The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-02
MOTORISTS ARE EXERCISING MORE
 CARE NOWADAYS
Pedestrians, Too, Are Grow ing More Cautious of Mo
 tor Perils in Cities.

| New York. May 2.-Are auto driv-
 CTS growing more careful?
 l. Are pedestrians growing more care less? /
 1 Are streets becoming so crowded | through the city's growth that it is impossible to reduce the number of accidents?
 Traffic experts daily studying these three questions have reached the con- c1usion that through regulation and education both drivers and pedestrians grow daily more careful, but they be- lieve that unless the way is made clear for further regulation the increasing congestion in the city's streets will
 overwheIm both regulation and edu- cation.
 Within the next two or three weeks Gov. Whitman is expected to pass upon a. bill provi ling for the licensing of
 every resident who operates an auto mobile. This tili, passed through the urging of Police Commissioner Woods or the advice of his traffic board, is aimed at three classes of dri-
 vers:
 The man who drives while intoxi- cated, the habitual speed maniac and
 the man who drives away without in vestigating an accident of Which he has been the cause.
 Ninety per cent. of the auto drivers according to M. B. Case, secretary to the Police Department, the chief sta- tistician, are careful and clever and know their jobs, but the other 10 per cent. cause numerous accidents that could be avoided by revoking the 1i-
 censes of the guilty men,.
 This suspension, put into the power of the police magistrate by the new
 bill, will be the penalty for offences that bring injury to pedestrians. Be- hind this bill stands the Automobile
 Owners and the Commercial Vehicle Owners Association. Opposed to it
 are the automobile manufacturers and
 dealers. The argument in opposition is simply that the bill woL-d hurt bus mess. The police aim to reduce the Pedestrians Are Careless. The pedestrian, MT. Case said, though acting usually in a state of chronic irecklessness, has been receiv- ing a liberal traffic education at the hands Of traffic policemen on post, pO- lice sergeants in schools, large stables and garages, through moving pictures and through statistics sent to every civic association that shows interest in the trouble.
 Through these means traffic officers, reporting monthly to the board at Po- lice Headquarters, have found growing
 among pedestrians a tendency to guard
 more carefully against the risks of street travel. Yet even with this wide
 propaganda the number of vehicular accidents in the past year found to be
 due to the fault of the pedestrian was over 400 out of a total of 18,- 139 from all causes. Accidents due to the fault of the
 driver in the same period were only zoo, those due to defects in vehicles 474, to skidding AT, and to causes
 Instructions, poorly lighted streets, fog, rain, high wind, 401- There were 7,486 for which no cause was given Every Accident Reported. Statistics, said MT. Case, who is the expert at headquarters, show nothing
 of value without considering circum- stances of weather conditions, time of
 day, special locality, health of the victim before the accident, health of kthe man who might have caused the accident to another. Previous to 101 5 | the. statistics at headquarters were gathered from every precinct of the fcity during the last few days of the year. In the past year, however, .ev-
 cry accident has been reported and re- corded separately at the bureau of sta
 tistics, with every circumstance noted. l The officials of the department have
 careful digests of conditions in each | precinct submitted to them monthly. | Captains of precincts present them
 selves in person and discuss their es-
 pecial problems with the entire traffic
 board composed of Chief Inspector Schmittberger, Borough Inspector Dill lon, Inspector Myers of the Traffic and
 Marine Division Inspectors O'Brien and Murphy and Secretary Case. 1 Streets Too Narrow. | Through such meetings they have | found that of the total vehicular traf- | fc accidents 3,289 occurred through l the fault of pedestrians crossing the
 street between regular street crossings. ! This is the greatest single cause. Nevt l to such carelessness in importance stands that of playing in the streets.
 There were 1909 due to the latter cause in 1915.
 | The narrow streets of this city built for a town that could we'll be called a
 village, according to the statistician beyond their intended capacity by the
 erection of skyscrapers. The horse l drawn vehicle has been supplanted by | the swift and noiseless motor, whose
 signals scarcely can be heard above
 the roar of the city.
 | Regulations will have to be enacted
 with each successive growth of the
 town MT. Case declared that eventu- ally it would be considered a breach | of the ordinances to cross the street
 anywhere but at the regular street
 crossings, and some day in the dim distance builders of tenements and l apartment houses will be obliged to provide play space for children.