Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-23
Photo by Royal Studio.

arc considered thoroughly up to date and
adequate for the needs OF city OF the
size of Wilmington, and represent con-
siderable Improvement over the old regI-
lations.
A proper traffic flow is vital to citys
business efficiency. The advent of the
auto and its multiplied use during the last
two decades, increasing in numbers all the
time, render the problem of the regulation
of street traffic very important one, more
important than ever before, and If is in
creasing in importance all the time
An ideally arranged street system would
be one which would offer to each class OF
traffic d channel of its own, where its
movement would not interfere with the
traffic Of other classes nor delay it, nor
itself be interrupted. But obviously such
an arrangement would be difficult to de
wise. Few large cities, II indeed any, have
any such system of thoroughfares. VII
ming on certainly has not Bridges
crossing the Brandywine on the north and
the Christiana on the south, feeding the
central part of the city from thickly
populated and rapidly growing sections,
tend toward a congestion of traffic on
some streets here that is not experienced
N other cities the size of this.
BY careful regulation, however, these
much assistance to traffic, expediting it
where otherwise it would be congested
and In frequent tangles and snarls. to the
danger of vehicles and their drivers as
well as TO pedestrians and to annoying
delays In business.
1t is the business of the traffic officers at
the busy street intersections to keep it
moving" at the proper time, having in
mind all the time the protection Of the
thousands on thousands of pedestrians at
the crossings. How well this is done by the
members of the Wilmington squad is
attested by the very few accidents on the
streets, and the fact that even on the very
busiest days there is rarely any serious
congestion or delay.
The traffic officer has come to be the
acknowledged monarch Of the crossing"
His signals must be obeyed. Street cars,
automobiles, trucks, horse-drawn vehicles,
pedestrians, all halt at his signal and 20
forward on the wave Of his hand The
public has become pretty well educated as
to the street regulations, and knows the
penalty for their violation, and considering
the vast number of vehicles on the streets
during the day, there IS a negligible num-
Der who have TO answer the summons to
court and come across with fines.
BUSY CROSSING.
One OF the busiest crossings IN the CITY
Is that at Delaware avenue and Washing
ton street. where Traffic Officer Michael ].
Jordan is stationed. Eleventh street also
mtersects with Delaware aven.e at this
point, and with the heavy flow Of traffic
both ways on Delaware avenue, with the
traffic to and from the northern section Of
the city via Washington bridge including
the trolley cars, the officer has a most
responsible and trying duty to perform.
Officer Jordan has been on the force 13
years, and on this corner four years.
Pedestrian traffic at this crossing is also
very heavy. One public school at the
corner of Eleventh and Washington and
another at the near end Of Washington
street bridge, each attended by hundreds
of children, make certain hours during
the day very trying for Officer Jordan.
The children range IN age from six years
up, and their appearance between the
hours of ) and 9 in the morning, and after
dismissal in the afternoon, give the officer
sometimes some very anxious moments.
During the four years Jordan has been
stationed there, no serious accidents have
occurred, but that there have not, has
been largely due to his watchfulness. +
More than once during the period Of his