Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-12-08
SAFETY WEEK CARE
PREVENTS M|SHAPS
Only Minor Accidents Mar
Campaign for Precaution
on Streets.
BY THEODORE p. NoYEs.


The campaign to reduce street acci-
dents in Washington is progressing
splendidly, according to latest reports
Since the start Of mo Accident week
| there have been several minor acci-
dents, but no fatalities This is in.
terpreted as showing that automobil-
lists and pedestrians are giving theiI
whole-hearted support to the movement
Many timely suggestions have been
made for the betterment of traffic
both from the members of the police
department and private citizens, some
Of whom have only lately become in
terested in the vital problem of street
traffic.
A valuable suggestion along the
lines of controlling pedestrian traffic
| was made to the writer yesterday.
lit incorporates the basic principle OF
traffic legislation, that pedestrians
should be controlled at street inter-
sections, the same as motorists.
Would Clear Passage.
| The idea is to have the traffic off,
Ger. before he turns his semaphore,
amount Of time has passed. Tor the
clearing Of the streets by the walk.
ers. he should turn his semaphore tc
release the automobiles.
This would Serve to make e c!ea.
passaEs fer beth mbtorist ana Telkef
make the nearest curb before ths
machYnes were feleased.i
OF course. this regulation, II put ints
effect, would have to be. fi8fdly en-.
fbfcsd and any pedestrian In the street
after the officer had blown the whistle
| lust ~ guilty OF a traffic violation as an
automobilist caught in the same situar
ton. s,e.--e.
Pedestrians have the right Of way al
a street crossing and no rules should be
made to interfere with that right, says
| the pedestrian in rebuttal.
"An right" is the answer, you have
| the right Of way as far as it is humanity
| possible to give it to you. but no one Is
omnipotent. and therefore the pedes-
trian must realize the seriousness Of
putting all the ropes on the motorist
and none on himself. He must Co
! operate and not hold himself aloof from
any regulation designed to save life and
limb.
Furthermore, according to the regula-
| tions, an automobile has the right OF
way at street intersections II it Is on the
right of another machine approaching
| the same intersection. But in spite OF
! the regulation he has not the right to
drive blindly into the intersection, with
out regard for others, simply because
1 Ns
ed by his judgment and not place him
self in a position to be hit, simply be-
cause he has the right Of way.
And so with the pedestrian. he must
not walk blindly across an intersec-
tion. muttering to himself, Il have
the right of way here. and no one had
better touch me-" Sometimes it is not
possible for an automobile to stop be-
| fore running down one OF these reckless
pedestrians who cross the street with
| that idea in mind.
So consequently the remedy is not
with the motorist alone, but with the
pedestrian also, and he should be
more than willing to assist in having
| laws enacted which will make acci-
dents fewer.
If the suggestion should be adopted
all pedestrians when approaching
| crossing where a traffic officer is sta
toned would have to be just as alert
as the automobilist.
Warning to Pedestrian.
When the whistle blows, it is a
! warning to the pedestrian to clear
| the street because in another mo-
ment the semaphore will be turned
and. the automobiles released.
A law such as this would work to
| the benefit of the automobilist also.
The whistle would give him warning
| to get ready to start and all machines
could move practically Simultaneous
At the present time, at street cross
lines. the officers give the signal to
| "go." The machines are, in some in
stances. held up for minutes. on ac-
count Of the stream of pedestrians
weaving in and out among them. And
then there are cases where long line
of machines will be on the move, aft
er the traffic officers signal, and a
single pedestrian will get in front of
the first machine. What is the re-
suit? Every machine in the line has
to make a quick stop. with the chance
and traffic is delayed another ten min
utes. while the officer endeavors to
straighten out the tangle.
An instance of this was witnessed
the other night. Two young men
were standing on the curb. One of
them backed away from the other
out into the street directly in front
of an oncoming automobile. The mo-
torist succeeded in stopping in time
to save the mans life. The pedes-
trian, however, roundly cursed at the
automobilist The driver of the car
had saved the pedestrians life as
clearly as If he had been on a ship
and had jumped overheard in mid
ocean and pulled him into a boat.
|. Some sort of regulations must be
worked out for the pedestrian and
the pedestrian must accept it.
whether the one suggested is prac-
tical or not remains to be deter
mined. but some attention must be
directed to the walkers, and not all of
it to the motorists.