The Washington herald., 1922-11-11
4 he H
Open g
Iribulations Of aayvalkees}

&c ths- Editor. I1s WasklnSton Hssald:
Hardly = day passes but that =
number Of accidents occur. and too
frequently one or more Of these
result fatally. Now, II one had
before him table showing the
total number OF accidents and the
total number OF conviction4. he
would probably discover that
there u not one conviction In
nifty acci dents. When thistratio
Is placed longside of the number
ming at times in excess of 1000
for spesdiug alone, II is the hatght
of afsurdity for an intelligent
being tos claim that the ratio OF
sconvictiors represents the Facts
relative, to the scareiessness Of
-pedestriafis or that they. are
more repfehensible than sutomo-
bile drivers.
realize THAT automobile as
ISOLATION oficials and autoists
themselves vehemently deny that
they are Indifferent to the rights
ofs pedestrians, and pose as q
prosecuted, and persecuted class.
but the facts are against them.
Nearly every days We read OF In
toxicated DIR iverst being fined. but
intoxicated driver being convicted
Of injuring pedestrian? Seldom,
When any man, mo matter how
long she has been a chauffeur or
traffic officer, rises and says
that pedestrians are fools and try
to commit suicide by walking
where they should not. then let
that man stand at any prominent
corner In the more or less con-
gested districts of the city and
use his eyes for a few hours a
day and watch for himself the
proportion of drivers that ever at
tempt to check their speed at
street intersections where no
trafic officer is stationed, and the
plain Indifference they exhibit to-
ward the average pedestrian, and
how many exceed the speed limit
of eighteen miles by anywhere
from twenty to thirty. even on
streets where traffic Is heavy. IL
he will do this. and then contend
that pedestrians are to blame or
the majority of accidents in which
they figure, l will say that he Is
in a class by himself. and which
[ would not name for fear of hurt
ing his feelings, IL he has any feel
ings Perhaps such man comes
under the classification recently
adopted by a well known editor,
who said that automobile drives
had developed a. new psychological
attribute which caused them to
think unethically or from a dis
eased viewpoint, SO that they were
really incapable of thinking or act
ing fairly and logically when 1t
came to driving automobiles or in
dealing with others who did.
Let anyone attempt on some
pleasant Sunday to cross the stream
of traffic on Sixteenth street. In
Potomac Park. or on NJ street in
Georgetown. 1t is a dangerous un-
dertaking. Why? Because pedes.
trians have no right to cross ana
ought to be at home or elsewhere!
No, it Is because autoists as a class
are selfish. and part. a large part,
of the class, are careless IL not
criminally careless.
do not speak in haste, or be-
cause l do not own car and am
jealous of those who do. or because
of some innate hatred for drivers or
anything of that sort. 1 want to be
perfectly fair. l have given this
siderable study. and have had some
little personally to do with nan
ding traffic in prominent places on
numerous public occasions.
Few drivers slack speed at cross
ings. and / have hundreds of times
timed drivers between specified
points and found that they were 60
ing at anywhere from twenty to
thirty-five miles an hour. Yet. II
anyone of those drivers struck a
pedestrian. he would vigorously
deny that he was exceeding the
speed limit and IL is very dill
ficult matter to prove that he was.
The autoist seems to proceed on the
assumption that the street Is Tor
his exclusive use. and that the
pedestrian has no right therein. for
getting that many are old. fnnrm.
slow in thought or movement, and
may become confused as to just
what course to take. Just a rev
weeks ago l read OF a boy being
struck by an automobile as he was
alighting from a street car. A
plain violation of law, accentuated
by the fact that the driver carried
a dead license. Yet | have never
seen any statement that the driver
was convicted of the deed. Cor
oner's juries almost invariably have
a number OF automobile owners or
drivers thereon, and they apparent
ly feel that the accused is one OF
them, or that tomorrow they may
be the accused, and almost always
the accused Is promptly acquitted
because the victim was a fool and
had no business in the way. 1t be-
hooves both the authorities ana
drivers to take this more seriously,
however. because one of these days
some Criminally careless or drunken
driver is going to meet swift and
sure justice at the hands of some
outraged father or relative OF the
murdered victim, and ! have my Sc
rious doubts whether there would
be any conviction for the deed.
But coming to Madison place and
Pennsylvania avenue. where traffic
Is always heavy. have stood at
this corner many times and timed
people trying to cross while no Of
ficer was on duty, and ] have seen
women wait as long as ten minutes
before they felt safe in venturing.
Frequently have assisted old
ladies to cross, signaling to drivers
to let them know was with those
slow in movement and timid, and
yet. notwithstanding my signals I
have often been doubtful whether
we were not going to he run down
and have had several close calls.
But let us assume Mr.. Smith is
on duty. Say he is directing east
and west traffic. Invariably he