Evening star., 1938-08-03

accidents, 1t has been found expedient
to control Intersections more fire.
quently by trafic officers than by me-
chanical signals. The former In dark
trousers. white linen coats. white
gloves-immersed in . solution which
Is iridescent at night-make effective
human semaphores Of themselves. re-
volving, arms extended. shoulder high,
indicating now this way, now that, the
direction Of travel This frequent sub
stitu1ion Of human judgment for me-
chanical control Is q luxury Germany
allows itself, making for = double ad-
vantage according to the German way
of thinking. The loss of time to the
motorist At an intersection is thus re-
duced to q minimum, and the exist
ence OF an ample trafnc force through
out the city contributes largely to the
employment of the bodied Ber-
liner.
But woe to the pedestrian who
crosses IN the middle of the block, or
against the signal light at the corner.
The culprit, promptly apprehended,
forfeits q mark-about 40 cents at the
present rate Of exchange-to the trafdc
officer on the spot.
While 1t may be somewhat beside
the point, q Berlin acquaintance con-
fided to me that recently her husband
had twice attempted at midnight to
slip off the tram, as 1t slowly rounded
the corner by his home, in order to
save himself a considerable walk back
from the next stop" sign. On both
occasions, he walked into the arms of
an officer and was fined.
| Il inquired Of three high German
ofacials, one in the foreign ofi1ce, one
in the Carl Schurz Foundation and
one in the police presidium: What
do you do in Berlin about the prob
lens of this motor age-drunken
drivers and parking?"
Jail for Drunk Drivers.
The reply was quickly forthcoming.
I'VE do not accept the payment Of
fines for drunken driving. We have
the blood test. and any one convicted
of driving while drunk goes to prison,
usually for three months.
Has this resulted in 4 great many
convictions?" asked.
Not as many as one might think.
In the first place, our light wines and
beer dU not make for as much drunk
ennesS as drinks Of heavier alcoholic
content Secondly. those who drink
more than the average glass OF beer
taken by the habitue Of the Hof-
brauhaus have learned to leave their
cars at home and use taxis. This
prison penalty has helped"
And parking?' 1 questioned.
Would they. wondered, dispose Of
this knotty question with equal
fnality?
But the problem was still ahead Of
them. they agreed.
I'VE have not reached the point OF
saturation with cars" they said We
may in three years when Herr Hitler 5
Volkwagen is placed on the market .
The Volkwagen," one Of my in
formants explained, will be subotan- :
tial ive-passenger sedan which will
be put on the market for about $3.50.
Herr Hitler tried to interest industry
| in manufacturing such a car for the
rank and file of the people and, failing,
organized q company himself. This
will increase our parking problem
enormously and we are already making
studies for underground parking"
1T is easy to compute" he con-
tinued. we will not have all day or
all night parking. Were one-fourth
of the inhabitants OF a block to have
cars, all parking space would be
utilized. Underground construction
for parking will be easy as our soil is
light We are conferring with Eng
land on the subject now
Just one more question" con-
cluded. What is the proportion OF
registered cars to your population?'
Data Proves Vague.
An earnest consultation produced
no factual information. l shifted my
inquiry to the proportion of casualties
to cars
An equally energetic survey Of sta
tistical reports revealed the somewhat
gratifying fact that in this country
where all is bestiment and genau and
where traffic control reflects German
efficiency, America still has a possible
edge in its scientific approach.
You know" this American tourist
observed with, fear. ill-concealeo
satisfaction. I'VE have only to call oul
director of vehicles and traffic to ascer.
tain how many cars 60 around oul
circles per hour, or to ring our Metro
politan police to secure a report as u
monthly trahic accidents, as to whom
was injured and when, where, anc
why"
Yes, that is thunderstorm" they
agreed politely. 1T will come her;
>I.1.. bouo lo,,ht II will