New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-23
Speed Traps for
Motorists Are
Still the Rule
A Better Way to Keep the
Law From Being Broken
Is To Put the Police Out
on the Road i'm Plain Sight

The motor vehicle laws in manv
communities are enforced by intimida-
ton, instead of parading the motor
cycle men in full uniform out on the
various roads whore their presence
alone would act as a deterrent upon
motorists. The sight of man in uni.
form a mile away is enough to curb
any one driving car who has the
least tendency to speed. Anyway, it
will make him take a look at his
speedometer. Instead, however, Of this
eminently sensible idea, the big
thought seems to be to trap motorists
and by making an example here and
there to brighten the rest into obeying
the INV.
Unfortunately the trapping feature
seems to be a survival of the old days
when there were not so many cars Of
certain we'll known Detroit make
and when the automobilist was, by the
fact of having an automobile, a man
of great wealth. In other words, he
stable or any one else who could snare
him. Speed traps exist to-day in
great many towns as we'll as in such
cities as New York. Here the purpose
may not be exactly the same; that is, to
get hold of number of automobiles
on any certain day and to increase the
revenue Of the magistrate and the
officers who do the arresting by split
up Of the fines.l This practice is preva-
lent in many small communities In
New York arrests are made wholesale
Crusades are the order of the day.
Down in Pennsylvania there is
town through which great many au-
tom obilists from other states pass. 1t
Is no unusual thing for man day
or so after he has gone through this
town to receive letter notifying him
that he was guilty of violating the law
in one way or another in passing
in default of appearance to remit
fine of SO and so much. This is
usually an odd sum in dollars and
cents involving a fine and costs"
| Naturally, a man in New York City or
Washington or Baltimore. rather than
travel all the way back for the sake Of
being fined, will remit the fine and let
it go at that This is a plain hold-up,
but it is o practice which flourishes in
number of small towns.
1t was Police Commissioner McAdoo,
now chief city magistrate, who put
all the bicycle patrolmen out on the
road in full uniform and with distinc-
tive white cap for summer so that they
could be told a long distance away.
He had the right idea about control
ling traffic. If, instead Of having men
hiding along the road to rush out and
grab up The motorist who drives twenty
two and one-half miles an hour in
stead Of twenty-o ne miles an hour, men
we're out on the road where their mere
presence would act as a restraining in
fluence on the traffic, the situation
would be far better.
Inasmuch as there is no speed limit
in this city except what the police agree
to permit on certain roads on certain
days, it Is little bit difficult for the
motorist to know how to proceed.
Legally, for instance, he has no right
to exceed four miles an hour on the
greensboro Bridge or eight miles an
hour in Central Park. Of course, no
such speed limits are ever respected.
But one day you will find police pick
! ing up motorists for driving twenty
miles an hour on Riverside Drive and
another day twenty-five and a half is
all right. Traffic moves on Fifth
Avenue usually at about twenty-five
miles an hour between crossings. 1t
has to in order to keep up with the urg-
ings Of the traffic police. Yet there
! is no law that permits any such speed
as twenty-five miles an hour in a con-
gested section.
Down with the speed trGpl