Evening Star Newspaper, July 19, 1925, Page 59

ILLUSTRATED FEATURES MAGAZINE SECTION he Sundiay Stae FICTION AND HUMOR Part 5—8 Pages WASHI GTON, D. C, SU DAY MORNING, JULY 19, 192 - Washington Scient BY GEORGE H. DACY. HE year, some time in the fu tury the place, a dangerous curve in Rock Creek Park—the actors i the novel sketch, a motor cycle policeman, a safety | Bummy and a District motorist who | has just violated Washington's new #st traffic regulation by stepping too hard on his accelerator With the motor purring rhyth uically, with tires singing a staccatic ong and with the breeze whizzing frough the windshield aperture, the bnrushing car wxd its exhilarated driver speed toward a blind and baf- ng curve. The driver, fisuring that will take a chance for the sheer jov of trying something ’thrilling, oes not abate his speed as his car lurches around the curve. He might | just as well be a blind man attempt ng to pilot a high-power gasoline &ehicle. The curve is abrupt and fonz. He cannot what is ahead. WNotwithstanding, speed demon wontinues on his course. Then, with unexpectedness tm-n commonly cterizes un- | oward accidents, sty stop sign: Bighway &0 strange driver sees a | directly pelad figure I~ | | | | | the wild the cha s the olive-drab | his path. Not | whic inipulated the thrust into the | however vus signa gosh motor stop | speed cop self. his fin Thank the | isn't a pedestrian No more speeding | curves for me! This is a lesson d I've learned it well! The driver is unable to stop his car Fhefore he skids past the policeman’s )stop signal. The officer Is grave and jstern. The motorist offers no ex- | cuses. The policeman records the lhicense number of the machine, the river's name and address. After e: {amining the operator’s permit of this kv.\'nm' he orders him to drive slowly o the downtown traffic court. There, xpeditiously, the judge hears the evidence. Tense. The driver offers no de He pays his fine and depart vowing that never again will he is life and those of other motc r pedestrians by driving reckles n_curves { Yes, actual cases like i&he progeny of potentialit |Bvstem of driving the automotive e reau of Standards, under the leader- ®hip of S. W. Sparrow and H. C. g‘lr'kmsnn_ 1s adopted as more satis- actory than arbitrary speed laws by the varfous States und the District. The new system reduces the speed $of vour car in dangerous places and }increases it greatly above prevalent limits over other stretches. No vehicle shall be operated at a ®peed such that it, cannot be stopped within the assured clear course ahead.” This, in a nutshell, is the new traffic regulation for country- wide use which Uncle Sam's spe- ciallsts out Cleveland Park way have nated. Please note the simplicity of the driving rule. It Is free of #rills, qualifylng phrases and sidedoor escapes. Any one who can read can understand it. You don’'t have to employ legal advice to Interpret it It is designed to be one and the sam® for each and every one of the 48 States and the District. It is the best anedicine for motoring evils which recognized authority has compounded “since the days when Hector was a pup. the I fore T Stiff that dummy kill him_sure pass this will be if the new recommended by ineers of the Bu | * o ok UST for your information - on a tour of verbal exploration | and, piecemeal fashion, dissect new-born proposal which p reduce automobile accidents and {add greater safety to vehicular vedestrian traffic_on our highways | and byways. 'No vehicle shall be | aperated at a speed such that it can- | not be stopped within the assured «lear course ahead.” Course is that | space into which the oncoming driver intends to proceed. That part of the | { course which ain to be free of any legal obstruction at the time when he reaches it is “assured clear. The new regulation is based on fundamental law of physics whic pRays that “two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time.” {c sions will be eliminated because the “clear coast forward” scheme pro- vides an unobstructed pathway i there are no other motor cars, or if there are no pedestrians in the visible course ahead of your ou logical- 1y cannot find any vehicle or person | with which or whom to stage a grand | smashup. Our existent speed laws dovetail about as uniformly as the patterns in | a crazy quilt Dependent on what State vou are operating vour automo bile in, it is a kind a free-for-all scramble to see who can go the fast est. Some States have no orthodox limit. Their statutes require | motorists travel at reasonable Other sections of the country have speed limits low as 8 to 10 | gniles an hour. They are nothing more | than legal jokes, for no one pays any | attention to the ordinanc Other | States place the epeed limit at 20, | 5. 