Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-27
AUTOS SAVE SPACE,
SAYSI.B. GRAHAM
Modern Cars Decrease Street
Congestion by Speed,
-.
He Explains.

Traffic regulation and relief has made
great progress in the last year because it
is no longer treated as a purely local
matter by those charged with this i'm
portant branch of legislation and its
enforcement, according to Joseph B.
Graham, president Of Graham-Paige
Motors Corporation.
Perhaps the most promising develop
ment is the Hoover code for uniform
traffic control. not only offering an adj
vanced system of regulation, but sim
plifying the problem greatly by reducing
the existing confusion caused by wide
variation in regulatory rules in different
localities.
Progress is being made also in the
many cities that have begun to con-
slider their traffic as whole, seeking
through scientific investigation to ar
rive at the best solution of their prob
lens.
But there is one agency that has
worked wonders to prevent and remedy
traffic congestion, yet has not received
the credit that is its due. That agency
is the automobile itself.
Every one will agree that, inasmuch
as no city can be completely rebuilt on
new plans as a means of inSuring free
dom Of traffic, the only remedy for con-
geStion is to increase the usefulness OF
the existing streets. In other words, if
we cannot have more space, we must
make more efficient use of the space we
already have.
This process of fitting more and
go la. u
been going on for years, and 1t Is the
automobile that has done the most to
make 1t a success.
Traffic Speed Saves Space.
ITO see how this is true, consider
what would happen if all the automo-
biles using the streets of crowded city
today. were suddenly transformed into
1915 models in good running condition.
What would happen? The worst traffic
congestion ever known, because the
cars of 10 or Is years ago required much
more road space than the automobiles
of nowadays.
I'm 1915 there we're no four-wheel
brakes, no balloon tires and no high
powered engines as we know them
today. Each of these improvements has
resulted in net saving of space on the
streets, or has speeded up traffic, or
has done both.
-Four wheel brakes alone have caused
q great saving of road space because
they have reduced the distance that
must be maintained between running
vehicles, for safe stopping; and because
they permit cars to maintain the fun
legal speed with safety. Balloon tires,
with modern shock absorbers, permit
vehicles to move at good speeds over
rough city pavements that would have
required the old style cars to move at
a crawl-another saving in space. And
the present-day high-powered engines
have had almost as great an effect as
the improved braking-not because OF
higher speeds, but because OF more rapid
acceleration.
"Todays automobile, starting even
with 1915 car after halt at stop
light, would be half block away run
ming at full legal speed in high gear
before the old-time car had cleared the
cross street; and there is another gain
of space.
"The motor car itself, in fact, by its
development to the point where two
cars can operate where but one operated
before, has delayed by years the time
when our city streets can no longer
accommodate additional trafhc.
Says Horses Would Do Worse.
"What if there were no motor vehicles
at all? If you are one OF those who
think that the coming of automobiles
has brought about the problem OF trafhc
congestion, imagine modern city with
only the old-fashioned means OF trans
port for freight and passengers. Re-
member, it would require half dozen
horse-drawn wagons to do the work OF
each motor truck; imagine these wagons
in the streets along with the several
cabs needed to replace each taxi. Add
the carriages for private transportation,
and the hundreds of extra street cars
needed to serve the long-haul traffic
that travels today in BUSES and private
cars. That would be traffic confusion
worse COMPOUNDED.
at maintain that it is the automobile
that has so long delayed the saturation
point of our city streets, enabling them
TO accommodate more and more ton
mage of merchandise, and more ana
more passengers each year; that, With
out the automobile, our cities could not
have served their population and so
could not have grown to their present
size. And 7 say that, because OF the
good service the motor car has done our
cities, the cities owe the motor cars
great debt and that they should be
willing, when the time comes, to make
the expenditures for improvements that.
had the automobile not been created
and constantly improved, the cities
would have had to make years ago.