Evening star., 1922-11-24

/ passed only after you hay. cu-
| tireiy cleared it,
! :. The overtakou vehicle. is 70
| Iuired TO turn to rhc right if
! machine behind desires To pass: |
| give the right of way cheer
! fully.
! safety week, although still waitin1
| TO be officially inau-urated. alraad.
! has inspired Representative Washin:.-
/ ton motorists to register irnperati,
: demands for the adoption of '.ssf.
, and sane traffic regulations hsf.
! and their rigid enforcement by ia,
! police department
| Edsy laws ana the failure of tHs
authrities to carry out the most ir.
; portant of them have made Washing
| tons streets a terror to visiting :,l..
! tomobiieS, and is rapidly Winning f,,.
/ this city the reputation Of having tr.
widest drivers of the country. a,-
! cording to complaints received hy t!.s
scores from reputable owners of car
! City Streets Unsafe.
! Not only has Washington failure
! To enforce safe and sane" traffic reg
I ulations made tn. city streets unsafe
for pedestrians, il is charged. bat .
| has also made driving by motnr,>'-
actually dangerous. one prominent
motorist. who has lived in Washing
ton all Of his life. told an incident 81
F! a man from New York
! The Washington man was sit'iu.
| in his car waiting for friends Ia
! complete a shopping tour Sudd"uly
| a man ran up to him. 50 nery youS thar
! he was on the point of tears. EXcU>-
! ing himself. the stranger said he WA
! from New York and did hot know
what to do
! For ten years / have driven my car
| in New York" he said. but her" a.
Washington | have been driven almost
I crazy by the wild driving. Il il in
possible to tell what the other mot"risj
! is going to do. He gives no sICub,
turns suddenly and anywhere il clruns' )
his fancy, passes without so mucu
blowing his horn. rUshrs out oH GDu
| from the curb without notice-LoIl.
man, I'm almost crazy and don't know
what to do.
Description Called Typical
That. according TO mary Witnesses
a! is only a typical description of what
every driver in Washington has to COLI
tend with.
Another driver told of an incident
/ that occurred while he WAS pas ua
another car in traffic just rs h.
; he was attempting TO pass th. do
/ livery wagon of department -st"t-
was whisked alongside by its neg Ia
F.! chauffeur. Seeing that he could not
! pass before reaching the traIiic ~
! liceman at the corner. The lelIr
. swerved so sharply tnat the Seconp
! driver had to Jam on his emrrgenC.
/ brake and stall his moi pr TO ;rreven:
/ being "pinched' between the TWO cars
/ Upon reaching the traffic policeman the
,lv:,- agl-. II h.. a
+. the incident
| "Oh, | know" he said They're do
| ing it all over the city
/ When the question of what cause
| such carelessness here by motorists was
put to a number of persons the auSw.'
! invariably was:
/ Easy laws. easy courts and casy
cops"
Minimum Collateral Deprecated.
| The law that permits a violatnr 81
| the traffic laws to go to the ncarc>-
/ station house and post minimum col.
| lateral should. in the opinion of man.-
| be abolished. 1t is a good law for II.
| habitual offender. it was pointed out
| but hard on the man who wants TO he
| careful because il encourages recS.
lessness. If the man who takes tht
right of way unlawfuliy. speeds
=
tice by blowing his hQrn or does Other
careless acts knew he would have Il
pay fine of S25 instead Of from )
to IS, he would be decidedly more
careful. the speakers said.
On the other hand. attention was
called TO the apparently growing
number of Jay walkers IN Washing
ton. Several days ago the police de-
partment marked off bIdnd-neN
safety zones across PENNSYLVANIA ave
nue. in front of the Post oiiic" lp'-
partment, where pedestrians had the
right of way.
OF the several hundred persons who
crossed at that point exactly tw" cou
pies. by actual count, used the spac'
between the safety lines. TIL" other
took country cuts, despite the rae
that they had plenty OF time to reacis
the department building before
o'clock
Second Most Urgent Need.
The second most urgent reques'
was for more policemen to be sent o.
after violators of the more importaht
traffic regulations. such as failure 10
give the proper signal Of intention l."
stop or turn. failing to give proper
notice of intention 10 pass. speeding
and turning at the wrong places.
ANYBODY can go out and STICK a
card in car that has been parked
TOO long; getting the dangerous man
is the job of a real policeman" an
other driver said. The man VIII"
parks too long is violating the Law
and should be arrested but he isn't
endangering anybody's life. and there
are rlenty-plenty-i Washington
who are Get them first: nail them
good and hard. Then. a couple "f
months later, the police will be able
to devote their time to the space hogs
without neglecting the dangerous f,l-
low. He will no longer exist Tn"
courts are going to impose heavy
fines during Safety week, l see; why
not make that permanent? Why avoid
accidents only for week, when he
can do it for all times"
Menace mt the Curb.
Many drivers find a menace in the
habit of pulling into the curb where
angular parking is allowed and back .
ing out into traffic. The fraction al
a minute longer it would take II
back in and pull out, they declared
is certainly not worth the risk all
motorists take when they back blind
ly out into a busy street. 1t is ply
sically impossible for them to SEE
what is coming and they must rely
upon the other fellow, q practice
that has been shown to be bad.
"In Maryland and New York II Is .
against the law to pull into the curb.
one man said: 1T should be so here
100, At least make pulling into the
curb against the law on streets where
there are car tracks and room tof
moving traffic naturally is small
Drivers will soon become as used to
backing in as they are to backing
out"