The Washington herald., 1916-02-27
Would Abolish Speed Limit,
Resorting to Common Sense
Charles Francis Wood Local Engineer and Traffic Expert
Says Present Regulations Are Unnecessary and
Ridiculous Offers Solution.

than this, long and busy life has failed
to bring it to my attention. and yet II IL
the law, and the officer was only doing |
his duty. Had the machine contained a
lot of joyriders going forty miles an hour |
the policeman would never have gotten |
near enough to have called attention to |
the eight-mile limit at the street cross !
inss |
THE whole tendency of our regulation |
is to bring the law into disrepute and in |
spire a contempt for all regulation. II
doubt IL there Is a car In the city which
does not exceed the unnecessary limit ev-
cry day. and probably many times day.
Even the Commissioners car "A"
travelled the entire distance from Twen-
tieth street and Connecticut avenue to
Fifteenth street and Pennsylvania ave-
nue. northwest recently at nineteen miles
per hour and only slowed down to four
teen miles at street crossing once.
Amy ordinary speed may, or may not
be, reasonable and proper In every
case 1t depends on the conditions, and
that II Is possible for any human being,
however intelligent and well-meaning. to-
lay down in advance rules except In
the most general way for the proper
movement Of traffic. oongested at places
and light at others, and with all veria-
tons between is ineonceivabie to expert
enced and thoughtful persons.
| or course the real thing suoght Is
| the safety and convenience Of the public,
but that these are not assured by the
placing Of a low limit on speed is proven
by the results. II the statistics are cor
rect, during the year 1914 there were
twenty deaths from automobile accidents
in this city. in spite of the most drastic
regulations OF any city in the country.
whereas In Philadelphia, with Ave times
| the population, many times the number
OF machines, with narrow streets, and a
density of traffic such as lie never seen
here except for few days every four
years, and no regulations as to speed ex-
| cept that the speed shall be reasonable
and there were only fifty-sixth deaths
from automobile accidents.
| The Best Results.
| These figures taken from official re-
| ports would seem to show that setting
an unreasonable limit to speed does
nothing for the safety of the public. but
that on the contrary, better results are
secured where the only limit is one that
Is reasonable under the conditions and
the reckless joy-rider and those who do
damage are held to strict accountability
for their actions and punished off the
street
Il have from one of the traffic officers
a statement that there il not a driver
Of a car In town whom they could not
get IOf sc1ne lhIr2CtlOn OF our N0lufn-
inous regulations every time he came on
the street, II he wished to do so. A
nice situation for thousands of our best
citizens to face, is IL not? How proud
. we should be that We are allowed to ap-
, pear on the street without landing in the
Police Court, and how grateful we should
be for the sufferance and forbesrance oil
the police.
why it should be necessary for on,
Wit mi az Nd
and its almost suburban traffic to have
a code so voluminous and so minute In
detail as to require an encyclopedias an6
table Of logarithms for it's translation
while New York with its millions o.
: people, its many thousands of cars, III
narrow streets, and a traffic congestion
like circus parade on Pennsylvania
4 Avenue, has only q little card with
! few simple suggestions and rules ant
i few diagrams, is not clear to tn,
= analytical mind.
Could Copy Neixhbors.
1T would seem that we could to ad
4 vantage copy what some Of our neighbor
h are doing. With a teeming population
q and traffic in comparison with whicl
q ours is like that on a country road, the
3 have not found It necessary to clog thei
: regulations with a minutial OF detail, mo-
I their courts with cases involving onl,
: the petty attractions of unreasonabl
j. limitations, created by unwisdom, in
n stead Of by the necessities of the public
and ending as in our case with a traves
ty on justice and contempt for that whic
should be respected.
III ITO my mind-the talents Of our OF
= hcials might much better be turned I
. the solution of the troubles, and tn
l. congestion and interference with bus
l. ness growing out Of the parking Of al
a tomobiles on the public streets. tn
e problem grows by leaps and bounds
n Cars are increasing by the thousand
daily, and 1t is a necessity that a larg
II number of them shall be parked In ii
n immediate vicinity of business place
" for periods more or less lengthy.
,ol 1T is q condition and not a theor
20 that confronts US, and II presses wit
in insistence and might well engross on
N best public talent.
"As a starter, would suggest that II
O alleys leading to the center Of eac
block be widened and the interior spa
AZ where II Is not already built upon,
ot cleared Of old fences, outhouses, asl
ID heaps and trash-piles, and made into q
at open square, curbed, paved. and su
/ rounded by a sidewalk, so that car ira
Id fic for the block could be driven off Il
is main streets and eventually most Of
enter the buildings and stores throui
at the rear entrance.
Would Help Appearance.
es Gradually q new type of building wi
fe two fronts, and more Highland air Al
re better conditions permitting OF intensi
he development of bushes through Il
sl- arcade plan would take the place Of I
as present structures, and do away wi
IT. the unsightly and unsanitary conditio
mt which offend the eye and the senses
ch the center Of nearly every block.
In II am aware that this plan involoy
difficulties and cost, necessitates Z
ed taking of private property for pub
he uses, and trouble and expense In wor
it ing out questions Of benefits and dar
ed ages. etc. but admitting all that, it
ds better than the Generalization of pre-
ut ent conditions. which are getting wor
les all the time.
he TT would not be necessary to pl
ms any great upheayal or enormous e
penditure at one time. The interior
a few blocks could be cleared, in t
most congested districts, as far as p,
nd mitted by the permanent improvement
he and interior lines can be laid do,
I've there and elsewhere, like exterior but
q inc lf,,es IN xvhi1h all nttra or.t -,