Evening star., 1927-05-29
MOTORING
BY WILLIAM ULLMAN.
good hills LaFy
side.

up at either side
Recently on Thirteenth street be-
tween + and streets driver was
attempting to move out from park
| ing space. Instead of being careful
about the cars parked next to him.
he had eyes only for the roadway
| to see that no motorist would come
down the hill and collide with his
car. Before he knew it, his front
| fender had scraped and caught un-
der the rear fender of the car parked
to the left. Undaunted. however. he
drove his machine forward, scraping
the other cars fender again, then
| Strengthened out the wheels and a
few moments later had disappeared
around the corner of + street,
| The traffic office is to be commend
ed for having placed stop Signs al
| Fifteenth street on Columbia road
and Harvard street. Fifteenth street
| is a comparatively heavily travelled
| artery. and the intersections at both
| Harvard street and Columbia road
are such that cross traffic is OBJ
Scured.
Columbia road, as we'll as Harvard
street. are one-way thoroughfarcs,
carrying traffic west and east, re-
spectively. and for that reason traffic
is likely to be moving at a fair rate
of speed. Heretofore machines 60
| ing to or coming from downtown
along Fifteenth street virtually had
to come to dead stop before cross
ing either intersection. The placing
, of the stop" signs is distinct asset
to the speeding up of traffic at these
! points.
Many motorists either are not
aware OF the regulation requiring
cars to pull up to the curb and stop
Immediately upon hearing the siren
of fire engine, or else they violate
it knowingly. Whereas the siren
which heralds the approach of the
fire trucks is designed to act as
warning to clear the street, motor
lists often take it as signal to speed |
up their cars. Perhaps they believe
they can get out of the way of the |
FIRE apparatus, but the safer way is |
to abide by the regulations.
Taking a chance in such cases is |
exceedingly dangerous. and it is |
likely to cause serious accidents, as
we'll as delay the arrival of the FIRE
fighting equipment at the scene of
the conAagration.
The general opinion prevailing
among motorists with reference to
the traffic lights along Sixteenth |
street, as we'll as at other important
intersections, is that the system adds
considerably to the facility of regu-
lating traffic. The new motorist
feels comparatively safe when ap-
preaching intersections, as he may |
see very definitely whether or not |
he has the right-of-way. Veteran
drivers feel safe, for they know that |
other motorists will not speed across
the intersections with the lights
against them. Pedestrians also fee.
that the lights are safeguard, for
obvious reasons.
There are several stretches of
in need of repair, and as long as they
remain i'll their present condition mo-
torists should slow down while pass
ing over them. Running over ruts
and bumps at high rates of speed is
liable to cause blow-outs or broken
axles, and should the motorist lose
control of his machine while travel
ing at high rate of speed, seri-
Gus accident may be the result.
* X \
Despite the regulation forbidding
double parking, this law is violated
many times every day. Recently on
New York avenue just east of Four
teenth street a car was left with
the engine running, double parked
and completely unattended No one
appeared to move the car for 10 or
II minutes, and several machines
which were parked along the curb
were held up as a result. It was
gross violation of at least two funda-
mental regulations.
Some motorists apparently do not
yet know what the safety zones at
street crossings and car stops sig
nifty. A few minutes of observation
at any busy intersection where there
are safety zones will reveal the fact
that many drivers pay absolutely no
attention to the white lines.
X X X
Sounding of horns on the slightest
provocation in a traffic jam should
be avoided. lmpatience certainly
never will disentangle jam, and the
noise only adds to the confusion. 1t
also may be said that the impatient
motorist often is the one who has no
particular place to 60.
X X
Washington motorists should learn
to coordinate two things to the
end that traffic be speeded up and
the accident rate even more sharply
educed-driving in the proper lane
and adequate use of hand signals.
Unless these rules are followed,
other regulations are of little avail.
INELIGIBLE SIGNS