Evening star., 1948-01-04
Prohibition Of Curb Parking
Cuts Accidents Survey Reveals

Parking prohibitions and restric.
lions have been the basis Of s0ns
startling reductions In accident rates
along certain washington streets.
This Is revealed In q sttry Of thl
"Innuence Of Parking on Accidents'
by Wilbur s. Smith, technical I'D,
wiser of the Emo Foundation, re.
ported In the Law Enforcement
Bureau Of the Federal Bureau ol
Investigation.
Prohibition of curb parking on
streets Of heavy trafic greatly re-
duces congestion and accident, Mr.
Smith declared. He cited these
examples In the District:
Accidents Drop 7e%.
Accidents along an important
Washington street dropped 10 per
cent after parking was prohibited
on one side during the morning
rush and on the other side during
the evening rush traflc.
On another street here, curb
parking was prohibited for about
two miles. Trafic volume remained
the same. Accidents dropped 81
per cent.
Stopping and standing vehicles
also create bottlenecks along busy
streets. A Is per cent increase In
street capacity was Effected In
Washington by rush hour No Stop
ping" regulations on streets where
parking previously was prohibited.
Parking restrictions near street.
car loading zones also is . means
Of reducing accidents, Mr.. Smith
says. The sign on the end OF one
loading zone here was Knocked
down ~ times in Is months, he re-
ported on basis Of information from
Inspector A. E. Miller Of Trafic
Division. The throat" Of the trsfac
channel beside the platform was
opened by eliminating three park
ing spaces preceding the approach
to the zone. Afterwards, only one
accident WAS reported In nine
months.
Study Il Extensive.
Mr.. Smith, In the report first
published In the Trafic Quarterly,
cited findings from an extensive
study of the relationship Of park
ing to trafhc safety In cities and
rural areas.
Curb parking Is expensive beyond
computation and contributed more
ftava oyaxv ,$I,a,. <>vaa fo nko,. - &ra 80
Mr.. Smith says. 1T is
q trafic maxim that any obstacle
to trannc movement creates con-
gestion and it Is equally true that
causes accidents"
Surveys indicate that approxi-
naately II per cent Of city accidents
and 10 per cent Of rural accidents
involved vehicles which are parked,
maneuvering into or from . parked
position, or are stopped In trafac.
Five per cent Of pedestrians killed
In cities and per cent Of those
killed in rural areas entered the
from behind parked cars.
Mr.. Smith says the indirect in
fluence Of angle parking on acci-
dents is greater than that Of paral-
lei parking. He says drivers leav-
ing angle parking places are in
clined to move their cars blindly
into the trafiic stream, thereby
forcing moving cars to swerve.
Hazards Cited.
Also, to avoid collision with cars
parked at an angle, drivers tend to
steer clear" Of the rear Of such
often clearing them by as
much as five or six feet. Some Of
them drive with their left wheels
over the center line.
Another hazard created by angle |
says Mr.. Smith, ''is that
Of drivers making U-turns across
trafie to enter curb
spaces on the opposite side Of the
roadway"
A survey on business street in
Chicago showed Q 63 per cent re-
in accidents when angle
parking was changed to parallel.
In Kansas City accidents were re-
ported for streets on which angle |
parking was changed to parallel and
then changed back to angle. With