Evening star., 1936-07-19


dence hourly.
One reason for this is that Mil
waukee is an industrial city and its
factories and places of business are
scattered in all directions. thus cutting
down heavy traffic at any one given
place. In Washington the majority
of Offices are heavily centered, neces-
stating collected stream during the
rush hours. The City of Milwaukee,
too. is laid our differently. being in
a rectangular shape. There are no
diagonal streets running near the
business areas. All this helps the
city to have fewer traffic problems.
Maj. L'Enfant was perhaps right in
his day, but then, of course, it was
impossible to see the great production
of motor cars nearly 100 years ahead.
Despite the differences in the two
cities, all visiting officials from here
were loud in their praise of the traffic
management and safety work in Mil
Waukee. Mr.. Van Duzer was partic-
ularly impressed with the absence of
favoritism in handling traffic offenses
and the speed and work of the courts.
He also gave great credit to the con-
slant efforts Of the Traffic Commis-
sion. Capt. Whitehurst sees no great
engineering changes possible in Wash
ington with the exception Of some en-
eineering work at the circles here.
Mai. Brown was told that there has
been only two police chiefs in Mil
waukee within the past 48 years. He
was impressed by the fine condition
and modern improvements in the va
rious police precincts.
All in all, the trip was much worth
while, but because of the physical
differences in the two cities and the
widely divergent problems resulting,
it is very unlikely that the motoring
and pedestrian public will see any
radical departures here in the near
future. The carrying out Of the pro-
posals already made before the House
District Subcommittee on Traffic,
however. may be furthered and
speeded.
The first thousand entrants in the
national contest to select the repre-
sentative safe driver in each Of the
48 States and the District of Colum-
bia hung up an amazing record Of
l55,0000 900 miles of driving without a
single dented fender or brush with
traffic officers.
Declaring that this is the most i'm
pressive factual data on safe driving
yet gathered in the motor era, the
American Automobile Association,
which is sponsoring the contest joint
ly with the c. I. T. Safety Founda-
ton, also said that the records are
direct challenge to those who accept
accidents as unpreventable.
These records" says the A. A. A.,
"cover l0-year period, in line with
the requirement that entrants must
be active drivers, who have been driv-
ing for 10 years, covering a mini
mum of $4,000 miles in that period
without a single accident or viola
ton of the motor laws. With entry
blanks pouring in from all sections
OF the country, there is every indi-
cation that the total mileage trav-
ersed by safe-driver contestants will
approximate the billion-mile mara
thon originally predicted"
There are aspects Of power in con-
nection with motor vehicles with
which the car-owning public SEEM
ingly should be more familiar in the
interest of safety, in the opinion of
George E. Keneipp, manager of the
keystone Automobile Club. One in
particular, he points out, is that which |
applies to brakes.
Few motorists seem to realize that |
the inherent power of an automobile
brake system is several times that of
the engine regardless of the tremer-
dous energy the latter generates" says |
the Keystone executive. This neces-
sarily is true because of the circum- |
stance which demands that the brakes |
must stop the car in far shorter dis
tance than was used by the engine in
creating the vehicles momentum.
AN emergency stop from speed |
OF so miles an hour, for instance, re-
quires braking energy amounting to
several hundred horsepower.
Inherently, modern brakes have
that big margin of power in excess of
the engines capacity, but unless they |
are kept in good condition the margin |
Is reduced until it reaches the van
ishing point. The stage then Is set |
for an accident in that large category
known as outdriving ones brakes"
Aided by the stimulus of new model
distribution during the final quarter, !
the motorcar industry this year will
produce approximately $3,250. .0O0, 900
worth of automobiles and commercial
vehicles, figured at wholesale values,
according to the Associated Press.
Just as the years volume of assem-
blies will be the greatest in the in
dustry's history excepting 1929, so will
the wholesale value of the output set
q new mark, counting out the boom
period that Immediately preceded the
three-year downward trend in motor
car demand.
The figures are pointed to by the
motor car industry's optimistS as sup
porting their assertion that making
and selling of automobiles was among
the leading factors in beating the
depression" They are also referred
to by the group of enthusiasts who said
recently that as the present-day max
ing and marketing of motor cars goes,
the $100000,000 the industry has
committed itself to spend in plant
expansion is mot really a great deal
Of money"
One significant diff ference between |
current trends and those of 1928 and |
1929 is that apparently there is not |
q disturbing element anywhere In the |
vision of the makers Of motor vehicles. |
and their optimism is not based on |
an unseasonal squirt in the activities
Of factory or salesroom. The pro-
ducers and retailers faced consider
able uncertainty in 1929 and sew
an enormous accumulation Of used
cars hamper the distribution Of new
units.
The used car accumulation this year