Evening star., 1935-11-29
TRAFFIC CONTROL
URGED IN LETTER
PeriIs of Ontario Road Sec.
ton Called to Attention of
Safety Council.

Declaring Ontario road between Co
Iumbia road and its angular inter-
section with Eighteenth street is lone
of the most dangerous in this section
Of the city, w. H. Griffin of the
United states Geological Survey, who
lives in the Ontario Apartment, has
urged that The Evening Star Safety
Council cooperate with residents of
that section in an effort to obtain
proper traffic control there.
The request, made by MFR. Grifin
in a letter to The Star Council, is but
one of many received by the council
for increased safeguards on and in the
vicinity of Columbia road, especially
Nsaf Seventeenth street, adjacent to
the Henry D. Cooke School, and near
Elghteenth street.
Numerous appeals both by letter
and in person have been made to
MS. Van, Duzer and the Commissioners
d,aring the last year or two," Mr..
Grimm said, "but, except for a per-
functory and stereotyped response that
conditions would be investigated, all
appeals have been in vain, while the
danger from traffic grows steadily
worse.
Only Short Stretch. -.'
at is a short stretch on Ontario
road of which I speak," he explained,
''but where it crosses Columbia road
and Lanier street and its angular in
tersection with Eighteenth street, in
front of the ontario Apartments en-
trance gate, with traffic moving in
all directions, make this short and
congested street one of the most dan
gerouS in this section of the city"
Cars are parked solidly on both
sides of the street and on the north
side of Columbia road, as rule, and
there frequently is some truck or car
double parked to make the situation
worse, Mr.. Griffin said He added that
at the Lanier street crossing cars GUS
tomarily are parked up to the four
corners. The intersection with Eight
eenth street is at the summit Of a
steep grade, on which all traffic from
the north, on both streets, makes high
speed, making the intersection "a most
dangerous crossing"
The only protection the Traffic
Bureau has ever furnished is" he con-
tinued, "a 3-foot-high stop sign at the
approach to Columbia road for the
protection of automobile drivers en-
tering this thoroughfare, yet this cau-
ton signal is practically useless since
It is usually obScured by machines
parked against it. The lowly and
helpless pedestrian, however, has only
a confused mind to protect him from
the traffic entering Ontario road from
south, east and west"
Appeal One of Many.
The appeal from Mr. Griffin is but
one of many made in connection with
the present traffic safety campaign
for improvement Of highway engi-
neering in various parts of the city.
In all, hundreds of letters dealing
with various phases of the traffic and
safety problems in Washington have
been received. Excerpts from some
Of these letters follow:
I'm Seattle, the pedestrian is con-
trolled at street intersections as much
as is wheeled traffic. From personal
observation, having lived in Seattle
many years. believe that the control,
by light and bell, of pedestrian traffic,
will reduce accidents.
HERBERT A. BLOGG."
E "1 think The Star deserves much
praise for the traffic safety campaign
which it is conducting. Much good
will undoubtedly result from this cam
paign. I believe, however, that even
more could be accomplished if you
would have a permanent traffic safety
page in The Star, which would enable
the people to discuss the problems
and offer suggestions as to remedies.
"E. ELVOVE."
This morning, thanks probably to
your campaign, a motorist came to a
full stop to let lady and myself pass.
It was so unusual that had not been
in the middle of the street, I would
have stopped to thank him. Most of
us are not bad, only thoughtless. A
little mixture of kindness and con-
sideration on the part of both pedes-
trian and driver will certainly bring
about greatly improved conditions.
REV. A. H. THOMPSON"
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