Evening star., 1924-01-23
The Senate Traffic Report,

The report submitted yesterday by
Senator Ball from the District COM
mittee as a result of its inquiry into
the traffic problem in the District is
elninently satisfactory. 1t manifests
a careful study of the situation as it
was expounded in the course of q
hearing, and it proposes remedies that
are practical and easily applied. First
OF all there should be a traffic court.
specifically devoted to the hearing OF
eases of violation of the traffic rules
and with facilities for checking up on
Offenders to insure corrective penal
ties. Then there should be Il material
increase in the police force, with an
increase of pay to insure a full re-
cruiting and the maintenance of a high
standard of personnel. Next there
should be a survey of the District un-
der the Engineer Commissioner with
regard to the possibility of widening
harrow roadways and streets and the
resignation OF certain streets for one
Way traffic. These are the most i'm
portant recommendations. The others
are in the line of correction, and are
III the main in harmony with the pre-
va1iInS rules and with the public un-
derstanding of traffic needs.
In one respect the report of the Sem
ate committee Enthusiastically meets an
urgent need. The law, it says, should
strictly safeguard the community from
incompetent drivers. 1t should take
from behind the wheels of automo-
blles in the District large number of
people mentally. physically and moral
~ unit to drive them.'' This should
be accomplished by strcter initial
tests before licensing and by forfeiture
of penalties upon repetition Of Of
fenses.
Undoubtedly much of the traffic
trouble III the District is due to incom-
petence at the wheel, and by incom-
Detence is meant not simply lack of
skill, but lack of Judgment, and, what
Is most important, lack of considera-
ton for the general welfare.
The recommendation for "a traffic
court reaches one of the roots of the
L,
petently officered and sitting from
in the morning until 10 at night,
would permit the immediate trial of
charges and application of penalties
With abandonment of the collateral
practice which now initiates against
prompt and effective administration of
the law, the traffic rules will be given
force not heretofore known, and the
process of education through punish
ment will be hastened.
The specific legislation required to
put this proposed system into effect
should be promptly presented and
vigorously pressed. The traffic situa-
tion must not be neglected. 1t grows
worse constantly and rapidly Crea-
tion Of a traffic court and enlarge
nent of the police force can be effect
ed at the present session of Congress-
Authorization of street survey can
be given. Indeed, the District Com
missioners are already making a tenta-
tive survey of this character.
It is gratifying that the Senate COM
mittee has not undertaken to recon-
mend specific traffic rules which are
subject to debate, and in the event of
an attempt to write them into SUBJ
stantive law would prolong and pos
sibly defeat the legislation which is
now recommended. The writing of the
traffic rules can be left to the District
Commissioners. The enforcement of
ha fn hn
traffic court. Taken altogether, the
Senate committee has rendered a most
valuable service to the District in this
thorough, painstaking and sensible in
Auiry and in these practical recon-
mendations.