New-York tribune., 1908-01-03
FOR CLEARER. STREETS
CHANGE TRAFFIC RULE.
Merchants Draw Up amendments
and Submit Them to aldermen.

Amendments to the street trafflc ordinances
which are planned to relieve much OF the con-
gestion and delay Of the streetcars que 10 oFoeA
ing have been drawn up by conhittee vi
merchants and others interested in such resu-
Iation.
These amendments will be submitted 10 Char-
man w,lIcox of the Public Service Commission
this afternoon, and after they have been ap-
proved by him will be sent to the Board OF AL
derneu. which is represented the commit
toe bv Alderman r. s. Downing. 1t is believed
that the amendments can be passed with little
opposition
Other members of the committee are z. W.
BioomingdaIe honorary president of The Reta1i
Dry Goods Association; Edward P. Hatch' OF
Lord e. Taylor: q. D. Curtis, of the GURUS
BlaisdelI Coal Company; Oren Root IT., gem
eraI manager Of the Metropolitan street RAN
road Deputy Commissioner Edwards. of the De-
psrtment of Street Cleaning: Deputy Cominls-
.foner Busher. of the Police Department; T. H
Levi. president of the Broadway Board OF
Trade Brooklyn. and o. ]. Stephens. secretary
~ tho RETAIL Coal Merchants Protective Asso-
ciation.
The movement was started by the drygoods
association some weeks ago and the commit
tee was formed at the suggestion OF MI Bloom
in1daIe THE retail drygoods merchants are
affected indirectly by the traffic conditions" he
said yesterday. More than million persons
a day visit our stores. Anything that can be
done to help traffic conditions so that our pa
irons can get TO and from their homes more
expeGitiously will. of course, be Of benefit TO us
I'VE did not take up this work for the benefit
Of the streetcar companies. but for the benefit
of tho passengers, who are frequently held up
because of the congestion of traffic. You can't
hold a transportation company responsible for
delays when its cars held up by trucks over
which it has control
At present trucks travelling in front of cars
turn out when the drivers feel so inclined. Ac
cordins to one of the amendments to the traffic
code it will be obligatory for all yehicular traf-
fic going less than eight miles hour TO turn
out Immediately on notice from the motorman
of a following
Then 1t is provided that in streets which are
narrow and have only track the vehicu-
lar traffic shall all go in the direction as
the cars 1t is further provided that no truck
backed up to the curb to unload load goods
shall obstruct cars for more than five minutes
at time
Coal wagons have in the past been to a no
small degree responsible for delays in winter.
To curb this evil an amendment is proposed
which will prevent the loading unloading of
coal between the hours of and IL a. and
and p m. in all streets on which cars be-
ing operated
In the winter much delay has been caused by
trucks travelling in the tracks after snow
storm, as the tracks are always cleaned before
the other parts of the street. This trouble has
been partially met by an amendment to the
dinance which provides that after storms the
streets on either side of those with car tracks,
shall receive immediate attention from the
Street Cleaning Department that traffic
be diverted to them.
The coal dealers who have been consulted re-
garding the proposed regulations inclined
to favor them. realizing they do that they
for the best interests of the community and
hoping that deliveries be scheduled
to facilitate their business.