Traffic officer

“ To accomplish this would mean that a traffic officer would patrol the highways, always in sight, and distinguishable to the traveling public by the color of his car and uniform. Color of car and uniform, however, will not of themselves accomplish the transformation. The attitude of some of our officers, although I am happy to say, not all of them, toward the motorist would have to change. ”

“ The problem of controlling traffic, however, is by no means, unsolvable. An assisting force in the fight for better highways is the fact that an overwhelming majority of motorists desire to be careful and to do the right and fair thing by fellow motorists. The problem these drivers present is to bring to them a realization of the great, everpresent and immediate danger that lurks behind the least act in careless driving. The traffic officer becomes here a professor in the College of Safe Driving, the students of which extend over the world and are literally numbered by the millions. ”

“ Usually any traffic officer will be able to supply the tourist with a copy of the local rules and regulations governing traffic in state or city. Ultimately traffic regulations will be standardized, but as yet there is considerable variation in the matter. ”

“ Freight Traffic Manager, N.Y.C. Lines, Chicago, spent some time in his youth in Canada. Minus the sustained efforts of these officials, of their passenger confreres and the gentlemen comprising the solicitation staff identified with the traffic departments, the railways could boast of gilded coaches and a nickel rail and then be doomed to failure, notwithstanding the swan songs sung by some of our operating friends, declared a very prominent traffic officer in the Northwest. ”

“ Not all drivers take their teaching meekly, and the new traffic officer near the end of his shift had pessimistically decided that the driving world is composed mostly of blamed idiots and hardened criminals. ”

“ A traffic officer sometimes uses a Go-Stop sign so arranged at the top of a standard that by turning a handle he can present one or the other of these two words to the traffic. Some of them carry a light at night, and an umbrella to shade the officer during the day. ”

“ If a vehicle is illegally parked, creating a hazard or otherwise impeding the
movement of traffic, the traffic police officer has the authority to tow such
vehicle at the expense of the vehicle’s owner. ”

“ This court has held that a law-enforcement officer, as part of a valid traffic stop, may detain a traffic offender while completing certain routine tasks, such as computerized checks of the vehicle's registration and the driver's license and criminal history, and the writing up of a citation or warning. ”

“ Any individual who is driving will carry the driver’s license issued to that
person. Upon demand of a traffic police officer, a person who is driving a
vehicle shall produce the driver’s license to that person. ”

“ Proper regulation and control of traffic are accordingly as essential to a GOOD highway system as are proper plans for its building and the use of proper materials in its construction.
Engineers and builders are the men behind the line in the battle for good roads. Maintenance forces and traffic officers are the men on the firing line. The maintenance engineers must see that roads once built are maintained in adequate condition for travel. Traffic officers must see that travel uses these roads properly. ”

“ The traffic control department of the public security organ shall, among the traffic police, conduct professional training and appraisal in respect of the legal system and traffic safety administration. Where a traffic policeman fails to pass the appraisal, he shall not take the post to perform his duties. ”

“ Where a motor vehicle carries an indivisable oversize or overload cargo, to the detriment of traffic safety, it shall be driven at a time, along the route and at the speed designated by the traffic control department of the public security organ and hung with conspicuous signs. ”

“ Policemen stand in the middle of the roadway and regulate this enormous traffic by merely raising a white-cotton-gloved hand. They are calm and immovable, and seem to pay not the slightest heed to their own safety amid the crowded crush of vehicles about them. All come to a standstill before the stiff and fearless “bobby.” ”

“ Bingaman, supra, the evidence in the present case shows that coupled cars, under control of a single driver, subject the highways to increased wear and tear because of their tendency to skid and sway on curves and in passing other traffic, and that the length of the caravans and the inefficiency and irresponsibility of the drivers, casually employed, increase traffic congestion and the inconveniences and hazards of automobile traffic. These circumstances have caused the state to make increased provision for the policing of the traffic. ”

“ In every spot where the traffic is great, you will see a policeman. He is there to regulate the circulation of the vehicles, and protect the foot passengers who may wish to cross the road. In the discharge of this duty, all that he has to do is to lift his hand, and, at this gesture, the drivers stop, like a company of soldiers at the word "halt!" ”

“ Hence the motor car made good progress, nor was it until Fiftieth Street was reached that a [Pg 208] block of traffic caused them to halt. An automobile had collided with a delivery wagon, and a wordy contest was waging between the driver of the wagon, the chauffeur, one of the occupants of the automobile and a traffic-squad policeman.
"You don't know your business," a loud voice proclaimed, addressing the policeman. "If you did you wouldn't be sitting up there like a dummy already. ”

