Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-06
DRIVING TO LEFT
WASTES STREETS
Dangerous Condition Here
Makes 0ne-Third of Road
ways Useless.
BY WILLIAM ULLMAN.

A mass of automobiles in a struggle
for the left-hand traffic lane. frequent
ly straddling the car tracks, is wasting
one-third of the space provided by
the National Capitals magnificent
highway system. slowing up the motor
stream and thereby creating the
manifold hazards that result inevitably
from traffic torpor and congestion.
Such is the picture of Washington's
automobile driving today.
1t will be clear to any one who
observes that thousands upon thou
sands OF local motorists have a fixed
habit OF driving to the left or, in other
words. in the center of the street,
leaving a wide area near the curb
desolate and unused.
1t may be the narrow side street
in an older section of the city, or a
wider thoroughfare in one of the
newer residential areas or it msy be
one of the arterial highways that
daily brings it's deluge of motor
vehicles into the heart of the city. 1t
makes no difference which it is.
Regardless of the width of the street,
the traffic stream flows down the
center and the valuable space on the
sides is wasted, thrown away as if it
were utterly worthless in the traffic
scheme of things.
Present Code Specific.
Washington's present traffic code
takes full cognizance of the thought
that congestion is one of the factors
in traffic danger. The code has been
built thoughtfully and thoroughly to-
ward the end that congestion be pre-
vented whenever and wherever it is
possible to prevent 1t.
To that end, speed limits have been
raised, although the regulations do
not specify that a man must drive
up to the sped limit at all times.
He is, however, legally bound to
keep over to the right curb if he
prefers to take it slowly. But, OBJ
servers have noted, he does not heed
the regulation. He drives in the
center of the street, regardless of
the speed he may be making. He
stays there, come what may.
To keep within the law, one must
pass an overtaken vehicle at the
left. With a torpid driver in front
and as far to the left of the street
as possible, passing on the left is
impossible unless one is venturous
enough or foolhardy enough to cut
head-on into the traffic stream ap-
preaching from the other direction.
Passing on Right Frequent.
Under present conditions traffic in
opposite directions passes almost
fender to fender on streets where
there are no car tracks. On others
motorists are found to reveal an al
most unanimous inclination to hug
the street car tracks so closely that
legal passing is made dangerous if
not actually prevented entirely.
Thus, one is presented with the
alternative of passing on the right
or not passing at all. In other words,
one must violate one of the rules of
the road as specified in the District
traffic code, or one must stay behind
the dallying driver until he chooses
to desert his unfairly and illegally
held position.
Many drivers do pass on the right.
For the thousands who strive to
keep the letter as we'll as the spirit
of the law, however, there is no
alternative but to stay behind.
That 1t ever is necessary to pass
illegally on any of the wide arterial
streets, is patent evidence that ap-
proxtmately one-third of the surface
of the highway is wasted--an area
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