Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21


turers of road machinery and road ma
terlals. and thousands of public officia Is
and private citizens. whose interest in the
road Improvement movement. while not sc
direct. is equally enthusiastic. Farmers
throughout the country are showing a
lively interest in the approa ching con-
gress. and will be represented by a big
| delegation.
Because of the immense size of the
congress. which is a consolidation Of the
conventions of the American Automobile
Association, the American Road Builders
Associa ton, the American Association for
Highway Improvement and tile National
Association of Road Material and Ma
| chinery Manufacturers. the committee on
time and place. which has been appointed
by the executive committee of the con-
gress to select the city where the big
meeting Will he held. has been instructed
to carefully inquire into the railroad
facilities. the hotel accommodations and
convention hall facilities of the various
cities which are under consideration.
\ serious problem cOnfronts the au-
thorities charged with making the laws
| and ordinances governing the regulation
FOR control of veh;cular traffic in the
| larger cities. owing to the conditions
/ which have so changed as to warrant a
| modification in restriction as we'll as in
| other respects
This is necessitated by the steady elm
! ination of the horse from the congested
| thorcughfares, the education Of drivers
/
| vehicles and skill in their operation, cou-
pied with demands for expeditions
| transit.
With the present agitation in New
York city for a reasonable modification
| of the ordinance regulating the speed of
motor vehicles. il has been suggested that
authority should be given to. the police
commissioner providing for the destgna-
| ton by him Of such street intersections
as may be deemed necessary, such as
9Th avenue and 42d street, where tie
traffic police would have the same juris-
| diction over pedestrians as they now
have over drivers of vehicles.
There are many other points in New
! York city which could be designated I'M
der such police authority. this recommen-
| dation being one Of several offered by
| the Touring Club Of America, which met
| with instant favor at the conference held
| last week at the City Club of New York,
which was attended by police officials.
| members of the board of aldermen and
representatives of the leading motoring
organizations
| While the pedestrian has an equal right
| Of way with vehicles at any point in the
streets away from the regular crossings.
| he is required, nevertheless. both for his
personal safety and by law to be unusu-
ally yigilant In a recent opinion by jus
tice Werner of the court Of appeals II is
held that at a street crossing the pedes
| trian has the right OF way over vehicles;
| he is privileged to walk straight ahead in
| the assurance that Vehicular traffic Will
! halt: his rights at the crossings within
J! such limitations the police shall set
| are paramount
| In view of this opinion. it is argued
! that the control Of pedestrians al street
| intersections along with the vehicuiar
| traffic is now necessity, and the -FOUR
| ing Club. in advocating this new system.
| directs attention to the ordinance which
| is now being prepared for adoption by the
| city council Of the city of Chicago. which
- lo4l~ ,s<-~e,
and police officials. Capt. c. c. HeaIy
of the Chicago mounted police, in re-
cent statement indorsing this movement,
says:
Its always been my hobby. this mat
| ter of controlling the pedestrians the same
as we do drivers of vehicles. and right
| now 1t looks as if we could attempt it in
Chicago before the summer is over.
Shortly there will be introduced into the
council q bill which will give the police
power to make arrests if pedestrians do
not mind the whistle at the crossings.
With that power given us | venture to
say that inside of three months We will
greatly improve the service inside the
loop. OF course, 1t is going to be hard at
first, for the people hardly Will under
stand such law. But with the police
standing firm and making arrests where
arrests are necessary l see no reason
why we could not be in command of the
situation inside three months at the out
side
1t is a common experience that when
a police signal Is given for the driver of
any vehicle to proceed at street intersec-
| tons that he must wait for the crossing
| to become clear Of pedestrians, who usu
ally insist on running across at the last
| moment. Much valuable time is often
| lost upon such occasions. where motor
vehicles can only travel at slow pace,
which accounts for the congestion often
times. especially when the vehicular trat-
| fic is very heavy and the manner in which
| pedestrians are allowed to infest the
! roadway. greatly impeding travel.
a prom nent automoDilist. in commend
| ing the agitation with view TO estab-
fishing uniform traffic conditions in the
principal cities. in letter addressed 10
| the club last week said:
Would this not be good time to asi-
| tate the question of pedestrians being re-
stricted to crossing streets on the cross
walks only? l believe this is done in
s..iao Of the cities abroad. / have driven
ar for the past six years, and have
! i:s,. several narrow escapes from running
: down people who step off Of the walk
without looking to see II there is any
vehicle on the street.
| Perhaps X this question were taken
up at this time with the newspapers, and
pressure brought TO bear. it may be pos
| sible to include clause in the new law
restricting pedestrians as above men
toned
| Just at this season of the year when
| country road commissioners are repair
| ing the highways with crushed stone. mo-
! florists find many stretches that look
| alarmingly harmful to their tires. A
| little care in driving over places where
| ruts and hollows have been filed with
| crushed stone will prevent injury to the
tires, says the AIchelin man.
The best way to proceed when it Is
| found impossible to avoid short distance
! of ston. road is to take it at reduced
| speed after releasing the clutch. The
| distance should be estimated so that it
| will not be necessary TO throw in the
| clutch in the middle of the stony part,
which would necessitate fresh start
/ while on the stones.
In case of a long distance of stony road
| when it would be impossible to coast
| over the entire distance, the best thing to
| do is to throw in the first speed, going
| over the stony part slowly. 1t may be
| explained that as the shocks of the road
| increase with the increased speed of the
! car the cutting of the tires by the sharp
| stones will be reduced to a minimum
| when proceeding in the manner sug-
| gested.
| A Detroit electric roadster has been
| delivered to Mrs. j. S. Scully. The car
| is finished in Brewster green, with straw
chassis.
The Zell Motor Car Company. local