Evening star., 1925-10-16
PEDESTRIAN RULE
lis DECLARED LEGAL
EIdridge to Ask Regulation.
| Corporation Counsel Holds
Move Valid.

Assured by the corporation coun
eers office that q reasonable pedestrian
Regulation would be legal, Traffic Di
rector Eldridge has decided to recon-
mend one to the Commissioners early
next week.
1t is understood that the rule being
Drafted would not compel pedestrian
10 cross at an intersection, but would
provide merely that when a person
does cross at an intersection where
there is a policeman or an automatic
Signal light he shall obey the traffic
Signal.
The traffic director also is planning
TO recommend that a two-hour park
ing limit be allowed at certain points
downtown, where the leaving of ma
chimes for that length Of time would
not interfere with business.
Where Rule Is Likely to Apply.
1t is probable that the two-hour
barking time will apply around the
several public parks in the congested
section and at one or two other ioca'
tions where conditions are favorable
60 such a rule. At the present time
there Is a general limit of one hour
on all parking within the congested
zone.
The memorandum Mr.. Eldridge Is
now preparing for the Commissioners
also is likely to recommend that r
street and Dumbarton avenue. IN
Georgetown. he made one-Way streets,
one eastbound and one westbound, De-
cause street car tracks run only one
way on each of those thoroughfares.
Mr. Eldridge pointed out today that
"a bad situation occurs when automo'
biles are moving in both directions on
n street where only one street car
track is laid. With machines parked
et the curb it is difficult for an auto,
mobile going east, for instance, to
pass street cars going west.
Confer With Attorney Hart.
Mr.. Eldridge and his assistant. Col.
l. G. Moller. held a long conference
with Assistant Corporation Counsel
Ringgold Hart on the subject of
pedestrian regulation. and were ad-
rised that the law department of the
city government believed it would be
legal to require pedestrians to cross
policed intersections with the traffic
signal, just as vehicular traffic is re-
Guired to do.
This would not be a jay walking
ordinance in the sense in which that
term usually is understood. Previous
efforts made years ago to regulate
pedestrians applied to the entire Dis
SrlCC Oh 1OlulnDEi ana were lilteHueu
TO prevent a person from crossing a
street except at the corner.
Officials of the traffic office indi-
Gated today that they do not intend
at this time to undertake to prevent
people from crossing in the middle of
a block. but they pointed out that
under present regulations vehicles
have the right of way over walkers
between intersections.
Utility of Signal Lights.
When the automatic signal lights
are in use on Sixteenth street there
may be times of the day when the
"Go" sign would be facing Sixteenth
street and yet no traffic would be
passing the intersection. 1t is likely
that the pedestrian regulation will
be so phrased that a person could
cross as long as he or she is not cut
ting through a lane of traffic that is
moving in accordance with the signal
light. In other words. traffic officials
say they intend to make the pedestrian
regulation as reasonable as nossible
and at the same time require those
who walk to cross policed intersections
when traffic is moving with them in
stead of against them