30 or 35 miles or more per hour. | Maryland divides her highways three speed the range from 15 to 35 miles an hour An arbitrary speed law is a failure veritable flat stire—because it does not recognize the vagaries of | climate and season which may in a few hour: completely change the ordinary safety of the same fmproved thoro are. For in- stance, let us suppose that the speed limit on a certain road is 35 miles an hour All well and good. When that road in spick and span condition and dry drug store gponge, it is perfectly safe as a pathway for traf fic that travels at a high speed. Old Mister Weatherman then may step 1o the stage front. He confers with Jupiter Pluvius. gulley-washing rain ensues The pavement which when dry was safe for 35 miles an hour drivers is converted into a zone of hazard for motor who travel faster than 1 mile in-3 minutes. Jac J'rost may get busy immediately after he downpour and congeal the little drops of water into a crust of sleet The public highway becomes as slip- pery as a skating rink. Without skid chains, the ordinary automobile can- not pass that way An arbitrary speed, which is safe and sane on the straightaway, is as dangerous as Satan’s hellfire when it nes to a natter of rounding curves. ir mounting record of annual auto. v-obile accidents is good evidence of ) ineffectiveness of prevalent speed Jaws. Last year 19,000 funerals and 430,000 hospital cases were credited 1o the score of motoring accidents. Report is to the effect that in these Tn'ted States a soul speeds toward eternity every 28 minutes because of the advent of the horseless carriage and its domination of our main- traveled roads. Present records show that there are 20,000,000 motor wehicles now in use in this country. | One of every five and one-half of| people sits behind a steering | some time during each day let us go | speed that into | being zZones, factor A | | . wheel O th enforced peed in iaws the NI which justificatic now are | ceded i ahead ta | powered {ing. | complexion of the case. Uncle Sam, through his workers in the Bureau of Standards, comes forward and recommends the abolition of arbitrary speed laws and the country-wide adoption of the “Clear Course Ahead” system of driving—Government experts have also devised efficient standardized tests for new drivers Cay moving slowl accident 1 course Measuring di Lo Lo preventu ‘ja,kea%., stance betweew shots in reaction tests is that it is readily possible to enforce them. Thi no discouragement to the embryonic system latteriy hatched, it is as easy of enforcement as the other laws which have pre- Motor experts, no matter be, admit generally that is for all it who they authority must into the heart of every car user if he is to be converted from driving fool into a motoring wise man. By this, your writer means that a real fear of the highway menaces or policemen ahead will put a curb on rash, reckless and the devil-take-the-hindermost style of automobile operation, which now is | rife wherever machines are driven. purposes of the proposed “clear course ahead” law for Ameri- can motorists is to keep the fear of accidents constantly in the mind of the car driver. The enforcement of this law would be efficient, but not particularly spectacular. Officers with special dummies or other signal de- vices would be stationed at dangerous points along our principal thorough- fares where travel was maximum For example, the officer might be tioned in the bushes that abut highly dangerous curve. The dummy used by this guardian of the law may be a special flag, banner or manual stop sign. Decision as to its shape, size, use and character would res One of th: cit pr or locality in which the plan was ‘ticed. The policeman would be em- to thrust this signal into the highway at any point where an automobile or a. pedestriame legally might be. Unless the approaching automobile was stopped safely before it reached the signal, it would be an | evidence of reckless and illegal driv The driver would be ushered be- | fore the proper authority and fined or lectured severely, according to the The “clear view ahead” plan of mo- tor car operation has been followed by some drivers for ‘several years suc- cessfully. They have driven their cars with care and eaution, the guiding guardians ghat have kept them out of | trouble. They never took the trouble to diagnose their methods and to de- | fine accurately for the benefit of the car operators what they did and how and why they did it Any driver of an auwomobile who operates his machine in close ac- many million other District and the rest of the country lcord to the safety-factor is following put a fean of the road | me | en-| | tirely with the officials in the State, | this system when he can stop his car quickly without skidding in the path of the unobscured forward stretch of highway. All those who drive in this safe and sensible manner will avoid | | any repetition of the accident which | | some able rhymester has presented in these words: Here lies the hody of Edwin Gray Who died maintaining his HEht 0F was He was, right. dead rieht. as he sped along. But he's jus as dead as though he'd been i’ | AT the prese ton_ motc nt time. when Washing have for months been almost bewildered by fre- | quent changes in the traffic regula- | | tions, the adoption of some standard- | | ized, ‘wear-worthy and all around ef-| | ficient regulation like the ‘“clear | | course ahead stem seems appro- | | priate. Traffic Director Eldridge is| doing