Evening star., 1938-08-02

The latter, handsome Czech, in
cidentally. the master of some half
dozen languages, including Russian
no small asset for man or master in
Central Europe clad in q
dark blue uniform, with the American
eagle embossed on its brass buttons,
guided splendid limousine, the
stars and stripes floating from its
hood, through these labyrinthrine
streets with perfection of judgment
which left one inarticulate, sometimes
3ith terror and always with admira-
Sion.
A much-frequented road, extending
from the American Legation, formerly
the Schonborn Palace, to the great
ofhcial residence of President Benes
involved an ascent so abrupt as to con-
stitute q hair-pin curve and so mar
tow as to make the pedestrian hug
The retaining walls on either side, and
yet with no one-way signs, We shot
up this incline, meeting no cars and
with no diminution of speed learned
later that in some unnoticed and un-
obtrusive way the direction of travel
had been controlled and no accident
had ever occurred on this approach
10 the palace.
Big Crowd Safely Handled.
A remarkable record, and yet one
which paled before the statement DR..
Wellner, chief counselor of Prague
trafnc, made to me one morning at
the conclusion OF the great Sokol
anniversary. One-half million visi-
tors had flocked from Moravia, Slo-
vakia, the Sudeten area, Rumania,
Bulgaria and Yugoslavia into Prague
70 celebrate the 10th anniversary of
the founding of these great national
physical exhibitions in which 125,000
men. women and children participated,
including 1000 sokols from Chicago,
and yet the accident list had remained
ut its normal low.
In 10 years 143 persons killed In
traf1c.
In 10 years 1904 serious accidents.
In 10 years 1881 light accidents.
How do you do it?" 1 asked, with
such streets and such crowds as
these7" was thinking of the dancing
Bulgarians, the fur-capped blue-satin,
accordion-skirted Montenegrins; the
devastatingly lovely Bohemians-a
show sufficient to set the eyes Of any
chauffeur agog.
We have, of course" replied DR..
Wellner, speaking German out of con-
Sideration for a -Czech-speaking
inquirer. mo great registration of cars,
only 10000 In Prague, but we have 173
trafac officers who devote themselves
entirely to trafic control
Of{icer to Each l73 Cars.
hastily computed that meant one
omcer to every 173 cars, as against
our average in America of approxi-
mately one oficer to between 600 and
800 cars.
We have some lights" DR.. Wellner
continued, "but not many. They are
too expensive and we do not find me-
chanical lights as practical as officers.
They involve too often an unnecessary
loss of time.
We have. moreover a highly dis
eiplined pedestrian population. They
pay 3 kronen for every infraction of
the law. such as crossing between sig
mails and they have learned not to take
chances.
Furthermore, on the second offense
We put drunken drivers in Jail and
take away their license to drive and
We allow no parking downtown, except
tor loading and unloading. And every
ear has to have home. In fact, we
do not issue license until. we know
where the home of each particular car
Is going to be-"
And how about railroad accidents?"
asked. I'VE have no records of rail-
road wrecks as we have no automo-
bile-railroad collisions. In the case
OF an intersection we use overpasses
or underpasses entirely, except where
We have installed mechanical gates"
] thought back over the last IL months,
IN which had witnessed two such
fatal accidents in the United States,
one caused by "the flyer" in which
I was travelling, and wondered just
what statistics Mr. Van Du1er had on
this type OF accident at home.
Deeply Impressed.
shook hands with DR.. Wellner and
his zech assistant, Dr. Smid, reluc-
tAntly but gratefully. They had been
most cordial, as all Of this charming
and plucky little nation are, and
walked out Of the trafic headquarters
deeply impressed.
"Otto," said, as again stepped
into the American Minister'S car, "the
authorities tell me that Prague has
wonderful record in trafic safety"
Madame" came the self-assured
reply Of this hitherto impressively
silent individual, Prague has its
chau1eurs to thank for its record.
We In Prague have to be skillful.
These roads were laid six centuries
ago."
As though to prove he was Is good
Is his word, we started OF at q rapid
pace. passing with q scant allowance
Of . couple of inches q cart laden
with vegetables and Strawberries. A
few minutes later We ran . foot up
on the sidewalk to squeeze past an
approaching bus, and for q split Sec
ond It looked as II we were going to
have . head-on collision with Q rap
idly-driven taxicab. However, with
but few feet left to 60. Otto turned
deity to the left-all Czech chauf-
feurs and pedestrians keep to the
left his vs-a-vis did likewise, and
they passed each other Is gaily Is
though they were doing . figure In q
quadrille.
sat back and drew . long breath.
Perhaps Otto was right after ALL The
responsibility must rest with the
driver In the last analysis. I was
Satshed this one was equal to any