Evening star., 1931-06-21
In the Motor World
By G. ADAMS HOWARD.

intelligently exercised. A timely
warning from the back seat has
averted many accidents. The re-
suit Of ideal back-seat driving
would be to supply four eyes in
stead of two, and two attentions
instead of one-an increase keenly
needed in the current speeding up
of trafIlc.
Be that as 1t may, one does not
have to accept everything that
comes out of Harvard, and 1t
seems it would be good plan to
60 slow on recommending back
seat driving. No matter how
expert the back-seat driver might
be, there is likely to be confusion
and lack of uniformity.
The following work Of the bureau
seems more meritorious:
Results Of the effort to reform
modern city traffic through Scien-
tiflc investigation indicate a sue
cess beyond even the hopes Of the
traffic engineers who performed
the work, according to the reports
just received by Harvard Univer-
sity's ErSkine TRAFFIC Bureau.
Traffic Studies.
Adoption Of the scientific traffic
code in Chicago has brought about
a SO per cent increase in the
volume of traffic which the central
district streets are able to handle.
Abolition of parking in the Loop,
for example, has been an actual
stimulus to retail trade and has
Speeded up the general rate Of
vehicle travel.
Increase in speed from 1872 miles
and hour to 1873 miles an hour is
reported in the central section of
Kansas City, following operation
of the bureaus recommendations
there. Midday traffic has stepped
up from 1853 miles to 1915 miles
an hour. Street car movements,
the city'S public service company
reports, have Speeded up so that
car riders effect a time saving of
25 per cent, or 8,757 hours for the
quarter million passengers enter
ing and leaving the business dis
trict.
Kansas City also reports acci-
dents materially reduced, and the
opening Of narrow streets to per-
NIT traffic use as a result Of the
new parking regulations. The
latter step has effected a 20 per
cent rise in traffic movement
generally.
Freight Hauling.
Motor freight hauling over the
country roads has grown tremen-
douSly since the war, due to the
improvement in highways and the
development of motor transport
vehicles, according to a recent re-
port Of the American Road Build
erS' Association.
Many motor freight lines were
established during the period
when the railroads were taxed to
provide transportation facilities
and when merchants were forced
to rely on frequent motor freight
deliveries to obtain the goods that
manufacturers were alloting them.
The motor freight industry war
baby-haS flouriShed and become
Increasingly important in the past
decade.
The freight hauled usually is
highly specialized in character
and Of a type that the railroads
ind difficulty n-handlngr such as
household goods, sea food, live
| stock, garden produce, etc. At
| present less than 2 per cent of the
total tonnage of freight goes by
motor transport, the railroads
handle about II per cent of all
the tonnage, the remainder is
divided between inland waterways
and pipe lines.
Motor freight transport is flex-
ible, speedy and economical for
numerous commodities. Special
vehicles have been developed
coming within the almost uni
versal State requirement that
widths shall not exceed 96 inches.
These transport vans are often
equipped with air brakes, special
tires and engines for heavy duty.
The development Of paved high
ways serving a large number of
farms has encouraged farmers to
use automobiles and trucks to haul
their produce to market until now
there are almost 100000 motor
vehicles on the. farms. It has
been found that 1872 per cent of
all New York'S vegetables and
fruits are brought in by truck.
In 1929 there were over $4,000, 900
head Of live stock hauled by truck.
Wide, smooth and strong roads
are essential to the further de-
velopment of motor freighting,
and the public is building such
roads just as fast as funds are
made available.