the control of road traffic. He said that the question is far wider than merely the prevention of accidents; that it is how to move with a minimum of delay, discomfort and damage a system consisting of heterogeneous units of passengers and goods travelling for industry and pleasure in all directions. Of the year's total of 7,000 fatal accidents, about 2 per cent were due to the defects of the vehicle, somewhat less than 2 per cent to defects of the road, and the remaining 96 per cent were due to the personal equation. Engineers study either the roads or the vehicles, and the psychologist studies the drivers and pedestrians. Mr. Robinson emphasised the importance of the colourisation of the ‘carpeting’ of the road, and said we ought to endeavour to get road carpeting of a lighter hue. In the future it is possible that on all the busy roads lights on the vehicles may be unnecessary and the approaching driver will see the oncoming vehicle, not as a couple of spots of dazzling light on a black background, but as a dark silhouette against an adequately illuminated road. The improvements in vehicles, especially the introduction of four-wheeled brakes, has greatly facilitated free movement of traffic on the streets, and the compulsory test for every new driver has worked admirably, about 12 per cent being rejected. It is recognised that certain drivers are ‘accident prone’, and these must be eliminated as soon as possible. Science may help us to keep the demonstrably unfit off the road, but until science, and not a human driver, assumes control of the vehicle, occasional breakdowns in traffic control are bound to occur.
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Scientific Control of Road Traffic. Nature 136, 578 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136578a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136578a0