his level best to try out every | feasible plan which will curtail acci- | dents and yet will not unduly compli | cate motoring conditions in the N | tional Capital. The frequent change: jreferred to above have to be made. | Some proposals succeed while others fail. The successful ones are retained. iures are rejected. The streets the city named in honor of first President are today really | automobile proving grounds for country. When our traffic tangles are | 1 untied, when our local motoring| riddles are solved and when our Teets are made maximumly safe for | pedestrian and vehicular traffic, the | rest of the country ists many | our | the | the | is bound’to play copycat_and pursue the preachments | which Washington will practice. In the sequence of events, the ‘“clear | course ahead”” scheme’ will doubtless be tested. It has the indorsement of the Soclety of Automotive Engineers, | the most influential organization of | its kind in the world. All Uncle Sam | a is that the system be glven a fair trial. He is convinced that under such conditions it will prove its worth. The driver's “clear course forward" is as many feet in front of his car as he can see on his side of the road. Temporarily, many drivers are blind as bats as they speed around curves, where hushes, buildings or other ob- structions as well as the layout of {the road obscure their view. There | |may be a bridge out, a traffic_tieup. I broken glass on the highwiy. an open l(\llx'h an obstruciion or a ped on the roadway just around the curve. | suing polic T u,qc.o T Officer gl iceratops of cavs ty cres —The problems in the Capital .and how they may be met in the future. 1 i Diagonal fine shows where angle of side View begins. 7z truction, obacures side view G —=—" | v under complete control or ne will ex- pose himself and perhaps others ‘to extreme danger. It is be:ter to be wafe than sorry. Under prevalent speed law systems, drivers court accident and injury by looking behind _and scanning 'the stretch they havé just covered for pur- men on motor cycles. The proposedl systeni fosters safety, and well being to car drivers because it de- mands that they keep their eyes on the highway in frent of them—the clear coast forward and haven of afety. At night this safe view ahead is regulated by the illumination range of the headlights on the car. In | following another car the clear course is that distance which the vehicle in front must necessarily go before it can be stopped. For the second driver to correctly gauge the safety distance which should stand as a boundary be- tween the two cars, he must alfow an interval both for his perception ‘time and his reaction time as well as those of the operator ahéad! At one point the clear course may be a distance of but 50 feet, while at the next inter- section or curve it may be 200 feet. * ok % % NE splendid suggestion which the Bureau of Standards makes is diagonal lines should be drawn aci the sidewalk and roadway at dangerous intérsections to aid the that + driver. As he approaches such a haz- ardous point,-the driver looks to the left and then gazes intently to the right to make sure that no other car is speeding toward him. The high building ‘or construction may obsture his view. His peripheral vision is limited to an angle of approximately |Safe speed 45 degrees. If a diagonal mark is painted on the curbside and roadway to inform him exactly when he reaches this angular position, he will understand that he is lp the danger zone and will interpret it'as a mark.of warning. He will be strictly on the lookout for intersection traffic. A scientific traffic survey made re cently by the autombtive authorities jof the Bureau of Standards on that stretch of much used boulevard from the Klingle Bridge to Chevy Chase Circle has been reduced to facts and figures which the average motorist can understand. These data are the irrefutable evidence which demand the installation of the “stop boule- vard” system for the intersecting streets from Calvert to Oliver streets, inclusive., Safety curves plotted by the Government engineers to demon- strate traffic conditions along this popular roadway look like contour maps of a_group of hills in a rolling covritry. The intersecting roads, in all cases, under prevalent conditions demand that the motorist reduce his of buildings or other The-operator yust-drive with-hig cax ' peripheral "vision of the ' average-speed aa-he approaches these points, indicate the peed -for cautious and. i Where peripheral vision is the poor- est, the speed has to be the slowest. Running north pn Connecticut ave- nue, the safe speed when the pave- ment is slippery ranges from 9 to 26 miles an hour, according to the prin ciples of the ‘“clear-course-ahead” plan. ‘When the pavement is dry. the variation runs from 11 miles an hour to a velocity which would violate the most elastic_speed law now enforced in the United States. Traveling south on Connecti- cut avenue from Chevy Chase Circl the safe speed when the pavement is wet ranges from 10 to 27.5 miles an hour. When this roadway is dry the safe speed, according to the “clear- coast-forward” rule, runs