The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1935-07-17

motor vehicle commissioners in
vitation to be the principal speak
er at the conference which will
follow luncheon. Judge Maltbie's
views are well known regarding
cooperation between those forces
which invoke the power of arrest
and all laws and the judiciary
which has the power of punish
ment. His presence at the confer
ence indicates the official approval
Of Connecticut's highest court as
regards the detectives of the meet
ing.
Connor's Statement
In a statement issued by Com
missioner Connor explaining the
purposes of the conference the
motor vehicle department head has
this to say: There Is direct re-
lation between automobile accident
frequency and law enforcement.
The analysis of records Of cities
throughout the countr..- shows that
communities with the higher stand
ards of enforcement average lower
in motor vehicle death rates than
those cities with q lower enforce
ment index. The enforcement in
dex serves as a measuring stick of
traffic law enforcement and is the
number of convictions for offenses
involving driven vehicles per acct
dent resulting in personal injury
or death. There are two kinds of
enforcement pre-accident enforce
ment, or police supervision espe-
cially directed to prevent traffic
mishaps and post-accident en-
forcement.
"At a meeting Of the New York
State Bar association in January
Of this year the report Of special
committee on automobile proven
tion recommended (a) a rigid en-
forcement of all traffic laws: (b)
adoption of a revised form of oper-
ator's renewal stub to show all
convictions Of moving traffic VIOLA
tons. This committees report cited
the instance Of survey of traffic
law enforcement in a large city in
New York state. The study dis
closed the fact that out of 5,39S
dCSloCllo 4CPOALCo " kAS POAASC NC
partment in period of twenty
eight 1,122 involved habitual traf-
fic law violators or repeaters in. ac-
cidents. It can be definitely stated,
therefore, that these habitual vio-
lators are directly responsible for
from 90 per cent to Is per cent of
all motor vehicle accidents.
Decrease Violations
"The general statement can be
made safely that it has been def
nitely proven that, as convictions
increase because of traffic viola
tons involving moving vehicles,
personal injury accidents de-
creased, and that, when there has
been laxity in enforcement of the
traffic laws, the trend Of personal
injury accidents has been upward.
While nobody wishes to urge I'M
due severity of punishment by the
tial that every arm of the law be
invoked to assist in reducing traf-
fic accidents which, as Of Monday
this week, have resulted in 209
deaths and 5,s67 injuries not to
mention about 100000 in property
damages.
II am confident Thursdays con-
ference between thejudges of the
lower courts, before whom all
traffic violators appear, the state
police and theheads Of police de-
partments in the larger communi-
ties will develop the foundation, at
least, for a more stringent enforce
ment, all along the line, of traffic
violations"
Commissioner Connor concluded
his remarks with the assertion that
he believes the motoring public is
entirely sympathetic with the
problems of the traffic-law enforce
ment agencies which aretrying to
create safer traffic conditions on
the highways of the state. He is
confident that If more aggressive
cooperative measures are decided
upon. at the conference Thursday
the motoring public will be found
ready and willing to support the
program.