New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-01-21
IO Aldcrmanic Measures Die
in Committee Controlled
byTammany; Mayor Again
Urges Curb on Drivers
Cites Increase in Accidents
City Politicians Believe
Ordinance Is Opposed
for s'Business Reasons"


has been trying to get the Board of
Alderman to pass ordinances to curb
reckless driving Of motor trucks and
other motor vehicles on the city streets.
board has not yet taken such action.
Yesterday the Mayor again wrote
letter to the President of the Board
OF Aldermen calling attention to this
Offices to the utmost to further the
adoption of such ordinances.
The Mayor declared he had sought
for good reason why the aldermen
had exhibited such inactivity in this
matter, but lad found none. Some Of
the city politicians apparently have
found reason. They declare that it
IS no secret that certain Tammany
leaders have been interested in seeing
that 10 ordinances were passed
which impede or regulate traffic to the
extent of slowing down the trucks or
other business vehicles of some Of the
Tammany contractors. 1t would be
bad thing for the business.
During the last year ten ordinances
altogether have been introduced in the
Board of Aldermen, seeking in one way
or another to regulate automo bile traf-
fic so as to lessen the danger of acct
dents, but they all died in committee
All of these ordinances were referred
to the Committee on Public Thorough
fares, and in turn referred to special
subcommittee on traffic regulation.
THESE committees arc controlled by
Tammany aldermen.
Many Auto Fatalities
The Mayor in his letter yesterday
called attention to the many recent au-
tomo5ile fatalities, particularly "the
papers of the elderly woman who was
knocked down and killed by an auto
truck and her body dragged two miles
before the tragedy was discovered.
"Twenty months ago." said the May
or, land on numerous occasions since
then, [ called to the attention Of the
Board of Aldermen the increasing dam
gers incident to motor vehicle oper
alton and strongly urged that action
be taken to afford better protection for
the public. Accidents continue to in
crease, and hundreds of lives are need
lcssly sacrificed, yet no remedial meas
ures have been adopted by the Board
of Aldermen to minimize the daily in
creasing dangers from motor vehicle
operation. 1t is this lamentable stu
alton which prompts me to submit for
your consideration. in the hope of eX-
pediting aldermanic action, brief
resume of some of my recommends
tions to the Board Of Aldermen and the
action of the board thereon.
con May S, 1920, 1 transmitted to the
Board of Aldermen a communication
calling attention to the fact that the
situation with regard to the operation
of motor vehicles, particularly of the
commercial or heavy type, was daily
becoming more dangerous. That COM
munication Of May was submitted, to-
gether with several memoranda from
the Police Commissioner and two pro-
posed ordinances Ont. 1884, No. 80,
their purpose the curbng of speed of
both light and heavy vehicles and the
limitation Of the height and weight of
auto trucks and trailers.
Must Reduce Accidents
at was my earnest desire that the
ordinance suggested, or others similar
in scope, would be promptly adopted.
T The protection of the lives of our peo-
pie demanded that some such steps be
taken to reduce to a minimum the
hazards attendant upon motor vehicle
operation.
CAT the meeting Of the Board of
Aldermen May II, 1920, my communi
cation and the proposed ordinances
were referred to the committee on pub
lie thoroughfares. No definite action
was taken by this committee, for rea
- L: 81
The Mayor said that on November 16,
death in single day in the city, he
was impelled to address another COM
munication to the Board of Aldermen,
urging that immediate stops be taken
to correct the present intolerable stu
alton, daily assuming greater proper
tons by reason of the addition of vast
numbers of heavy vehicles that crush
everything with which they come in
contact
Following this communication, F. H.
La Guardla. former President of the
Board Of Aldermen. introduced an ordi
nance relative 20 the installation of
speed governors on all classes of auto
mobiles used within the city limits,
which, as usual, was referred to the
special committee on traffic regulation.
This committee later prepared substi
tute ordinances IN regard to the regu-
lation of traffic and submitted them to
the board on November 20, 1921. The
report and the proposed ordinances of
the committee were laid over at that
meeting, and subsequently, on Deem
Der S, the whole matter was recon-
mitted to the special committee.
No Report on Measure
"Up to the present writing" con-
tinued the Mayor, "this committee has
not reported back to the Board of Al
dermen. You will readily see that
since my communication Of May 8,
1920, the Board of Aldermen has not
actually adopted any remedial measure
to safeguard the life and limb of our
people from high-powered automobiles
and huge motor trucks.
ut is undoubtedly true that this
subject is one requiring action both
on the part Of the state and the city
to reap the fullest measure of success,
but until such time as this cooperative
action is attained, the responsible Of
ficials of the City of New York cannot
escape their obligations to do all that
is humanity possible to alleviate the
situation"
At the last meeting Of the Board of
Aledmen, Tuesday of this week, Alder
man Peter McGuinness, of the Green
point section, introduced an ordinance
requiring all automobile trucks and
/ taxicabs to be equipped with a speed
governor or regulator limiting the
speed Of the machine to fifteen miles