Evening star., 1936-05-13
WALK SIGNAL TEST
HELD SUCCESS BY
TRAFFIC OFFICIALS
Pedestrians Quick to Fall in
Line at Twelfth and
F Streets.
RUSH HOUR PURPOSELY
AVOIDED ON FIRST DAY
Other Lights Will Be Installed at
Busy Intersections if Plan
Works Out.

Pedestrians were quick to fall IN line
today when, for the first time, traffic
officials turned on walk signal lights
at Twelfth and F streets.
William A. Van Duzer, director of
traffic, and Inspector Benjamin A.
Lamb, commander of the Traffic Bu-
reau, were we'll pleased with the re-
sponse of the walking public in the
first few hours OF the experiment In
pedestrian control.
Purposely avoiding the morning rush
hour on the first day. Van Duzer had
the lights switched on at $50 am. A
policeman was placed at each corner
to point out the changed system. For
the first few hours jay walkers were
extremely rare; in fact, motorists gave
the policemen more difficulty than the
pedestrians.
Fire Lighted Faces.
The new lights, installed yesterday,
have five lighted faces. The usual red,
amber and green lights are used, of
course, for stop, caution and go. In
addition there is right-turn light
and the walk light, the last Of which
alternately flashes north-south and
eaSt-WeSt.
Left turns have been eliminated.
When the 60 light comes on 1t is
accompanied for IA seconds by the
right-turn light. The turn signal goes
of and the walk light comes on for
l8 seconds. The walk light goes of
as the caution light flashes on, allow
ing time for pedestrians already In
the street to reach the curb before
cross traffic begins.
The cross-walks have been painted
into zones marked with arrows to
indicate the flow Of the pedestrian
traffic keeping walkers on the right
hand side.
VanDuzer was particularly i'm
pressed by the way in which the
public kept to the right OF the cross
walks.
II believe" he said, this will work
out successfully. 1t may slow up
the pedestrian a little bit. but it is
safe and I believe the public will
agree that it is better to lose
minute or so crossing the street with
the lights than to lose weeks or
months in an accident"
Worst Corner for Accidents.
The corner at Twelfth and G streets,
he said. is one o fthe worst in the city
for pedestrian accidents, he said He
! did not have readily available figures
on the number.
It is the second busiest corner from
a standpoint of the number of pedes-
trians. Only Thirteenth and F has
more walkers. There the average
peak crowd is close to 1000 persons
per hour on the north side of F
street. At Twelfth and G, where the
lights are in use, the peak is about
$500 persons per hour on the north
side and about 5000 per hour on the
south side.
Timing of the lights has been ad-
justed so an average of 80 persons
may use each side of the cross walk
each time the walk signal is on. This
means 180 on each side of the street
during the peak periods, or total of
$50 persons crossing east-west each 18
seconds.
If the plan proves a success, as the
early tests indicated, Van Duzer said
it is probable that similar lights will
be installed at Tenth and Eleventh
streets, on F street, and at Tenth,
Twelfth and Thirteenth on G street.
At Eleventh and G, another busy
corner, the left-turn Of the street cars
complicates the matter.
Walkers to Move With Traffic.
At Thirteenth and F, busiest of all
VanDuzer expects to add merely a
walk signal to the three already there
continuing the ban on all turns. This
will mean that walking traffic will
move with vehicular traffic and for the
same length Of time. This, he said
will be the next light to be installed
"These lights have worked success
fully in Milwaukee" vanDuzer COM
mented, "and the people Of Washing
ton are just as intelligent as they are
They ought to work here"
M. o. Eldridge, assistant director oi
traffic, also forecast success for the
test.
The detail of policemen will be used
all of today and tomorrow, and, II
necessary, for a few more days. But
their assignment to the intersection Is
temporary at best. After that the sig-
mails, along with signs reading: "Pe.
destrians start only while walk shows,
will be the only guide for the public