Evening star., 1921-02-11
IMMEDIATE ACTION
ON TRAFFIC NEEDED
Continued Deaths Warrant
New Laws, Declare
Experts.
Lies slumbering here
One William Lake;
He heard the bell
But had no brake.
Detroit News
BY THEODORE p. MOVES.

M THEODORE r. MOVES.
Another death from an automobile
accident yesterday afternoon, makes
three fatalities for a period of seven
days. Three week was the total
reached when NO Accident week
was launched only two months ago.
Has every one forgotten the results Of
that week, wheh. the death rate from
accidents was entirely eliminated?
Something must be done to stop this
wholesale slaughter of the citizenry
of the city. And something must be
operation with the police department
by the community is needed again. as
III NO Accident week. let's have it.
Or, if display of greater zealousness
on the part of every policeman in the
cidents. let's have that also.
Another Campaign Due.
'It looks as if another No Accident
week was about due" said William
ullman. secretary of the American
Automobile Association today. These
fatal accidents are mounting up into
too great a total to be ignored any
longer.
There is no question in my mind
that the last week of safety observance
in Washington produced carefuIness on
the part of the majority of motorists.
They took pride in coming out of the
week with d clean slate.
The pedestrians, however, did not
pay much a,tention to No Acciden.
week as the motorists. and that is why
the American Automobile Association
is SO vigorously pushing an anti-jay
walking law for the District.
There must be some regulation of
the pedestrians. The motoriSt cannot
be saddled with every restriction and
have the pedestrian wander around at
his own sweet will.
Law Difficult to Pass.
"Of course. law of this kind would
be very hard to put into effect. That
is granted. But why not give the
regulation a trial? 1t is certainly
worth that, and. if it works satisfac-
'torily. make it permanent"
In a recent issue of The Star it was
pointed out how an anti-jaywalking
law might be put into effect with the
least possible trouble.
This law would only become. effect
i've at congested crossings where traf-
Idestrians would obey the semaphore
in exactly the same manner as the
motorists. - .r-, ,
Pedestrians would cross only on the,
white lines. The officer wtuld blow;
his whistle. which would mean that
HC " do dOOul " CAkdISc HIS Sl8udl,
giving time for the pedestrian to
reach the sidewalk.
/ Any pedestrian caught in the street
after the officer had blown his
whistle, waited a minute and turned
his semaphore. would be liable to the
caught in the same predicament.
How the Light. Work.
This method would work out the
g. " tho ra H0hf ci0 lp
on 5th avenue. New York. Three
lights are used for this operation. One
light for 5th avenue open to traffic.
another light showing that the signal
is about to change. and the third for
open crossstreet traffic The inter-
one to get off the crossings. exactly
as a traffic officers whistle would do
here II the regulation was put into
force.
Washington. for it's population. has
more accidents than Boston, Mass.
according to figures sent in from
the police department of the latter
city.
Boston. with a population Of 74s.00o.
had sixty-six deaths last year from
4s7. 900 population. had ffty-si1
deaths A significant fact about the
accidents in both cities shows that
while Washington had sixty-seven
Killed in 1913 and nrty-six killed in
1920, Boston had ninety-two fatali-
ties in 1919 and only sixty-six in 1920
Boston. larger city, narrower
streets and much heavier traffic was
able to reduce the number Of ac-
cidents by twenty-six, while Wash
ington. with wide streets and every
facility for corrective measures, was
only able to reduce the number by
eleven.
Perhaps a study of the traffic meth
DDS used in the larger cities might
work to tho benefit of Washington