New-York tribune., 1920-10-03

DTuCe CODo, O1 Manhattan,
Is his daily illustrated lectures to
offending motorists.
The reckless, the inefficient and
the careless are arraigned before
him and treated to a demonstration
of just what their conduct means in
city as big and as crowded as New
York, which in the first seven
months Of the present year has had
nearly four hundred persons, most
Of them children, killed in vehicular
accidents on it's public thorough
fares.
Just after the uniformed attend
ant has issued his customary sharp
warning of "Hats off" the mapis-
trate in his robe takes the bench and.
If the occasion warrants, arranges
before him the manikins he uses in
giving point to his lecture.
There are several dummy figures
to represent men and women, small
model of truck and another of an
automobile. BY switching these
around he shows what may happen
when a hurrying pedestrian tries to
cross the street at point where the
trucks and automobiles are passing.
AS death, mutilation and suffering
are the usual results of accidents.
such as are initiated by the magis-
trate, the play takes on a charac-
ter different from what it would
have under other conditions, for the
make-believe tragedies are a graphic
illustration of the big problem that
is confronting New York City to-
day as result of the ever increas-
ing number of motor-driven vehicles
crowding its streets.
AS Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago,
st. Louis, Detroit and other centers
are struggling with the same prob
lem, the demonstration in court takes
on even greater significance.
Yearly Death Toll
Yearly in the United States H.
037, 600 persons are injured in acci-
dents and 10000 are killed, as
shown by statistics recently issued
by the health and accident under
writer's conference.
While not all, a large percentage
of these accidents are caused either
by careless and reckless motorists or
by the ignorance of the pedestrians
as regards traffic laws. While the
menace of reckless driving is a gen
eral problem, New York City seems
to be the worst sufferer, and the ac-
cidents and deaths are reaching ever
larger totals. A recent accident
which attracted much attention was
that in which a group of children
were the victims. Six of the chill
dren were playing on the sidewalk
The automobile ran on the sidewalk
and struck them
Two were killed and the others
were severely injured. Bystanders
said the car was travelling thirty
miles an hour when it ran across
the sidewalk.
1t was to curb reckless driving
and speeding that the Manhattan
traffic court was established in 1916
a similar court has more recently
been opened in Brooklyn.
In 1919 there were 26,123 ar
raignments in the Manhattan court
and Lilo persons were sent to
prison in default of the payment of
fines, while the sum realized from
fines reached $282,1O2. The court
has labored hard to reduce the num-
ber Of accidents and improve the
public safety, but even with the
help of the police it has not been
entirely able to cope with the situa-
ton.
In New Jersey and Connecticut,
as pointed out by Magistrate Cobb,
accidents have been much reduced,
due to the motor vehicle commits
slons, which are empowered by ade-
quate laws to curb offending chauf-
1eurs and reckless drivers. They
are invested with the powers of
magistrates and can revoke licenses
whenever they see just cause. AS a
result, it is pointed out, whereas,
rom 1916 to 1919, 1854 persons
Here killed Ia automomiles in New
York City. only $50 were killed in
Connecticut For the first six
months Of this year $40 persons
were killed in New York City and 76
III Connecticut in the same period.
The need fer laws to deter
speeding and reckless driving" said
Magistrate Cobb. who in his five
years on the bench has had thou
sands of violators of traffic regula
tons appear before him, "was never