Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-06-24
In the Motor World
BY d. ADAMS HOWARD.

! the plan voluntarily. That the
pedestrians and motorists will
benefit greatly by cooperating
with the plan is the directors sin
cere belief. When the light is
green or the semaphore says
ego" is the only time for the
pedestrian to cross the street,
Harland states.
Car Track Driving.
The following letter was re-
ceived by a bewildered motorist:
Has your organization any def
mite information as to whether
an autoiSt may drive his car, with
due caution and at a legal rate
of speed, down the right-hano
street car track to the left OF
painted street car safety zone, the
space between the safety zone
and the curb being crowded at
the time?
ut seems to me that this is
question regarding which most
Washington motorists, as well as
most washington policemen, have
no information. The trafnc reg
ulations say that a vehicle may
not be driven through any part
of a safety zone, but do not say
whether the car tracks are con-
sidered part of the zone.
"A few days ago a policeman
told a friend of mine that ne
could drive down the track inside
the zone. A few days later was
stopped by another policeman
and warned that it was not per
Missile for me to do SO. I called
the Traffic Bureau and asked
about the matter, but was given
no satisfaction. In answer to my
question was told. Why, yol
can't drive down the center OF
the street.
when I asked whether it was
not possible to drive down the
right hand street car track with
out touching the center Of the
street I was told that the regu-
lations say you must drive as close
to the right-hand curb as pos
sible.' Of course. this would i'm
ply that one could never drive on
the street car tracks under any
circumstance and it would have
no special application to the
safety zone.
DO you not feel that Washing
ton motorists should be able to
find out without great deal OF
trouble just what they are and
what they are not permitted to
do?"
The answer is that a motorist
can drive on the right-hand street
car track to the left of safety
zone or loading platform. This
information Games from Harland.
THE practice" he points out,
while in every way legal, is not
one to be encouraged. For un-
less the driver is extremely care
ly he is liable to tie up traffic al
most any time However, there
is no regulation to prevent the
driver from so doing"
The letter brings up another
important fact. All policemen,
especially crossing officers, should
have the same method of pro-
cedure. A uniform knowledge
of the regulations and uniform
way of carrying them out, should
be the experience of every wearer
of the blue coat. Unfortunately,
this is not always the case. As
IN the above letter, one says no
and one says yes. and the motor
list is always In hot water.
A Source Of Pride.
A source of pride to the auto
motive manufacturers is con-
tanned In the following report Of
the Department of Commerce:
Nine of every ten automobiles
in the world today have been
made in America" according to
figures compiled by the automo-
tive division. as of January l,
1928, and made public June 90.
in a statement by the Depart
ment of Commerce. The full text
of the report follows:
Of a grand total of 1857 400
automobiles in service the first of
this year 1t is estimated that
1897, 1856, or 1915 per cent, are
American made. This includes
%, a33, 258, or Gil per cent, Of the
passenger cars and 1888 1923, or
81.l per cent, of the trucks and
buses.
Outside of the United States
(continentaD and Canada there
were at the beginning of the
year, according to department
figures, 5,475,812 automobiles, of