Evening star., 1927-09-26
Approves Campaign
For Traffic Courtesy
To the Editor of The Star:

Your editorial, Traffic Courtesy" in
The Star on September %, 1927. re-
citing that Judge Schuldt of the Traf
fic Court asserts that there Is no "au
tomobile courtesy" in Washington was
an excellent opening gun for the. sug-
gested campaign calculated to relieve
this unfortunate and dangerous situa-
ton.
If my recollection serves me cor.
rectly, the drivers of the District of
Columbia and nearby Maryland have
not always been so lacking in courtesy
as they are today. Naturally the In
crease in the number of motor vehicles
on the streets and roads has made
driving more difficult and the strain
Of getting somewhere as quickly as
possible much greater than it was
number of years ago. However, Is
there not some outstanding reason for
this deplorable, growing tendency? In
my humble opinion there Is.
With all due respect for the earnest
efforts of the traffic authorities, past
and present. of the District, l believe
the present system of automatic traffic
lights as installed on Sixteenth street
and Massachusetts avenue northwest
is the breeder of several important
traffic ills, including driving selfish
ness, which l agree with you is not
eQualed in many other sections OF the
country.
1t is only necessary to stand on a
corner on Sixteenth street for a few
minutes during the busy hours of the
morning or evening to see that there
is a mad rush to get away at the
flash of the green light, or more often
on the caution light. The principal
object seems to be to stay out in
front, at any price in courtesy, so
as to be in position to get through
the group of green lights. Some con-
servative drivers. possibly several,
will slow up the procession to the dis
gust of those in the rear, and then
begins series of weaving, lodging,
cutting-out fender-scraping maneu-
vers to pass, either on the left or
right, the slower-moving vehicle.
Then, after a couple of blocks of this
nerve.racking, dangerous driving, dur
| ing which the best intentions of the
| day have been converted into ill-feel-
| ings, nasty looks and sometimes words,
| the cars in the block of green lights
] become somewhat separated into
more natural and safer stream OF traf-
| fic.
Then what happens? A red light
appears and this mass of traffic Is
j again forced to enter the same dan
gerous condition for another series OF
maneuvers, and so on. In my opin-
| ion, there lies the real failure OF this
| lighting system-that is, it transforms
safe, easy-fowing traffic into con-
gested groups at regular intervals.
| Now if there was a real necessity for
this, which necessity might be caused
! by an equally heavy cross-town traffic,
| bax NrifipiGn1
punching of cars, but that necessity
is not present, and this assertion can
he proved by observing how smoothly
north and south bound traffic proceeds
on Thirteenth, Fifteenth and Seven
teenth streets, which streets have
practically identical cross-town traf1c.
| massachusetts avenue and Sixteenth
street would accommodate many more
| cars. running at a safe rate OF speed
and we'll distributed over the whole
street. If the cars were separated ana
cross.town traffic would get through
as it does on Thirteenth, Fifteenth ana
| Seventeenth streets. AS a substitute
! for these automatic lights why not
use the boulevard or arterial highway
curb "Stop" signs for traffic entering
| or crossing Sixteenth street or Mas
sachusetts avenue? By doing this the
arterial highway feature WOulu Stlll pc
preserved and we would get out or
these thoroughfares the maximum
use.
These automatic traffic lights, ex-
cept for a few instances where single
lights are installed, do not fit Wash
ington conditions. We all make errors
at times and the taxpayers of Wash
ington will be glad to forget and for
give the error of installing these
lights, but for traffics sake, If not
| for the taxpayers sake, do away with
this unnecessary, ad-habit-forming
system and acknowledge that 1t does
not fit our conditions. This is an i'm
| portant question for the people of
the District and nearby Maryland and
it is one on which the people using
| Washington streets should be heard.
There are many people who will not
take enough interest in civic affairs
to express an opinion il it calls for
the writing of a letter. but I believe
| some valuable expressions would be
given If some simple method of get.
ting these expressions was available.
H. w. BARBER.