New Britain herald., 1926-12-23
CITY'S NEW SIGNAL
 SYSTEM

SNSlEM
 santa Claus at the Center this year is not confining his ministra- ticas solely to the municipal Christ mas tree. Not by jugful-or rather, not by any manner Of means" to use the more polite slang. The Center for several days has locked as if the American Legion wore constructing a trench; in fact, it b gins 10 look as If a pill box were going up. This, it may be added, is fact.
 Perched upon an iron girder inn bedded in concrete will be box hke structure containing all the mechanical contrivances that any buecoatad operator needs 10 con- trol the rew lighting system that is to be put up all around the triangu- lar park. There are to be as many red and green lights around the park as function in or near a railroad station: that Is to say, real rail- road station, not necessarily the sort which goes under that name in New Britain.
 All this is being done in the nasne or efficiency. It will be lucky auto ist who can cruise around the Center in the future without being stopped by red lights at least twice. If the city can possibly do so, they are to be discouraged from using the Center as much as possible. This may be a good thing-for the Gen. ter As for the autoists, they will learn to bear it, perhaps rueing the day when the electrical mechanics invented the stop and-go light sys- toms.
 So far we have had these con- iraptions Cnly at the two corners on the northern side Of the park. leav- ing the southern flank ''unprotect- od' and the Church street intersec lion a special nuisance point -- this lately ameliorated, following con stant complaint in these columns, by Traffic Officer Joe Kennedy, who has done better job than any of the lights. But with the new system working even Honest Joe will no .orger be necessary at Church street, IS that intersection is to be protect d by lights. The southern tip Of the park will h. protected by lights also, With signals blazing on and off at the Court s'rclt crossing as well IS the others. It looks like a big scheme; tho man in the tower who will operate Ill thee lights will need 10 have eagle eyes. When the rush hours G94 not under way the whole rt sincnt of lights will go on and f'f automatically.
 All ot this Is merely q method of saving lator-slyirs the expense of employing sufficient traffic police men at the various corners In q way II is an admission that the city all along has had an insuf1icency of traffic policemen or duty al the Center--Sc mething that everyone las known for several years back. If she business Of regulating traffic had been under the uogis of private corporation instead of heinz done by the city corporation there would have been insisront howls about bad service and demands that the pub lie be better protected.
 The signal lights. however, are rot as ~ood &s traffic policemen. The traffic police watch out for indi- Vidual pedestrians and individual autoists They give sort of per- sonal service, while the traffic lights give this service en bloc, or en masse. There are unnecessary delays. At times when they work auto matically the red lights frequently so on against the autoists when there are no pedestrians ready to cross any single intersection go that the autos jus. stand there marking time to no particular purpose: and then they sometimes go against the pedestrians when half the crowd has failed 10 be across the street, Such incidents are inevitable when more than one crossing is being regulated at the same time.
 The city l,ko other cities, finds lsslf unable 10 employ enough traf- f{. policemen to meefthe demand