Evening star., 1935-10-08
MOTOR|ST OFFERS
SAFETY DRIVE AID
J. W. NJ. McMahan Notes 16
Specific Violations and Many
Other Acts of Peril.

Sp6ClllC VIUIdliUlIS dilu Wdiiy
Other Acts of Peril.
Reporting that during one days
observation of Washington traffic he
saw l6 specific instances OF reckless
driving and law violation of five diff
ferent types and examples of three
other types of violations too numerous
to be listed separately, j. w. M. Nc
Mahan, 1910 Eighth street, has writ
ten to the Safety Council commend
ing its safety campaign and request
ing that efforts be made to establish
q plain clothes" traffic police force.
believe it or not" Mr.. McMahan
said, you really are making us poor
motorists ssfety-c y-conscious-and then
some. Instead of amusing myself in
passing fancies while driving I watch
for reckless drivers, and see plenty Of
them.
To-day not only made mental note
of the situation, but jotted down just
who I. as motorist and pedestrian,
considered dangerous. I hope that
] might be able to assist cor
poration so eager in promoting and
saving the lives of those who are
dependent on safe driving.
Not Perfect Himself.
"Before proceeding, do not want
to give the impression that I never
violate a traffic rule, because I do.
The only one that I am conscious
Of is speeding and usually drive
IS to 80 miles per hour, but seldom
exceed this.
Il spent practically whole day
making the following observations:
81. Operating with bad brakes, two
bad cases.
%. Nipping caution lights. con-
tinuously.
"3. Passing red lights, one.
~. Passing stop signs, three.
IS. Running out Of lanes, continu-
ously.
IS. Pulling away from curb without
looking, four.
"7. Driving on wrong side of street
and cutting corners, six.
''8. Parking cars in restricted zones,
several.
Il will try to comment on each of
these violations as briefly as possible.
Il. saw car of 1929 model ap-
proach an Intersection, controlled by
Lights, travelling approximately Is
miles per hour. This car passed me
on my left. making every effort to
stop, but, in spite of those efforts. he
stopped three-quarters of the way
across the street, first backed up, then
decided TO go on. Can you teach people
to drive carefully if they have no
control over their cars? I saw another
car later on in the day, not exactly
related to the one above, but similar
%. When it comes 10 nipping cau-
ton lights, well, We take the cake.
What I mean by nipping caution
lights Is when people use it for green
knowing that it is going to turn red
before they can gain the center of
the intersection. This is very dan
gerous due to the fact that this type
of driver usually has the accelerator
on the floor. Should a person who
needs the lights step into the intersec-
tion 1t would be impossible for-eSpe-
cially an elderly person-to regain the
curb. Should this be one of the bad
braked fellows, well, the coroner knows
the rest. There seems to be a COM
plete lack of understanding between
motorist and the Police Department
on this subject. Several of the South
ern States used to permit this. Wheth-
er they do now, cannot say.
''3. saw one member of the oppo-
site sex deliberately pass a red light
and as much as would like to say it,
I will not. I will just say another red
light passed.
a. saw three gentlemen who ap-
peared to be intelligent pass a stop
sign at one intersection. I would
have liked to have had the authority
to stop those gentlemen and ask them
why. Apparently they did not think
the sign should be there.
IS. The regulation against running
out Of lanes is completely ignored un-
less there Is an officer at that particu-
lar spot.
Is. I saw four cases of pulling away
from the curb, all Of which caused
dangerous maneuvers. Three trucks
and one coupe were the offenders.
81. observed six cases of driving
on wrong side of street and cutting
corners by five Negro-operated taxis
and one Negro passenger car.
"8. Mr.. Van Duzer had No Parking
From Here to Corner signs erected so
that a motorist approaching an inter-
section could see clearly if there were
any pedestrians or vehicles coming
from the opposite direction. These
signs are disregarded to great extent,
creating an uncalled for hazard.
For Pedestrian Control.
Il am 100 per cent for Mr.. Van Du
Eer's pedestrian control. It would
put stop to people walking on red
lights and reading newspaper at the
same time. will admit that The Star
Is always interesting, but surely we
can wait until we are on the sidewalk
to read it. You might go so far as to
suggest this while waiting for the
green light. If the pedestrian was
@AAe0S w 4SoAA1S SAloU bll1O ID llO JOAlllk
matter, I believe Supt. Brown could
expect rs per cent corporation from
people living in the District.
"A fact that I would like to see
published in your paper while this
campaign is on is that the pedestrian
has the right to continue crossing the
street in spite of the fact that the
light has turned during their crossing.
I honestly do not believe that one
rnotorist out Of 10 could tell you this
Why not try this on one of your
safety campaigns?
IT really believe that the only way
Washington will ever be an example to
other cities is as follows: Put on
about so uniformed officers, just
Is detectives are. and let them iden-
tify themselves after the person has
been caught. can think of a number
of ways in which this might be &C
complished. Sooner or later this is