Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-04-14

StleCleU, MI. tcy Sdlu, ID ouUSIdil-
tally the same type of highway as
that of the lighted section, except
that the highway is at grade. There
are four intersections in this area Of
highway. 1t is felt. however, that the
comparison of the lighted section with
the unlighted section is substantially
fair one for the reason that the ma
jority of accidents along the portion
of Route No. 26 selected occurred be-
tween intersections. As a matter Of
fact, only 26 of the los accidents in
this area occurred at intersections,
end even in the case of intersection
accidents, many of them concerned
vehicles operating along the highway
and did not involve vehicles on the
cross streets attempting to enter or
cross the highway"
Day and Night Rates.
Along the lighted stretch of high
way it was determined that night &C
cidents per million vehicle miles rep
resent a 1873 per cent decrease over
Cay accidents, but along the unlighted
portion, night accidents per million
vehicles showed 31s per cent. 1922 per
cent and III per cent increases, re-
spectively. over day accidents.
To illustrate the economies of prop
er highway lighting, Mr.. Vey used a
figure of $500 to $1,000 as the eco
nomic loss for each accident. Assum-
ing that adequate lighting had not
been provided along the Illuminated
section of State Highway Route No.
25 and that therefore the excess in
night accidents would be comparable
TO the average excess of the three I'M
lighted portions of Route No. 26, it
would then be found that there would
have been loss of $39, 900 to $4,000,
as compared with an expenditure OF
| S23 ,691 a year to light the portion of
State Highway No. rs under discus
sion.
1T is considered that such an anal
ysis is entirely fair Mr. Vey said.
as in all probability, if lighting had
not been provided along the lighted
| portion of No. IS there would have
been a greater excess of night acct
dents to day accidents than shown for
the portions of route No. 26, because
of the fact that there is a greater
| concentration of night traffic on this
section of route No. Is than on the
sections of route No. 26 used"
| The report on New Jersey by Mr.
Vey is of interest and its conclusions
should be borne in mind before other
So-called economic moves are con-
templated.
An Ill Wind.
1T is an i'll wind that blows no
good" saying certainly holds good to-
day. At least some repair and oil
men so think.
DustStormS which swept the CEN
trail part of the United States during
the last month have necessitated a
thorough cleaning of all motor We
hicles.
This was the warning sounded by
manager of a truck company branch,
who pointed out that the interval be-
tween thorough cleansing of oil filters,
air cleaners and crankcaSe ventilators,
as well as the oil changing interval,
should be materially shortened.
The dust in many instances was
carried hundreds of miles from the
actual storm. 1t is highly abrasive
in nature and if permitted to reach
the inside of the engine may result
in serious damage, such as worn pis-
tons. piston rings, cylinder walls and
crankcase bearings In fact, he said,
any part served by the engine oiling
system may be damaged if oils con-
taminated with the abrasive dust are
not drained.
1T is customary to change oil on a
mileage or time basis" the manager
said, but in view of the extraordinary
circumstances we are calling attention
to the necessity of reducing the inter-
walls until the return of normal con-
ditions."