Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-18
IMPROVED DEVICES NEEDED
TO CONTROL MOTOR TRAFFIC
Signal System Now In Use Is Archaic
and Wholly Inadequate to
Modern Needs

N0ucfH NCCoo
COME day in the bright future, when
~ there is less tcmperamental and political
ferment Mt city Hall and more decent and
orderly thinking in the City Council some
one In the Police Department. with the
needed money at his command, will sit
down with pencil and paper and formu-
late a rational and consistent system for the
regulation of motor traffic in the buster
streets.
When that is done and when efficient and
modern devices supplant the crude and In
adequate signals with which the traffic men
still have to work. the business of crossing
a street will be less of n wild and perilous
adventure than il is now. Traffic police
men will not have their dispositions spoiled
and their view of life darkened by nervous
stress. They won't have to spend half of
their time bawling out bewidered automo-
bile drivers, and the drivers, In turn, will
not have reason to feel that they move In
a world Of hate and active nntngonism.
The motorcar 10 about the most important
device of these times. II has TO be reckoned
with. II cannot be put TO It's best uses and
the multitudes who depend upon It for quick
and convenient transit will always be ut
disadvantage until those who make the
traffic laws realize that old methods have
to be not only changed but revolutionized.
The Police Department does eStraordi-
narily we'll with the facilities accorded II.
But It Is compelled to get along with equip
ment that has not changed or improved
greatly in ten years.
The traffic signals Of the future will be
fixed high above the street-twics or three
times as high as the present semaphorcs-
In order that they may be visible at dis
tance and from any point above the crush
of trolleys and road vehicles. They Will
be made far more conspicuous in the day
time and at night.
The system established experimentally on
Fifth avenue In New York. where signals
operated from a central post keep all wheeled
traffic moving evenly in long unbroken lines,
will be in general use on thoroughfares like
Broad street. Crosswise tides will be auto
matically controlled by this same system,
and there will be no rushes to crossings
no empty and vacant reaches Of street and
no congestion such as occur when each
policeman must deal with the problem of
traffic as 1t is presented at his immediate
post and not as II exists generally in any
given area.
Particularly and irr!tatingly Inadequate
are the night traffic signals in the central
streets. In every modern system of street
traffic control the policeman's lights are
bright, conspicuously placed and 80 colored
as to be easily read even against the back
ground of ornamental illumination that is
to be found in every American city.
A driver Of a motorcar ought not to be
forced to squint and peer from a distance
to pick out dim signal from a surrounding
blaze of similarly colored lights. He has
enough to do In watching the roadway
ahead Of him and the swift changes Of the
current IN which he moves and In guarding
against the occasional recklessn ess of pc
dcstrians.
Traffic lights should be 30 displayed as to
be visible at a single glance from almost
any distance. They should be Of colors
not ordinarily used in display lighting.
Such devices are badly needed in all the
heavy travelled streets Of the city, and when
they are properly installed they will be so
operated that when traffic Is signaled to
60 1t will move all along the street in an
even stream and not in scurries and broken
masses.
No new approach to the general question
of traffic regulation win be wholly rational
unless it provides for the consistent en-
forcement of accepted codes. The tendency
nowadays is vigorously to regulate motor
drivers while the drivers Of horse drawn
vehicles are left to be laws unto them.
selves. Every vehicle should be compelled
TO carry night lights The drivers of horses
ought TO De 1orceu 10 go Iar more careluiy
than many of them do. A heavy dray
drawn by trotting horses is often far more
dangerous In crowded street than motor
car that moves at higher speed, since a
motorcar is far easier to control and to
stop.
Vehicular traffic will always present n
trying problem in Philadelphia until new
avenues are opened to take some Of the
burden from Broad street and to eliminate
the extraordinary complications that are
permanent In City Hall Square.
But there is no reason why the city
should not avail itself of useful and rela-
lively inexpensive devices that are helping
to simplify tho problems of traffic conges-
tion in other cities. Certainly there ought
to be standardized rules for the guidance
Of policemen. motor drivers and pedestrians
alike.
1t ought TO be possible to reroute traffic
in a way that would permanently eliminate
the three way semaphores. These newer
signals are bewildering to any one who Is
not thoroughly familiar with their inner
mCanings--a familiarity which is usually
acquired only by painful experiences with
| harasScd policemen Moving southwnrd out
of Ridge avenue. for e1amnlN, il il neces q
sary to nass q "stop" signal set against
Broad street traffic IL you do not wish to
break the rules. Similar puzzing incon :
| sistencies are apparent at many other i'm
portant street Intersections.