Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12


nature, illegal parking representing
4S.l4o of the total of 60,967 arrests,
Only two other cities, New York and
Cleveland, passed Washington in the
number of arrests for infraction OF
the parking rules. New York reported
$500 arrests for Illegal parking, and
Cleveland 53,924. In Philadelphia
there were 1928 arrests for parking
violations, in Baltimore 1899. and
Buffalo, 1919.
None of the cities even approach New
York in the number. Of speeders ar
rested. According TO the records. there
were 34,279 arrests for excessive speed
there. Washington, however, ranks Sec
ond with i0,081 arrests, With Baltimore
trailing with 8,422. In Cleveland 5,464
speederS were arrested, in Buffalo ], l34
and in Philadelphia only Sc.
For reckless driving Baltimore takes
the lead with 1884 arrests. Phila-
delphia was runner-up with 9,414, and
New York stands third with 2,745
Washington had $50 arrests for reck-
less driving, with Buffalo showing the
lowest record Of 500.
Washington, with a total of So trafiic
fatalities, stands far ahead of the other
cities, its nearest rival for the record
being Buffalo with 14l fatalities. Traf-
fic deaths in the other cities were 1874
in Baltimore, 286 in Cleveland, 35l In
Philadelphia, and 1,311 in New York.
Fatalities Compared.
In fact, william H. Harland, trafic
director, who has compared the fatal
tiles on the basis of per capita popula-
ton, declares that Washington has the
lowest death record of 70 cities. Ac-
cording to his calculations, there were
Is persons killed in the District for each
100000 population. On this per capita
basis, Boston was second with IA and
Baltimore third with IS. The total for
the 70 cities was 25.S persons per 100000
population.
Despite the low fatality record,
Washington had 1909 accidents during
the year, in which 1852 persons were
injured. The low record for accidents
that city recorded 14l traffic deaths.
Philadelphia had 17,401 accidents and
Baltimore $3.50.
Henry G. Pratt, superintendent Of
police, said that the record of arrests
for traffic violations during the year
shows that Washington Is getting real
enforcement" even though the police
report shows they concentrated on the
overtime parkers and violators of other
PdAAiLAS AulSS.
Pratt Analyses Figures.
The fact that there were 10,0S1 ar
rests for speeding and 1880 for reckless
driving in Washington, with only 81
traffic fatalities, shows, Maj. Pratt de-
clared. that the police are catching the
dangerous drivers before they kill any
body.
Look at the record for Buffalo, for
instance" said Maj. Pratt There
were 141 traffic fatalities, but only 500
arrests for reckless driving and 1,134
for speeding. Also look at Philadelphia
record. Only Sc arrests were made
there for speeding and 9,4l7 for reck-
less driving, yet there were 351 deaths
from traffic accidents"
Traffic Director Harland, however,
believes Washington's record for IA
talities, reckless driving and speeding
cases would be greatly reduced with
more drastic enforcement of the major
traffic regulations. He thinks the police
are paying too much attention to the
violators of the minor regulations, such
as overtime parking, parking without q
rear light, ETC., instead of concentrating
on the careless drivers and the speed
demons.