Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-21
RULES OF ROAD
ARE NE(,LIGENTLY
VIOLATED DAILY
COMMENTS SUGGESTED BY
LONDON POLICE REPORTS
ACCIDENTS LARGELY DUE TO THE
cARELEssNEss OF PUBLIC
Even the Sidewalks Are Not Exempt
from Distinct Violation Of Every
Well Regulated Street
Walk
BY ID. w. sEAIpLE


In another column of the automobile
department there is printed today u
statement from the chief commissioner
of the police department OF the city Of
London well worthy the time spent In
reading 1t by anyone connected with
or interested in the matter of automo-
bile travel in congested cities.
The wonderful Increase in the use of
motor cabs is most worthy OF note the
old horse bus having been relegatod
entirely to oblivion, for il is most OBJ
servable that not a single license was
issued during the year for a horse bus,
and even in the use of the motor cab
there We're 49l rejections of licenses,
showing the high standard required by
the police department of street vehicles
But the most noteworthy fact is the
information the report contains con-
cerning the number OF accidents. and
especially those classed as fatal of
the 326 fatal accidents the report shows
that the uncovered horse drawn carts
We're responsible for the greatest por
tion of that number, the proportion
being elghty-two fatalities for the
horse-drawn vehicle, against thirty-nine
for the motor vehicle Thirty-one per-
sons were killed by covered carts and
vans, while motor vehicles of every
class had but twenty-five deaths
charged up against them. and in the
grand total Notwithstanding the enor-
nous increase of the number Of motor
vehicles there were but 131 fatal acci-
dents chargeable to motor cars, as
against 147 deaths by horse-drawn
vehicles
The Herald points to the statistics
given as most interesting to users OF
the roads i'm the vicinity OF Los An
geles, because, coming from the metrop
Oils OF the world they are instructive
TO people who are as yet i'm their
practical infancy in the use Of the
motor car, and this would point us TO
lesson.
Time and again The Herald has
through this department I'm it's own
language pointed out as plainly as lam
guage unburnished by Harvard or Yale
frescoing could make it that there need
be but few accidents through driving
the automobile and I'm this connection
il may be truthfully said that the fault
is not all that of the drivers Of cars.
True there are those who care little
for the rights of others in driving, and
there are, too, those who might be
classed with the animals canned into
fancy packages by the celebrated pack
ing establishments of Armour, Swift
and the Cudahys, but these are being
reegated TO oblivion also gradually.
But there is no place on the face Of the
earth where there are so many pedes-
trians who yawp and walk into the
centers of the thoroughfares and take
a sleep utterly regardles Of the fact
that even vehicles of any class have
some rights too on the highways. Be
tween crossings and without the escort
of policemen of the traffic squad, they
will stand and look at some ten-story
building, unmindful OF the vehicles
crowding the narrow streets with which
Los Angeles is unfortunately circum-
sscribed.
frv, Ta 1,r,f, y,ntf1a
this fact, even upon the sidewalks. A
party of four or five will lock arms
and capture the entire width of the
sidewalk, despising the other walkers
coming toward them, shove them to
the edge of the walk. disregarding ut
terly the rules of the road of keeping
10 the right, and then, when some par
ticular hat or costume in asshop win
dow attracts their attention, they will
stand I'm groups in the center of the
walk and look, compelling the passer-
by TO take to the street or bump them
back into a sense of the rights of pc
destrians. If the greater part of the
population using Los Angeles sidewalks
were in, New York on Broadway they
would be trampled to death before
they had travelled five blocks; at least
II they were the owners of anything like
a Kansas summer crop of cereal for
which that state is famous. they
would expend many hours with their
feet i'm a pail of hot water.
1t is the belief of The Herald major
ity of the chauffours and owners of
automobiles desire to conform strictly
to the law always and that there is
no willful desire on tile part Of the
great host of drivers 10 violate the or
dinances, and If the public were to give
that careful consideration to their OBJ
legations ALSO there would be few
fatalities caused by automobiles.
"Ordinary caution" are the words of
the law, but extraordinary caution
where the streets are so congested
for instance, as they are on Broadway
and Spring streets in this city is part
Of the duty of every citizen attempt
Ing to cross the thoroughfares.
No words could be more comprehen-
sive of the subject than the report Of
the chief commissioner upon the sub
tect of accidents, published elsewhere.
Los Angeles has a most efficient traf-
fc squad, whose work upon the con-
gested corners of traffic I'm the down
town district is most worthy of men
tion. and whose efforts have made
accidents so rare as to cause wonder
when one occurs, but the people are
cautioned also to cooperate with them
in affOrding to automobiles the same
rights they themselves might ask were
they the driverssof the cars APPROACH
ing them.