Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1922-09-29

into and broken by automobiles IN
% one year. In an effort to solve THU
c problem the railroad company EN-
: ployed a number of men to record
e observations at thirty-four dlfferen
e crossings where tracks varied ir
! number from one TO fifteen, and the
: passing trains per hour varied from
: one to a hundred. The observa-
: ton tests showed that of sixteen
e thousand motor cars which passed
n over the tracks at these thirty-four
8 crossings. less than one-third of one
r per cent of the automobiles stop
r ped and looked in both directions
before crossing.
8 Pedestrians as we'll as autoists
1 cause a great deal of trouble in the
r regulation of traffic and the control
= OF motor cars in our large cities.
, Thousands of police officers are re-
> quired throughout the country to
prevent the public on foot from lit
} orally committing suicide.
A method we are using in New
York. is the educating of the pedes-
trian traffic to move with the We
hicular traffic. This is done by sta
} tioning men at tho busiest crossings
whose sole duty is TO regulate the
pedestrian traffic. There is no law
or ordinance in New York prohibit
ing a pedestrian from crossing the
street while the vehicular traffic is
moving. but we have found that the
officer can. by merely raising his
hand as signal to stop. prevent
many thoughless persons from en-
dangering their lives by endeavor-
| ing to beat fast moving automo-
bile crossing at an intersection. As
"a means of educating the pedestrian,
we have found this method very eff
fective as It causes many persons
when crossing intersections where
no policeman is stationed, to stop
look and listen.
Efforts have been made from time
TO time TO have an ordinance pass
ed preventing pedestrians from
crossing the streets at other than
designated crossings, but without
result. In my opinion. the driver of
vehicle is entitled to a clear road
way from the Intersection of one
street to another without the posi-
bility OF being interfered with by
pedestrians This regulation works |
very we'll in Paris, and there is no
doubt It will work equally as we'll in
this country If put into effect and |
would eliminate a vast percentage |
of the accidents.
The rapid multiplication IN the
number of automotive vehicles dur
ing the past few years has created
a serious situation on the streets and
highways OF all populous communi-
ties. Progress invariably brings
with It new problems. Automobile
accidents are increasing in almost
mathematical ratio TO the increase
in the number of motor cars. Three
times as many people were killed
by these gasoline propelled ma
chimes in 1921 in the United States
as were killed in the operation OF
all our mines, mills and railroads.
Less than one-quarter of our people
are exposed to Industrial hazards.
while practically every man. woman
and child who walks out OF his front
door and crosses the street is ex- I
posed to this comparatively new
hazard. In asnumber of our larger~
cities one person out of every ten
thousand dies in a years time as
the result OF an automobile acct
dent.
An examination OF existing con-
ditions shows plainly that instead OF
being too harsh our motoring laws
are not stringent enough. The work
of reducing the death rate attribut-
able to motor oars constitutes one /
OF the most important phases of
safety engineering now before the
public. Government figures show
that 1882. 900. 900 persons were car
ried by motor cars during 1920, as ,
with 1.2S4.222,ss9 paying ,
passengers on all our American rail- I
roads. Yet the operation of the $
railroads is ever being made safer I
the adoption of safely de- I
vices and mechanical safeguards, I
while the operation Of motor We q
hicles on the streets and highways Y
Is haphazardly regulated by human
agency. 4
The statistics that I am giving. q
you will note are for 1920. 1 have O
not as yet received exact figures for 9
1921, but we all know that instead r
les have increased. I would like u
20 quote a few figures TO show you h
lust what the conditions are today Il
n regard to vehicles In use as COM d
pared to a few years ago, showing 4
is stupendous growth. In 1912 in
he State of New York there were 81
registered 10000 motor vehicles 81
md in 1921 the number was 754. OS5 a
" which 325.753 were registered in In
he New York city district, and the CT
lumber for 1922 as shown by the n
pplication for license plates, has e
about 29T. This same cr
alto applies generally throughout W
he country. It is estimated that
he increase annually IS an output WI
100000 cars, and the elimlna- oil
on from all causes Is about 45O,- DC
90 per year. leaving about 2,000,- ac
90 additional cars yearly to take pl
p the already inadequate roadway 80
PACE. at
Now as TO accidents There has I'M
cen an increase in this respect as tn
New York State alone the in
ease of killings in 1921 over 1920 liz
as 10 per cent. What ! believe els
'erybody is particularly interested tn
/. IS to know what the officials are oil
)ing to prevent this slaughter. In sci
e first place we are continually tn,
king for an increase of the traf- an
squad in New York city to ade- sal
lately police crossings and thor an
lghfares, and we advocate laws be