Evening star., 1935-05-12

C1 JIl6 OTQlIldIlCcS dllU SOIilc Ollc
plain politeness.
The campaign, the Chicago Tribune
states. is not to arrest drivers but to
warn them. as we'll as provide the city
with a list of those who habitually
disregard the rules of the road and
the convenience and safety of other
motorists The operation is held
simple. Late last December Mr.. Lau-
benheimer provided all policemen
with a table of the above offenses
and q few others, including passing
children in the streets too rapidly,
weaving in and out of traffic, improp-
erly approaching intersections, and
80 on, and instructed the men to
stop and politely warn drivers who
conspicuously ignored them.
The plan now has been in operation
for four months. The offender is not
arrested. but record Of every warn
ing Is kept in a card system and the
driver who continually ignores the
warning some day may find himself
arrested on a charge Of reckless driv-
ing. In the event of becoming q
defendant after a serious accident, he
will find the list of warnings a mute
witness against his testimony OF pre-
vious careful driving.
II Is said that there are now about
$4,000 cards on file, probably almost
q complete list Of the inconsiderate
drivers in the city. With most drivers
single caution has been sufficient
and there are few duplicate cards in
the list. A few others have been
stopped repeatedly. The chief of po-
lice estimates that 95 per cent are
better drivers because they have been
warned. The remaining S per cent,
he thinks, are the incorrigibles.
Commenting on the Milwaukee
idea. William A. Van Duzer, director
of traffic here. holds the plan to be a
good one. However, he states, a SINH
lar program has been and is being
applied by the secret 100 official OBJ
servers. The only difference Is that
these observers do not warn Offend
ing motorists. but report the case to
the Police Department, from where
q letter of warning is sent out. Mr..
Van Duzer Is of the opinion that by
augmenting the scope of this work by
using the members of the police force
the plan would prove very beneficial.
Ernest V. Brown, major and super
intendent of police, says he is willing
TO try some plan that looks good. AT
the present time he feels that the
bolice force is too small In numbers
to require every policeman to carry
out the idea. He believes that he
could instruct members Of the motor
cycle squad to do this work. To this
end, he plans conference with Com
missioner Hazen for his approval.
Judge Gus A. Schuldt, presiding
magistrate Of the Police and Traffc
Courts, takes an opposite view. He
believes the time of warning motor
lists for various offenses is past. There
have been enough safety drives and
publicity in the newspapers to ac-
quaint motorists with what they
should do. I regard no traffic offense
as trivial. 1t appears to me-" the
Judge stated. that the only way to
make the streets safer is to arrest
every violator, and either bring him
into court or the various police pre-
cinct stations"
But, according to the May issue Of
Public Safety, published by the Ma
tional Safety Council. Inc, the cause
of Milwaukee setting up such an en-
viable record lies somewhat deeper
than the warning system alone.
Reasons for the city's success in con-
trolling traffic accidents last year and
its continued improvement are listed
rs follows:
Modern engineering, extremely ef-
fective, although not always conven-
tional.
Intensive and continuous educa-
tional work.
Strict and impartial, but fair en-
forcement of traffic laws.
Fine safety salesmanship.
Remarkable cooperation.
A substantial property minded"
citizenship.
These are held the basic "Es" of
accident prevention-engineering edu-
cation and enforcement.
Consider these elements, the Ma
tional Safety Council states, although
not necessarily in the order in which
they appear. One might lead of with
the cooperative set-up, which is al
ways essential in effective control of
accidents. There is the Milwaukee
Safety Commission, consisting of IA
representative citizens appointed by
the mayor for three-year terms They
are assisted by larger advisory
committee of citizens Eight Of the
IA active members at the present
time were on the original commits
sion appointed some IL or Is years
ago and they have served continu-
ously. Meetings are held regularly
and the recommendations of the
commission, embracing for the most
part engineering and educational
work, generally are carried out by
= ~,the council-which body has been sold
bn safety also for long time.
The Police Department. too, Coop
crates with the commission and other
organizations through the chief Of
police, who frankly states that every
man in my department must be a
traf1ic officer whether or not he is
on trsffic detail" Then, too, should
be mentioned the cooperation of the
safety division Of the Milwaukee As
ISOLATION Of Commerce, the schools,
the civic clubs and the women's
groups. Also the consistently fne
cooperation Of the courts following
o policy OF strict and impartial en-
forcement should be noted.
Looking at the record on April 20,
1885. Of violations and disposition OF
cases, one finds on Mr.. Laubenheim-
er's desk the daily detailed traffic &C
cident reports, so that he has the
up-to-the- minute information at his
finger tips. UP to April % OF this
year there has been Q total Of l3,2S7
violations for which tickets had been
given, and Of these cases 7,343 vio-
iators had been fined, representing