Evening star., 1926-10-10


and highways will be the domino Mt
| subject at the fifteenth annual Safety
Congress, which will be held in
Detroit October 25.29. Industrial
safety will receive attention. but as
traffic casualties and traffic problems
growing out Of the constantly in
creasing use Of automobile vehicles
continue to overshadow all other kinds
OF accidents. so they will feature the
progra m of the congress.
That traffic accidents can be pre-
vented through educational methods,
engineering revision and law observ-
ance will he emphasized in addresses
and reports by motor vehicle COM
missioners. city planning engineers,
chiefs Of police traffic court judges
school officials and officers Of com
| munity safety councils and of the
National Safety Council
1t is regarded as OF first importance
that this he impressed upon the
general public and upon drivers of
| automobiles. for as long AS the impress
| sion prevails that with the traffic con.
gestion there is throughout the United
| States large number Of accidents are
una voidable and inevitable the ex-
pei lS % iillic pIoSi CSS VIII w IllduS
toward minimizing traffic menaces.
The driver of a car who believes that
he is certain to figure in some kind of
an accident at least once every year,
with q large chance that the accident
will be attended by serious il not
fatal results to him or to some one
else, Is apt to become fatalist and
grow careless or indifferent to the
precautions that he should observe
every minute he is behind a steer
ing wheel.
And if the public gets into a frame
Of mind such that the average person
hears of an accident horror with a
shake Of the head or a shrug Of the
shoulders. as if to say that such
affairs are to be expected, then. ac-
cording to those who are directing the
national safety movement, there will
never he public opinion that will in
sist upon the maximum of law en-
forcement and law observance and
censure mercilesely all forms Of reck-
less driving.
Once the country Is seld on the idea
that accidents can be prevented, then
some headway may be made through
discussion Of ways and means and
demonstrations Of safety methods and
devices.
Jay TaIker New Factor.
At the forthcoming gathering in
Detroit much will be heard Of a new
factor in traffic accidents--the Jay
Talker He is an old offender. dating
back quite as far as his comrade in
negligence. the Jay Walker. but he Is
new in the sense that he has but
recently been christened and that a
special effort is being made to direct
public attention to his dereictions.
The Jay Talker is the driver of a
motor vehicle who becomes so absorb
ed in conversation with some one In
the car with him that he becomes in
attentive to traffic signs and signals,
careless in handling his own machine,
and unmindful of what other drivers
are doing with their vehicles. Like
the Jay Walker who tries to cross a
traffic lane at the wrong place or in
the wrong way and frequently gets
himself run down and killed or seri-
ously injured, the Jay Talker Is eon-
stantly getting himself and others
into trouble or disaster A conspic-
uous offender in this line is the driver
who turns his head to talk to oc-
cupants of the rear seat. 81
Jay Talking may also be indulged
in By persons other than the driver
OI q CdI. lie uIlNCl - dtlChtlcli lAo
be distracted merely by his efforts
to listen to what his passenger or
| passengers may be saying.
Traffic laws and regulations have
| been made under which Jay Walkers
| may be punished. but how to deal
with the Jay Talker is recognized as
difficult problem. In the first place,
it is practically impossible to spot
more than one case in A thousand In
which it can he proved that the driver
was talking too much or being dis
tracted by conversation. and. likewise,
1t would he hard to determine whether
the penalty should he inflicted upon
the talker or the. talkee.
Only through education. it IS said.
can this phase of the traffic menace
be dealt with. Drivers must he i'm
pressed with the idea that inatten-
ton Is none the less crime because
1t is Understandable. and passengers
must be made to understand that 1t
is equally an offense TO distract a
drivers mind from what he is doing
especially in traffic congestion or
| when the car is going at high speed.
Irenee f. DUPONT. chairman of the
board of the Delaware Safety Coun-
ell. is credited with having originated
the terms Jay Talker and Jay Talk
ing.
There is one form Of inattention or
carelessness on the part of driver
that can be regulated by law-one-
arm driving. The offenders are al
most Invariably youths who will not
wait until they park before starting
their petting parties. Washington has
a trafic regulation under which one
arm drivers are subject to arrest and
fne.
Among the subjects upon which ad-
~ A. AAf c. e. -,