Evening star., 1937-04-18
ADJUSTMENT HELD
PEDESTRIAN NEED
Man on Foot Obviously at
Disadvantage in Com
bat With Auto.
BY MRS. GEORGE C. THORPE.
Chairman of the Women's Safety Commit
tee, District Of Columbia Motor Club.
American Automobile Association
and Safety Counselor of

| Community Centers.
| The pedestrian problem is, at least
numerically, the paramount traffic
problem. We are not all of us drivers,
although some 4O,00O,0O0 citizens hold
permits to drive, but all of us are, at
some time or other, pedestrians. The
moment the driver parks his car and
sets foot on terra firma, his status
changes and usually his point of view.
He automatically joins the ranks Of
the man on foot, and curiously enough,
usually forgetting his reactions as
driver, becomes militantly and in
stantly pedestrian in his resentments
and in his excoriation of offending
motorists and traffic hazards. More
over, exclusive of the number who are
semi pedestrian and semi-motorists,
there is a clear IS per cent who are
pedestrians, pure and simple, and
! except for an occasional lift from a
friend. exclusively so.
| Let's look at this 65 per cent and
see how they have adjusted them
selves to this motor age
Small Town Intersection.
Today pause moment at the
small town intersection, and stream
Of traffic descends upon an equally
dense stream of pedestrians, the pres
ence of signal light alone restrain
| ing the one and preventing con-
fusion of cross purposes. Actually
the traffic signal is not an unadul-
terated blessing. The man who has
waited on the red to start on the
green is wont to step out absent
mindedly as his signal to proceed is
flashed. forgetful that the car op-
posite him, diagonally across the
street, may describe an arc in front
Of him, while the car behind him
may swing rapidly right, endangering
him from the rear. Little wonder
that statistics show that SO per cent
OF the casualties befall pedestrians
and that three-fourths of all those
injured at the intersections are in
Jured within the first four steps from
the curb. In some localities the pro-
portion is even greater. The New
York City police reported well over
60 per cent of the city's accidents
last year involved pedestrians, $500
injured or killed while crossing the
street against the red light, 6,ll9 in
jured or killed while crossing between
intersections. In one year the num-
Der OF pedestrians involved in auto
mobile accidents in the United States
was three times the number OF Con-
federate soldiers wounded or killed
during the entire duration of the
Civil War
Odds Against Pedestrian.
OF course the odds are overWhelm-
lngly against the man on foot. He
hasn't a sporting chance. Take
simple formula we learned back in
our school days, that momentum is
equal to weight times the square of
velocity. In any competition between
the pedestrian and the automobile
the pedestrian is obviously at a dis
advantage. In power, weight, speed
momentum and hardness Of material
the automobile excells. The man
weighs, let's say, $50 pounds: the car
5000. The mans speed is to 5
miles per hour; the cars %. The
mans horsepower is one-ffth: the
cars IS. The only advantage the
man has is his brain power and his
greater f1exibility, and usually the
car descends upon him so quickly
that he has the opportunity to use
neither: He has about as much
chance of competing with the auto
mobile as the tennis ball has of
knocking the racket over the net.
Little wonder that of the number of
pedestrians who were injured last
year $4,000 failed to recover.
While it is obvious that the motor
lst alone has the power of inflicting
injury in case of the pedestrian
versus the motorist, and it is equally
obvious that the pedestrian is the
victim, still the question invariably
suggests itself in how far is the mental
attitude of the pedestrian responsible.
There is, of course, the pedestrian
who is hard of hearing, near-sighted
or partially crippled. But these are,
as we know, in the minority. There
are those who become confused, hesi-
tating between retreating or proceed
ing. Also, unfortunately, those who
seem Indifferent, willing to take
chance or saunter across the street,
registering defiance The majority,
however, are usually intent on some
objective, hurrying along, head down,
course frankly suicidal. It's rather
a sin of omission rather than COM
mission. A matter simply of not
thinking!
One is forced to believe that it is
the thing you do not see and the
driver of which does not see you which
does the harm. All of which also
places an emphasis on visibility, as
far as safety is concerned.
Philadelphia Accidents.
A recent study Of accidents in Phil.
adelphia indicates that darkness in
creases the general hazard for the
pedestrian by 50 per cent; that 1t
doubles the hazard for pedestrians
between the ages of Is and 80: that
it triples that of pedestrians from 80
to 81 years of age. Three years ago
there was per cent reduction in
our lighting in the District. An
analysis Of the location where the
voltage was reduced showed an in
crease of 305 per cent in the number
Of fatal accidents. The lesson is OBJ
vious and fortunately the remedy as
well. A leaf taken from the pedes-
trian regulations OF Great Britain
might be useful. In England today
it is advised that the pedestrian wear
a chain about his neck, from which
hang rejecting disks which catch
and toss back the beams Of light of
an approaching car, thus revealing
the pedestrians presence upon the
highway. Lacking the disk, we can
at least abandon our practice of
wearing our darkest clothing on rainy
nights.
Why not become flapperish and
adopt the popular light-colored rub
Der capes and light-colored umbrellas?