The Washington times., 1925-05-28
WITH THE
Artists
A Dissenting Opinion
on Sixteenth st.
Traffic Lights
Why Not on 18th ST.?
A Dutch Split.

Sixteenth street from II to u Tor
trying out Washington's new sig
nal light system.
After all its study OF maps, and
Investigation of other data, the
Council must be right, and the
reason we can't see it is because
we're dumb.
Come to think OF it, now, the
reason we wanted those lights on
Fourteenth street is because we
are dumb, and sympathize with
others who have the same trouble.
Il takes quite q while TO get
used to that system, 80 the re-
ports say, and the dumber you
are the longer 1t takes. We were
in hopes that the sample lights
would be put up where the most
people would see them the often
est. That isn't Sixteenth street.
Besides, there aren't any street
cars there, and street cars are
the most important feature OF
traffic trouble. That's only fair,
because more people travel In
street cars than in other ways.
a traffic count made by Cleve-
land, Ohio, last year showed that
strap.hangers formed about 40 per
cent OF the people entering the
business district, and most other
cities, probably, would show
something like the same pro-
portion.
Some Gar Slices.
II street cars handle 70 per
cent Of the traffic, then they are
entitled to cause 70 per cent Of
the difficulty. and judging from
all accounts, that's what they
do. There's one large slice Of
the traffic problem that the six
tenth street experiment won't
throw any light on.
About the only ones who'll get
much good out OF the sample
installation, are motorists the
upper 30 per cent. The remain
ing 70 per cent, all they'll have TO
do with the arrangement - 70
pay taxes.
Street cars get around quicker
under the signal system, all the
reports show. In Buffalo, ~. Is
they get through the congestsd
section I'm eight minutes with the
help of these devices. where eight
eAn minutes were required before.
Tn Syracuse after the lights
were put up the street railway
company had to rearrange It's
schedule, cutting down the rum
ming time by six minutes. In the
contested district they cut the
running time in half.
Experience In Sight.
Establishing the system on
Fourteenth street would not only
help q great many people to get
downtown quicker. but would fur
nish experience that Is out Of the
question for Sixteenth street.
when it's finally installed on
Fourteenth street the system will
he lust AZ new to the street car
part OF the problem as though It
had been tried out in Han kow,
China.
And from the pedestrians stand
point, or jump-point, too--a good
many people never viii see those
lights, unless they take q trip
over to sixteenth street for the
purpose. -.
A Chicago official says, THE
public generally thinks OF a me-
chanical signal system az de-
signed chiefly for the benefit or
motor vehicles. This conception
is wrong. We believe that our
signal system viii be primarily
training school for the pedes-
trian." We'd like to see the
school a little more centrally To-
Gated.
When Mr.. Dikeman set out 10
educate Washingtonians on the
delights of orange juice, he open
ed his establishment on Four
teenth street. He's a business
man, and understood the neces.
sity for parking where the most
people pass. He's opened up a
number of places since then, but
we haven't noticed any on Six
teenth street.
Good in Education.
If Fourteenth street IL a good
place to educate people on the
subject OF orange juice, it's
good place to educate them in the
use Of safety devices, you'd natur-
ally think. Mr.. Dikeman will
tell you that Sixteenth street is
not q good stand.
A statistician in Detroit esti-
mates that the mechanical con.
troll system there expedited traf-
fic movement by so per cent, and
the reports from practically all
large cities show that delays in
street transportation bring a.
community loss averaging about
$40 per person. New York es-
Inmates its total loss from this
source at $400, 100000 annually.
Washington doesn't lose that
much, but whatever it does lose,
a large part of it oozes out on
Fourteenth street where so much
traffic Of all kinds passes-ton-
mage, passenger, pedestrian.
We're of the "do-it-now" breed,
and would like to see the authori-
ties start in on this saving first.
But, after all. the streets are only
two blocks apart, and Fourteenth