Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-01-29
Plan 10 Tighten
City'sTraffic
CodeDrafted
1t Places Curb
On Out-of-Towners
Who Ignore Tickets

A plan designed to eliminate
"costly, time consuming and too
often ineffective" traffic law en-
forcement AND bring to account
nearby motorists who scott at
District traffic tickets will be
submitted soon to the Commits
SionerS.
The plan would increase city
income. bolster police morale,
eliminate ticket fixing" bring
to justice the estimated 100000
out-of-town drivers who an
nually ignore tickets. and
eventually improve downtown
traffic conditions, according to
the Districts Management Of
flee, which drafted it.
Officials Get Outline.
A preliminary outline of the
program was submitted to the
Commissioners yesterday by w.
K. Holl, District management
officer.
It calls for centralized control
of all parking tickets. If it proves
successful, Mr.. Holl said. it may
be extend Ped to cover moving VIC
lations.
If approved by the Commits
sioners, the plan would go into
effect April / and bring in an
estimated $175,000 extra during
the first three months and $780,
900 for the next fiscal year. 1t
would cost about $116,630 to put
it into effect.
Could Pay Tickets by Mail.
The proposal contains these
features:
l. Centralized payment of COL
lateral for parking tickets at a
central violations bureau in
Municipal Court. These could
be paid by mail. 1t would elimi-
nate payment at precincts.
2. Elimination of precinct
booking for parking violations.
3. Adoption of a modified
version of the American Bar As
sociation's uniform traffic
ticket" Copies of the ticket
would serve as a summons, CEN
trail record and court informa-
ton.
4. Central control of warrants
at the violations bureau, using
copies of the ticket as warning
notice and warrant as required.
The warrants would be served by
police stationed at Municipal
Court.
S. Establishment of a central
driver file, to be operated joint
ly by the Police Department and
the Department of Vehicles and
Traffic. Information from the
file would be available "a hours
a day to these departments. the
courts and outside law-enforce-
ment agencies.
6. Centralized followup and
enforcement of parking viola
tons through use of the central
file.
Would Reduce Paper Work.
Mr.. Holl said the plan would
reduce by so man-years the
amount of paper work now done
by individual policemen. It would
improve police morale, he added,
by eliminating the element of
futility in tagging parking vio-
lations committed by non-resi-
dent drivers. The followup sys-
tenn would catch up with Mary
land and Virginia drivers at their
places of employment in the Dis
trict.
THE improved enforcement
will also tend to stop any present
disregard for the traffic laws of
the District of Columbia, a dis
regard serious in itself, and even
more serious in that it tends to
breed disregard for other laws, "
Mr.. Holl said.
He declared that it would pro-
vide for a cafeteria style" pay
ment of collateral, and elimi-
nate embarrassment and incon-
venience of being booked at a
precinct station for parking vio-
lations.
The plan is expected to in
crease the number of tickets
handed out to violators in the
immediate future, because more
policemen would be available for
traffic duty. At the same time,
Mr.. Holl pointed out, it will
eventually reduce the number Of
violations through more effective
enforcement.
Would Lose Backlog.
The revenue is expected to
shrink in future years below the
estimated $500. 900 for fiscal 1855.
This is because of a current back
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