Evening star., 1935-01-08
To the Editor of The Star:


In last Fridays papers I noticed the
statement that on January, 3, 1885
one hundred and thirty people were
tried for traffic violations and fined
1,500. That statement should be so
discreditable to the good name of the
city that no one would publish it.
The idea is given in the article, how
ever, that this indicates a real effort
to stop the killing of people on the
streets of the District.
There have been even more "suc-
cesSful days" for the Traffic Bureau
and traffic squads of the Police De-
partment within the last few months,
for I recall that one day the state
ment was made that $2,500 In fines
were assessed. Again, what a dis
creditable thing for the District Of
Columbia!
The arrest of the average law-abid-
ing citizen for a slight violation Of
some parking regulation Cor similar,
and in most cases accidental, viola
ton of driving rules and regulations
so numerous that no human being can
remember them alb has just as much
effect on stopping the killing Of people
on our streets as If the Department Of
Justice proudly recorded arresting q
thousand drunks, petty thieves and
similar minor offenders in an attempt
to show that they were putting down
the racketeer, the kidnaper and the
No. or public enemies that have
murdered their half dozen or dozen.
The Department of Justice is making
headway, not by numerous arrests, but
by arresting the killer or killing the
killer.
When the District of Columbia goes
to the root of the trouble and stops
the violators of the law who brought
about, directly or indirectly, the one
hundred and thirty-five deaths in
1884, the District of Columbia will
begin to make some headway in re-
ducing the death rate.
X
Recently eleven rules were published
by which the city apparently proposed
to decrease the terrible death toll
from automobiles. OF the eleven, not
one will have an iota of effect, ex-
cepting possibly the one compelling the
examination of the brakes of all cars
twice a year. But how many people
are killed in the District each year
through the failure Of the brakes on q
car? I have not the details of the
accidents, and I am told by those who
have tried to get them that they can
not be obtained. My guess is that
comparatively few people are killed
by cars with faulty brakes or under
conditions where the condition of the
brakes had anything to do with the
fatal accident.
Parking overtime, even improper
parking, kills no people. and yet the
law-abiding public of the District of
Columbia is gouged out of tens of thou
sands of dollars per year because inad-
vertently they have violated some
parking regulation. OF course, it is
easy to keep tab on cars parking over
time, or to watch to see If some person
parks q car two minutes before $50
am. or leaves his car five minutes
after pm. on streets where there
are signs forbidding such traffic vio-
lations, and yet 80 per cent Of the
time when good citizen is fined
under these conditions there Is not the
least inconvenience in the world occa-
stoned by the parking before $50 or
the parking after 4. But, then. they
are the easiest people to get.
The greatest difliculty Of the traffic
situation in the District Of Columbia
is lack of planning and building
ahead. Until the traffic situation in
the District of Columbia is directed by
an able engineer Of wide experience,
who will organize a group and plan
the development Of streets inside the
District and, working with Maryland
authorities, the development of en-
frances outside the District, traffic
CONGESTION will get worse and worse.