Evening star., 1940-01-04

accidents IN 1883 puDnShed MONDAY
in The Star along with various sug
gestions for remedying the traffic
death rate have aroused a number OF
comments suggesting varying meas
ures in letters received by the editor
of The Star today.
The communications differed
widely on the solutions most likely
to cut down the number of fatalities
on record resulting from traffic acci-
dents in the last year.
The following are among the let
ters received:
To the Editor of The Star:
The record of traffic killers" by
types Of vehicles, presented graphi-
cally on page A-12 Of your January
/ issue emphasizes the number OF
deaths caused by each type of
vehicle, but it appears that from
the standpoint of operators and per-
sons desiring to escape injury the
emphasis should best be placed on
the relative chances of each kind of
vehicle causing fatality.
Using your statistics. it appears
the taxicab is the least dangerous
to other persons, which is the more
surprising because these vehicles are
in more constant operation than
any other.
If I see a taxicab I have chance
uOO of being killed by it. If the
approaching vehicle is a private car
I have 1.0l chances of fatal injury
If it is truck I have 278 chances
of being killed, while bus at SOC
chances is over five times as much
to be feared as any passenger car
or taxi.
The chance of death is relatively
much higher from motorcycles
which one would not suspect of be-
ing inherently lethal. Watch the
occasional motorcycle carefully, as
it Is 1855 times as likely to kill you
or its rider as any taxi. And when
you see a street car, use the utmost
precaution, because each street car
has 25.25 times as much chance OF
causing your death as any taxicab
and it is an even Is times more
dangerous than the average passen-
ger car.
1t is apparent that the f1exibilitv
Of operation of passenger cars and
taxis enables the individual driver
of the vehicle to escape accidents
that the more cumbersome truck,
bus and street cars are not able to
avoid, while the motorcycle appears
to be a treacherous vehicle to de-
pend on, if the 1889 records are a
reliable indication.
1 am inclined to believe the av-
erage operator of all vehicle types
uses about the same diligence, ex-
cept that taxi drivers as class are
definitely tops" considering how
many hours day they are at work
Their 1899 record at any rate is
worthy of special commendation
The individual taxi will steal your
right of way but threaten your life
less than any other vehicle.
| l have heard taxi drivers taken
to task severely by police officers
for minor irregularities, and think
the police might do well to tone
down on minor peccadilloes of the
nuisance nature. The chauffeur has
to earn his living remember, and
when made to forfeit collateral it
really does hurt" especially if he
is a family man.
The record indicates street car
operators must be eternally vigilant
II they are to go through years OF
service without accident. Can their
time schedules be so rapid as tc
force the taking of chances by these
vehicles? Perhaps this would be
worth investigating. 1 consider bus
drivers as unusually high grade, but
the bus is nevertheless a very dan
gerous vehicle, based on 1899 expe-
rience, and here again time sched-
ules could be in part responsible
though the unwieldiness of street
cars and even buses is certainly an
important factor Trucks are in
some cases as unwieldly as buses, but
despite lower-grade operators they
are little more than half as dan
gerouS as the buses on the average
SUBSCRIBER.
| \
To the Editor of The Star:
The article in The Star January l
STUDY of Traffic Deaths" is indeed
very good.
The director, Department of Vehi
cles and Traffic, wants more police
men, but what about more lights?
We get them from time to time, but
at the hours that they are badly
needed, their colors become a flash
ing amber, which has no control
over traffic.
The lights on Virginia avenue NV
begin to flash amber after dark, and
traffic for Virginia and points across
the avenue has to rush for it and
only good luck prevents more acci-
dents. The same is true of many
other streets.
The crossing at Nineteenth street
at Pennsylvania avenue NV. has
the green light only for 80 seconds
and pedestrians cannot get across in
that period, since autos hold them
up and street cars from Potomac
Park and Eighteenth and F streets
also have to use this light to turn
the corner.
So there is line of blocked traffic
on Pennsylvania avenue and on
Nineteenth street north of the
Avenue. It seems that it would be
better to use properly the lights we
have now before we get others.
The increase in speed and in the
number of automobiles is responsible
for some of the accidents. Consider
ing the above, we might conclude
that the walking population is be-
coming more careful and if we had
only IS deaths there is much to be
thankful for. PAUL SWEET.
| X X X
To the Editor of The Star:
have just been reading an ac-
count by Mr.. Van Duzer, traffic di-
rnofNr @f foto -.