The morning journal-courier., 1908-04-11
AUTOS AND 4 CITy's TRAFFIC.

It may he considered timely that one days news brings the announcement by Chief Cowles that he Is about to establish a traffic squad and an im- portant decision by Judge Tyner on the automobile question: The two are closely related to each other. As for the decision in the shearer case every autoist in the city should read lt care fully. It would be well if every driv- CT of car that comes to New Haven could be compelled to read 1t.
 lt is rather in it's application to all automobile drivers, and not especially to shearer, that the decision is a worthy one. Court opinions on auto accidents are comparatively new in the realms of justice. so that any decision that defines the rights and responsibil- ties of the chauffeur is welcomed Judg. Tyner has shown himself thor oughly familiar with the subject in hand. He makes in his decision three observations that are worthy of spe- cial note. "A greater degree of care is expected of auto operators" he says, than of trolley motormen." This he points out is due to the fact that trol- Icy cars cannot leave the tracks The public knows where to expect them, whereas autos may be met suddenly at any corner. Let cbauffeurs. then, be- ware. Let them tako glance at the almost interminable list of suits brought in the superior court against the trolley company, many of them for very trivial accidents, and realize that in the future, in the New Haven courts at least they will be held to even a strictcr accounting ''I have no sym pathy," said Judge Tyner, for an au- tomobile operator who Is So afflicted with the speed mania that he dashes through our streets at a reckless rate of speed. Such an operator need ex- pect no lenlency at my hands" Sec ondly, the court believes that offend CTS should be punished, not by fine a1onn hat la, Gpa an1 it,yri ie ,,, ,,, a ', f when found guilty-a view of the mat ter which seems to obtain increasingly in many quarters. And finally, he has some winged words of advice to those motorists who drive their cars through those sections of the city where the children play in the streets. These lit tie irresponsible creatures have no con eepton," he says "of the dangers that eurround them when they use the pub. lie street as a playground He says the highest degree of care is there i'm perative and must be had
 As we have said, the shearer deci- sion, with it's accompanying advice tc autoists, ie very timely in that at this season of the year, with the air grow. l ing halmy and the roads drying out ir the rural sections, the owners of cars begin to show hair-raislng bursts o speed everywhere. But they do not
 always coniine their gasoline enthusl
 asms to the country To counterac
 their activities in the heart of tht city the new traillc squad to he adopt
 ed by Chief Cowles will make for tho very best sort of organization It k reported that an exact copy of the traf
 hc rules used in New York will b, ]. submitted to the board ur aldermen tt be added to the city ordinances. Wher they have been passed, all concerned will be supplied with a copy Ito past, in their hats" and then the fun will
 begin Under the New York regula
 tions the traffic policemen have abso
 lute control of every moving vehicl, on the streets from trolley car to bfcy
 cle. The system Is very complete a, anybody who has watched tn, Broadway Giants" so-called at thei
 task, can testify. A word from them
 the holding up of the hand, or a bias
 from a whistle, stops everything ant makes them master of the situation The plan adopted is to let all traffic or one street pass across an intersection