Evening star., 1924-09-09
THE TRAFFIC PROBLEM
BY ERNEST GREENWOOD
Secretary on street and Highway Safety

alibi for an accident except possibly
some mechanical imperfection in his
car But the city street with its mar
row sidewalks faced with costly
buildings cannot be widened unless
these buildings are cut back at great
itself into such questions as parking,
traffic control, city planning, zoning.
arterial highways, one-way streets
and dozen other expedients design
ed to make the streets safe without
slowing up the traffic or adding to
the congestion.
The traffic problem proper divides
itself naturally into seven distinct
methods of approach, each of which
will be dealt with in future articles
There Is a committee Of Secretary
Hoover's conference to study the
problem from each one of these seven
approaches But while they rep
resent separate and distinct phases it
will be found that they are inter-
locking and have much in common
with one another. Together, how
ever, the results OF the work of these
committees will be one of the most
complete surveys which has ever
been made OF a national problem.
X X \ y
Statistics, which are at the basis
of all surveys of this kind. deal with
the causes, location, frequency and
severity of accidents. Available sta
tistfcs from cities and States which
are leading in accident prevention
work are being studied with a view
OF devising standard methods Of
gathering, collating and redistribut-
ing them on a Nationwide scale.
Traffic control deals with laws,
rules and regulations for the control
Of traffic. 1t includes the licensing
Of drivers, signal systems for police
and drivers. speed limits, pedestrian
facilities street and road markings,
parking regulations, one-way streets,
illumination, patrols, intersection
problems, safety measures in rela-
tion to rapid transit and the like
Construction and engineering de-
fines itself. 1t deals in road con-
struction, surfacing and the main
tenance Of surfaces. snow removal,
grading, borders, side paths, elbows
and the elimination of curves.
The city planner and zoner ap-
proaches the problem from the stand
point of decentralization, parking reg
ulations, segregation Of traffic, street
widths, exits from congested districts,
safety isles and zones, diversion of
main trunk highways, one way
streets, intersections and the location
of particular buildings such as
schools. The city planner Is no longer
the city beautifier-he is a traffic
engineer.
The insurance folks look at traffic
from a point of view of the preven-
tion effect of rating, compulsory au-
n % 1t lxc
classification records, certification of
titles and theft prevention. While
insurance is usually looked upon as
the financial apology after an accident
has occurred, it has a very material
contribution to make to campaign
of accident prevention.
Education deals with lessons in
safety in the schools, the training of
traffic officers, the training of traf1c
specialists. methods for training the
employees of operators of large fleets
of motor vehicles, not forgetting the
education of the general public as
represented by the driver and the
pedestrian.
The committee on the motor We
hicle concerns itself with mechanical
equipment of the car itself such as
brakes, lights, bumpers, weight and
size of trucks, etc.
The eighth committee to be organ
lied by Mr.. Hoover is the committed ee
on public relations. This committee
has the job Of making a survey not
only of the work of the other commit
tees but the present safety programs
of the cooperating organizations As
its name indicates, it will also study
| the question of making the results OF
the conference effective as we'll a.
methods Of carrying on the work per.
manently.
| Copyright, 1924, BY Current News Features
Incl.