Evening star., 1940-03-22
Scores Emphasis on
Minor Traffic Ills

Writer Urges Concentration
On Offenses Thot
Menace Sofety
To the Editor Of The star:
Your reader was interested In . recent
editorial In The Sunday Star entitled
"Trafic Arrests" as we'll as the special
article on the same subject by Mr.. J. v.
zatman. The Star is to be complimented
on the active part that 1t has taken in
Washington's campaign to make It's
streets safer for both motorists and
pedestrians, but 1t appears that In both
the editorial and the special article you
have passed up an opportunity to make
the most of some rather revealing statis-
tics, and that both Of the articles are
in error in their analysis of statistics.
The opening sentence of the editorial
states that one of the objections to the
present method OF traffic enforcement in
the city Of Washington has been based
on the close attention to violations which
have no direct reference to safety, to the
detriment of enforcement Of regulations
in connection with moving traffic. A
careful analysis Of the statistics bears
out two contentious: Cd That an auto
mobile driver in Washington can hardly
park without violating some trafiic reg
ulation, and CD that an enormous
amount of time must be consumed by
enforcement officers in prosecuting minor
parking violations.
My contention that your commenta-
tors appeared to be in error In, their
percentages is based on the fact that in
both cases it was stated that approx
mately so per cent of the arrests re-
ported in January were for simple park
ing violations. An actual count of the
tahulations listed in a report by the
police headquarters discloses that 6,829.
or II per cent Of the arrests, were listed
clearly as parking Violations An addi-
tional l46 were listed as parking war
rants" and 7l3 as "disregarding ofrlcial
sign" making a total of $780, or 8 per
cent Assuming that the last two classi-
fications can be properly considered as
parking violations, my calculations dis
close that Of the 9,462 motorists arrested,
roughly 81 per cent were charged with
~ Tn all Nknk
small percentage OF this number cannot
be classified in the category of simple"
parking violations, but can be considered
as having direct reference to serious
accident hazards ! am Inclined. there
tore. TO feel that the findings are not
only illuminating. as stated by your
commentators, but actually astounding.
further analysis brings out addi-
tional astounding facts. OF the arrests
classified as parking Violations 1t is
to be noted that they fall into S. sep
arate categories, including; Parked
more than 8 inches from curb" SD,
parked less than IS or so feet from
intersection (379), parked less than 20
feet from building intersection (6l9),
parked overtime in 20-minute meter
zone" (55), and so more possible parking
violations all the way from parking
more than 18 hours when Washington
cars were obviously under heavy blan-
ket of snow, to parking less than 3 feet
from another auto"
One cannot help but wonder how much
actual time must have been consumed
and how many officers. court oficials,
etc, were required to process this
astounding high percentage Of nom
hazardous violation arrests. During the
summertime, when not in attendance at
could relieve the police force of such
heavy duty and thereby relieve our
trained and armed officers for the more
dangerous tasks of arresting drunken
drivers, speeders, purse snatchers, holdup
men, etc. Such an arrangement might
discourage the present crime wave that
Washington is experiencing
Now let us consider an analysis of the
more serious violations that have direct
bearing on safety and accidents. Total
ing 30 of the separate classihcations for
violations committed in moving trafiic
and which create hazards or result in or
cause accidents, 1t is found that slightly
over 1,100 arrests were made, or approxi-
mately 10 per cent Of the total for jan
uary (ny statistics do not appear to add
up to exactly 100 per cent, which may be
accounted for by a possible dual classi-
fication of several of the tabulation vio-
lations). At quick glance. such small
percentage would seem to indicate in
attention to the more serious elements
of our traffic problem. -Four Of the
highest classifications are represented as
follows: Speeding (472). passing
signs d4D. passing red lights d1O,
driving while drunk and reckless driv-
ing 600. These four classihcations are
serious violations and should be given
maximum punishment. It is gratifying
tnat these represent only slightly over
S per cent Of the arrests, and 1t is hoped
that these serious violations are not
committed any more frequently than the