New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-01-16
n SPEEDER before Judge
1 House of the Traffic
Court,

of course, the Sunday Tribune, a re-
f1ex of one of the most vexatious
problems confronting the city in the
new year. For, Of course, if viola
tions Of the automobile laws are fire.
quent, the fact is registered with ju-
dicial accuracy in the Traffic Court.
Millionaire, society leader, actor.
artist, common ordinary taxi driver,
all go there in time, and no court
can show on it's books more repre-
sentative or diversified clientele.
We've had as high as 5000 Gus
toners week." was the way the
irrepressible Eddie FRAZIER, secre-
tary to the magistrate, put it, ~and
the bank balance is going up con-
stantly."
The court is in what was the trial
room for offending policemen and to
reach it the ordinary visitor, or re-
cipient of summons, must go
through the Mott Street entrance.
But having whispered to the uni
formed guardian the magical name
Of Eddie" I was permitted to as
cend by way of the tiny elevator re-
served for important personages
and, in earlier times, for the
"Commish."
The Pedestrians Revenge
Magistrate House was waiting
and we passed in state before court
attendants holding open doors and
gates before our progress. Every
man in the place was sharply re-
minded to take his hat off, although
regret to say that the custom of
having spectators rise when the
judge enters is not observed in the
Traffic Court, and so this experience
was denied me. But all my life |
have longed for the opportunity of
sitting in Judgment on my fellow
man and next to being an automo-
bile driver yourself, and making the
fellow on foot step lively there is no
greater satisfaction than sitting in
Judgment on the motorists.
In that tiny room-tiny for the
purpose, that is--were crowded $50
men and women accused of violating
the traffic laws. Among them was
an actress, and very pretty one,
too; journalist, I regret to admit;
a powerfully built person who
claimed to have won the eight
heavyweight" championship in box
ing at the Olympic games and looked
capable Of it; two young women
dancers in a popular musical show
who were extremely indignant over
having been called to court;
Princeton student, twenty-one years
old, who thought nothing of $500
fine, and many, many ordinary
chauffeurs and taxicab drivers, such
as you may see any time when rum
ming for your life across the street.
Only, on this occasion, these defend
ants seemed different, and for the
first time in my life a taxicab driver
looked at me with respect-or at
least if not with respect with no in
dication that he considered my fur
Their existence odious or objection
able to him.
A HumbIed Lot
They passed before the high bench
humbled lot, and their passing
brought flashes Of introspection en-
phasizing the significance Of this
spectacle to the city and nation.
In every big city Of the country,
if the authorities can be believed,
similar spectacles are being wit
messed daily, and the number Of Of
tenders is ever rising.
Of all vehicular accidents, accord
ing to Professor Frederick S. Crum,
the noted statistician, those involv-
ing automobiles alone constitute a
growing menace to human life. In
the United States more than 10000
..ersons were killed by automobiles
: died as a result Of injuries re-
ceived from them in 1919.
"Unless radical preventive meas
ures on wide scale are undertaken
by competent authorities" says Pro-
fessor Crum, "this number will in
crease on an average Of at least
1000 per annum for an indefinite
period"
Railway fatalities have decreased
in the United States from percent
age of 1899 million of population
in 1906 to TAO in 1919, and street
railway deaths from 35.4 million
in 1906 TO 22.5 in 1919, but those
caused by motor-driven vehicles have