“ Every driver of a vehicle shall in all circumstances have his vehicle under control so as to be able to exercise due and proper care and to be at all times in a position to perform all manoeuvres required of him. He shall, when adjusting the speed of his vehicle, pay constant regard to the circumstances, in particular the lie of the land, the state of the road, the condition and load of his vehicle, the weather conditions and the density of traffic, so as to be able to stop his vehicle within his range of forward vision and short of any foreseeable obstruction. ”

“ In this country where the road pattern is so complicated, we think it would assist travellers in finding their way between important towns if a system of Primary routes other than motorways was established, the roads in which would be clearly distinguished by having directional signs of a particular colour. Moreover, we foresee that this distinction might eventually enable a code of improved driver conduct, aimed at improving traffic flow and safety, to be applied generally to these Primary routes. ”

“ Roving patrols often operate at night on seldom-traveled roads, and their approach may frighten motorists. At traffic checkpoints the motorist can see that other vehicles are being stopped, he can see visible signs of the officers' authority, and he is much less likely to be frightened or annoyed by the intrusion. ”

“ Article 38 Vehicles and pedestrians shall go by traffic lights; where traffic policemen direct traffic on the spot, they shall go by the direction of traffic policemen; and where there are no traffic signals, they shall follow the principles of ensured safety and unimpeded traffic. ”

“ It is no mean work that is performed by the Public Carriage Department, although it is done quietly, smoothly, and for the most part out of sight of the public. Not a cab, omnibus, or tramway car that plies for hire in the metropolis—and they average about 16,000 a year—but has passed stringent tests [Pg 124] by experts, and this applies equally to the men in charge.
Every human precaution that years of experience can suggest is taken to guard against the passing on the streets of any man or vehicle that might be a nuisance or a danger in congested traffic. ”

“ Even in the streets there is discipline. The policeman regulates the traffic so that all vehicles moving in one direction keep to one side of the road, and thus allow the traffic in the opposite direction to keep moving along the other side. ”

“ In our view a great deal more could be done by the use of carriageway markings to increase safety at junctions not controlled by traffic signals or police and to remove doubt from the minds of drivers and consequently to make such junctions safer. ”

“ There is ample support for a legislative determination that the peculiar character of this traffic involves a special type of use of the highways, with enhanced wear and tear on the roads and augmented hazards to other traffic, which imposes on the state a heavier financial burden for highway maintenance and policing than do other types of motor car traffic. ”

“ We believe that an effective step which could be taken to reduce these casualties would be to ensure that at the great majority of junctions, and certainly at those junctions where serious danger exists, the minor road is distinguished from the major so that drivers on the minor road are given a clear indication that they should give way to major road traffic. ”

“ Where there is no one to guide him, it becomes quite difficult to avoid collisions, especially in congested thoroughfares, for truth to tell, there appears to be an absolute lack of road courtesy on the part of most automobile drivers. When more than one man is assigned to a vehicle, the helper should take the position on the ground where he has an unobstructed view of traffic and pedestrians approaching from all directions. ”

“ Article 80 When performing their functions and duties, the traffic police shall, in accordance with relevant regulations, wear their uniforms and the badges of the people's police, hold their papers of the people's police, keep up the bearing of the police, carry themselves with dignity and direct traffic in conformity with standards. ”

“ From vehicles one passes by a natural transition to those who were charged with the regulation of traffic, though its masterly control by the police had not yet been developed to the point at which it has frequently elicited the admiration of foreign visitors. ”

“ Every driver, pedestrian or other road user shall conduct himself in such a way as not to endanger or obstruct traffic; he shall avoid all behaviour that might cause damage to persons, or public or private property.
Article 8
1. Every vehicle or combination of vehicles proceeding as a unit shall have a driver.
2. Draught, pack or saddle animals shall have a driver, and cattle shall be accompanied, except in special areas which shall be marked at the points of entry.
3. Convoys of vehicles and animals shall have the number of drivers prescribed by domestic regulations. ”

“ We have recommended at paragraph 101 that at ordinary junctions along the motorway no sign is necessary to give warning of traffic from the entry slip road merging with the main motorway traffic. Where two motorways converge, however, each of them consisting of multi-lane carriageways, the problem is obviously more serious, and we consider that appropriate warning should be given. ”