City goes its own way, switching Give for Stop

SO our council — be it our representatives, acting CEO, town planners or “traffic engineers” — appeases Townsville identities and celebrities with its determination to replace the existing “Give Way” traffic control in Havana Street at Palm Street to a “Stop” situation.

Australian Standards AS 1742.2 Pt 2 covers the application of these signs.

The standards and usage of these major traffic control signs are adopted by all state and territory road authorities, including Queensland TMR. But for Townsville! Apparently we don’t need to abide by national standards; we are far too superior.

The Australian Standards warns (Cl. 2.5.4) — “A Stop sign shall not be used where sight distance is equal to or greater than shown in Fig. 2.1” . (This diagram shows warrants for applying “Give Way” signs where permanent unobstructed sight distance along the major road measured 3m back from the edge of the through lane on a 50km/h speed zone is 30m — if sight distance is less, Stop signs apply.) Sight distance in Havana Street is many times 30m.

“Furthermore, the use of Stop signs where sight distances are not a factor can lead to disobedience, and lack of credibility of Stop signs. For this reason no crash warrants are given for Stop signs.

But here in Townsville, we have variable “standards”, three in fact — TMR standards on major roads under its management, the former Thuringowa council area, which generally do conform — and then TCC’S. Laughable — if it wasn’t so serious.

These major traffic control signs are not a plaything for politicians. Nor are standards discretionary. Townsville motorists and interstate visitors deserve integrity, not some arbitrary administration of traffic control standards.

WARWICK JOHNSTON, retired traffic engineer, Pallarenda.