The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-06-15
with The
.Alibi Artists
Syracuse lis Long
Time Getting Wise to
Signal Idea, But
Now, Oh, Boy!
Morgue Did Big Trade.
By DONALD McDOUGAL

About year ago in Syracuse,
N. r, they had a traffic problem
something like what Washington
is up against.
A pedestrian didn't stand much
chance unless he was q pretty
good all-round athlete, and every
once In so often one Of 'en went
down for the count at that.
Almost everyone up there had
q Hicktown habit OF crossing in
side the block, and when 81 met
sam in the middle Of the street
they stopped to snake hands. in
quire about Mandy and Sue and
the spotted calf. and the chances
Of getting the hay in before It
rAined.
Auto drivers had to turn out
for them, and run pretty stlIr
chances doing it, because the
streets UP there are right narrow,
and driver only had to swing
out four or five feet to be on
the wrong side.
The Syracuse citizens were
free and independent people ana
wouldn't let anyone deprive them
of the use xof their own STREETS,
by Heck, and authorized the con.
struction Of an addition to the
morgue.
The authorities tried to make
them cross at Intersections only,
hut there was nothing doing.
They were Just as safe in the
middle Of the block as they were
at crossings, they said.
When they tried to move with
traffic at intersections some mo-
torist was always branching out
for d right turn and chasing them
to the hospital They said they'd
never feel safe on q crOss-Walk
until they could see around .
corner.
Ia the middle or the block, mo-
florists could see them quite q
distance off and didn't dare run
over them, 1on account of almost
everybody up there having vote.
But where pedestrians and ma.
chimes are mixed up In the road
that way, the pedestrian Is bound
to get the worst Of 1t, and the
city got its moneys worth out
OF the morgue extension.
The real trouble was that the
people had learned by experience
that there wasn't any special
safety in crossing at Intersections
instead of up the block. Cars
3 came around the corner too quick
for them,
Then the authorities installed
the three light system and jay
walking became lost art in
what years 81 education, =
publicity, laws and threats Of
fines had failed 70 do, the as
surance OF safety to the pedes.
TRAN brought about In g Few
weeks.
While the linemen were putting
UP the wires and getting the
lamps In place. the press led
daily front-page stuff about how
the lights worked. 10 the people
would know what was expected
of them.
The traffic officials had cards
printed in large type hitting the
high spots in forty words or so.
These were given out daily for
a week before the opening night.
Pedestrians knew that when
they got the signal to go ahead
they Were just as safe on the
.crosswalk as they were in their
front yards. and quit crossing
In the middle Of the block.
Traffic in the congested dis.
trict was speeded up from an
average Of ten miles an hour to
twenty, and where there had
been twenty-five fatal accideI -
the year before, there wasn't a
traffic death for two months
after the system was installed
maybe longer, but that's the last
we have q record Of.
And the parting ban WAS
pushed back another year or two
except for the rush hours in the
business district.