Evening star., 1923-01-29
TRAFFIC FATALITIES
DOUBLE 1921PER|OD
| SINCE SAFETY PLEA
District Officials Renew Cry
for More Stringent Law
Enforcement.
POLICE ADVOCATE JAIL
FOR RECKLESS DRIVERS
Commissioners Will Be Urged to
Revoke Operators
Licenses.


One hundred per cent more persons
killed in traffic accidents here since
December 2-the last day of Safety
week"-than in corresponding period
one year ago.
This revelation today brought from
motorists, pedestrians, high police Off
Gals and District officers unanimous
demand for the immediate enforcement
of laws that permit the local courts to
send automobile speed maniacs and
habitually careless drivers to Jail and
deprive them Of the right to operate
motor vehicle in this city.
Fatalities Double.
Statistics compiled by the police de-
partment show that from December
2 to January 80 one year ago eight
persons lost their lives in traffic ac-
cidents in Washington. Between the
same dates Of this year. despite the
fact that the citizens had launched an
intensive campaign for more careful
driving, sixteen persons have been
hllleO from IrdTlc aclQenIS.
Similar conditions in other large
American cities have long ago forced
the courts to send reckless motorists
to Jail. irrespective of their positions
in the social and business worlds
An inquiry shows that a month or
more in a cold cell with criminals,
and a road-construction gang, has a
surprisingly sudden SOLDERING effect on
habitual transgressors OF the law
The automobile laws for the Dis
trict of Columbia permit the courts
to impose a severe fine on speeders
for their first offense and send them
to prison if they are brought back
on second and third offenses within
period OF one year after their first
arrest. In 1906, Congress fixed the
penalties for speeding as follows:
Penalties Fixed by Law.
Upon conviction for the first Of
sense. fine not less than $5 nor more
than $50; upon conviction for the sec
ond offense within one year from the
commission of the first offense. a fine
not less than $40 nor more than 500,
days nor more than thirty days. at
the discretion of the court; and upon
conviction of the third offense with
in one year from the commission of
the first offense or for any and all
subsequent offenses, fine not less
than $50 nor more than $500 and i'm
prisonment in the workhouse for not
less than thirty days nor more than
six months"
1t is this statute that is creating
a, demand that the courts enforce to
the fullest extent of its meaning. Com
plants of traffic policemen that peo-
pie are habitually breaking the speed
and other traffic laws because the
courts have tempered justice with too
much mercy-bordering on leniency-
have reused careful motorists, which
are far in the majority, to an i'm
perative call for sterner sentences,
"hard-boiled" ones If necessary.
Wants Law Amended.
Inspector Albert ]. Headley, chief
of the traffic bureau of the police de-
partment, would like to see the pres
ent law amended to allow the courts
to send speeders to Jail for first Of
lenses as well as second and third.
The man or woman who drives
through the city streets at a reck-
less rate. the inspector said. knows
that he is running the risk Of taking
human life, and the mere fact that
he was never before arrested for that
transgreSsions lessons the danger to
pedestrians and other motorists not
whit.
Maj. Sullivan, superintendent of
police, is as eager as the head of his
traffic bureau to stop reckless driving.
He declared today that he favors
having the Commissioners revoke the
operators permits of all persons who
are arrested on charges that prove
them to be a menace to public safety.
Enforcement of this rule, it was
pointed out. would strike the reckless
drivers a death blow until Congress
can amend existing laws SO as to per-
NIT the courts to Jail the careless man
as well as the speed king. Revoca-
tion of licenses is one move the police
! can and will recommend without the
sanction of the traffic court.
Interpretation of speeding"
Many motorists who were consult
| speeding" does not necessarily apply
to the man who hits a pace of so
or 40 miles an hour; it applies in
much larger sense to the driver
who races across an intersection at
| 20 miles an hour or speeds up" at
| 25 miles in a heavy traffic stream
! while lodging in an out Of other
cars 1t is these men and women
who cause most collisions, Assistant
District Attorney Walsh said.
"The real speeder, the man who
steps on it, doesn't cause more than
40 per cent of the accidents in traffic
at the most" the District attorney
said. Its the impatient fellow, who
wiggles in and out of traffic, just
grazing other cars and pedestrians,
who causes much of the trouble.
Running close beside him is the driver
! who shoots across an intersection
where most accidents occur.
Lauds New York Traffic.
"If you went. to New York and
observed traffic regulations you would
see motorists making good time be-
tween intersections, but never daring
some one up front. When they reach
so emone up front When they reach
an intersection they stop almost dead.
look well and If the road is clear
get across quickly. But the pedes-
trian is we'll trained. too, because
he never crosses between intersec-
tions or when yehicular traffic Is
against him. That's one thing we
| need"
Los Angeles probably blazed the
way in the Jail for all speeders'
| campaign. Judge Chambers origi-
mated the idea in that city and since
| then Los Angeles has found occasion