Evening star., 1924-07-28
0verstay Limit in Congested
Area, With Consequent
Hampering Of Traffic.
NO COOPERATION is GIVEN
Small Police Force Unable to Cope
With Motorists Disregard
for Laws.

have studied the situation that much
of the city's difficulties will pass.
Parking for longer periods than al
lowed is troubling the police and
those attempting to solve the diff
culties.
This. of course, brings up the ques-
tion of law enforcement, and is met
always with the pointed need for
more police. With the present force,
it was pointed out, it is impossible
to take men from actual police duty
and assign them to the duty of check
ing up cars that spend most of the
day in one spot in the congested area.
Much of the congestion in the
downtown traffic zone it may be seen
by any one who takes timesto travel
around in this area, is caused by
vehicles parking double, and in some
cases triple, while the occupants leave
their machines a few minutes. Pas
senger cars are even greater viola
tors than delivery trucks. 1t Is par
ticularly difficult to handle the de-
livery truck proposition, according
to the police. If there were enough
police to take in violators for this
cause. there would be long delays
IN deliveries in the downtown area
while truckmen went around for
blocks TO find place to park. and
then even it would be difficult to
carry boxes weighing hundreds of
pounds along the sidewalk to the
point of delivery.
War on viOlators.
1t is the goal of the police and the
traffic student eventually to drive the
longtime parker out Of the area
which would, of course, leave suffi-
clent spaces open so that a driver
could always find place to park
quickly, transact business and move
on, leaving the space for some one
else. One hour, it was pointed out, is
sufflclent time for a man to transact
business, or even for shopper to
attend to such near given point
and then move on. In the case of the
woman driver who comes downtown
TO go to the movies or to spend the
day shopping, it was pointed out that
II she has enough time for that, she
should extend 1t twenty minutes or
so, allow time for parking her car
outside the congested zone and walk
to and from it, or use street cars.
Practically all of the congestion
that was observed by the writer in
several tours of the congested area
was due to parking-that is, parking
double and triple. and il there had
not been all-day parkers along those
spots, there would have been suffi-
cient space for those needing only a
few minutes to park their cars.
Conducive to Accidents.
In such congestions. there are po-
tential accidents with resultan cas-
ualties. when the lanes are finally
n1 ,rV, g.
for the advantage of getting ahead of
the line, IS the cars wind their way
through the narrow lanes. While
most of the serious accidents, it has
been pointed out. occur outside Of the
downtown traffic zone. there are
daily innumerable accidents and
minor collisions. where there is only
slight damage. inside this area.
People will take chance and
leave their cars for longer periods
than those allowed by the reguIa-
tions when they realize that there
are not enough police to catch them.
That the conditions can be material
ly alleviated by enforcement OF the
regulations has been shown already
On certain streets police have been
specially detailed to watch cars as
they stop in parking spaces and time
them, giving the owners summonses
when they overstay the allotted
sible at almost any time to find a
place to park in order to transact
business The moral effect OF having
policeman on duty watching the
cars seems to have the desired effect,
for there is little overstaying OF the
parking limit.
No Cooperation Given.
Even in the parking area there are
many, many instances of the failure
of the automobile-riding public to
abide by the regulations and CO.
operate with the police, who are at
tempting to make conditions better.
Motorists violate the lines marking
the pedestrian and street-car-u using
public by parking in the safety
zones. There were any number or
cases noted on several days OF OBJ
servation where motorists were park
ed directly alongside Of signs on the
and expressly said that no parking
was allowed within Is feet OF the
signs.
While there seemed to be a general
compliance with the regulation pro-
hibiting parking alongside of fire
where motorists had parked in the
prohibited limits marked by the
white lines on the curbs near the
corners. Anywhere that cars could
be squeezed in motorists would put
them, whether it was in the pro-
nue., in front of the Veterans Bu-
reau, six cars were observed to be
outside the white line in the center
of the street marking the parking
limits, and cars were parked for the
full length along the curb where
parking was strictly prohibited, be-
cause it was a street where center
parking is allowed. This condition
made very narrow lane for traffic,
and the six cars which were parked
outside the parking limit contributed
toward the dangers of traffic because
they obstructed the views of mo-
torists running along that street
section.
Trucks Break Laws.
There are other cases where the
delivery wagons of business houses
downtown back their trucks up to
the curb where parallel parking is
directed by the police. For the load
ing of light packages, 1t is contended,
this is unnecessary, and when a big
truck sticks out into the street it
only contributes to the traffic con-
gestion.
1t is conditions such as these that
are a constant worry to the police
and others who have to deal with the
traffic conditions, and they see abso-
lutely no way of correcting them
without enough police with which to en-
force the regulations, or to at least get
the corporation of all motorists.
There are, too, many fragrant vio-
lations of the regulation prohibiting
parking in the areas between the
curbs and the street car loading plat
forms. This condition is particularly
serious, and contributes to the danger
of serious accidents. When cars park
between the curb and the platform
there is only a very narrow space for
the moving traffic to use, and in the
event that pedestrian steps hur-
riedly from between two parked au-
tomobiles in haste to get to q wait
ing street car and an automobile