from 12 nfiles an hour to maximums treble and quadruple that figure. The points of greatest hazard are at a point where a private road between Albe- marle street and Grant road inter- sects Connecticut avenue and at the Porter street corner going north, Cathedral street, Albemarle street, Jocelyn street and Morrison street intersections. When proceeding south on Connecticut avenue, the intersec- tions of greatest hazard are at Jeni- fer, Huntington, Upton and Porter streets. ‘Observations made at certain -cor- ners where the view of the oncom- ing driver is obscured either becwuse obstructions I { careful “operation at ' those | For example, when you |ing south on Connecticut avenue at | its intersection with Wyoming ave- |nue your range of peripheral vision limited to a space of 37 feet in which you would have to stop your |car in time of emergency. A safe speed when the fpavement is dry for motorists to pass this road ju |under the “clear-course-ahead’ | gram would be 12 miles an hour. * % x % % POINT of maximum danger was the intersection of Florida ave- nue and Thirteenth street northwest. The “stop” regulation enforced, which obliges Florida traffic points are travel- pro- now avenue {in | brecedence to Thirteenth street vehic | ular travelers, vitally reduces the nat. ural motoring dangers at this intersec tion. Formerly the drivers rolling rapidly down the Thirteenth street hill had to be able to stop their cars in a space of 42 feet in order to be sure of avolding serious accidents. This meant that their automobiles could not travel at a speed in excess of 13 miles an hour when the street- way was dry. Going west on Park road, at the Beach drive intersection, the driver's peripheral vision, as reduced to the space in which he can stop his car in time of need with safety, is 25 feet. A safe speed at this intersection on a.dry pavement is 11 miles an hour. {Proceeding down Snake Hill, in Rock on the worst curve is 23 miles an hour. This translated into emergency stopping conditions means that the operator could bring his motor car to a standstill in a space of 100 feet. Proceeding up Ross road, in Rock Creek Park, a safe speed on the first jcurve, which is extremely hazardous, is 19 miles an hour. On this curve the factor of safety, as typified by the distance in which the driver must be able to stop his car, is 75 feet. De: scending Morrow road the safe spee on the first curvé is 20 miles an hour. The exact distance of visibility here {as reflected in the ear-course- | * principle, is onl® 83 feet, and |logically this is the limit of the path “in which the driver would be called ction | both directions to stop and give | Creek Park, the maximum safe speed | ists Shake Hands With Modern Motoring Problems | upon to stop his machine during time ‘r\f emergency. | These data come from the perform |ance of Government test car | Automobiles with better brakes could |travel at the hazardous points safely |at greater speeds. Cars with poore brakes would have to reduce thel | speeds lower than the above limits The Government has recentl | ducted experiments which suggest the {idea of developing a standardized |group of tests which will | the proficiency of the ordinary auto mobile driver. The purpose of these tests, made by H. H. Allen, is to enable the authorities to separate the seed from the weeds, the chaff from the wheat. The prospective driver who passes these tes d is grant | ed an operator’s permit will be adept | and skillful. Persons incompetent to | drive automobiles will be caught among the driftwood and denied the privilege which they covet. The ex amination recommended by Uncle Sam features the customary performance test, driving and reversing the car turning aro stopping on emer gency signal and the like. Impor tant questions about traffic regulations and the rules of the road are also asked. The evesight and hearing of each candidate are examined. He subjected to stringent v and visual tests. On all these replies, re | sponses ana reactions the man is scored on the basis of 70 as a passing mark Final driver's se test car whic one - v. he is requested to enter the and to operate a specia h will ascertain definitel his mental lag nd his reaction t« sudden emergencies. This particula car, of standard gear-shift type, i provided with two revoivers which are mounted securely underneath the running board These pistols shoot bullets of d lead hich leave red imprint on the pavement when ever one of them is discharged. The control trigger of the first revolver terminates in a wire which extends to the observer's seat The second firearm is connected directly with the brake pedal so that when the driver makes a move to apply his foot brake this pistol is discharged. The car is equipped with a speclal speed-registe ing device which is much more curate than the average speedom THE dri a speed of to hold the car exactly until the observer Then the ¢ r as rapidly is to go through the pro cedt stopping the car. When he applies the brake the second revolver discharged. The sclentists then sure the distance between the two red spots on the pavement. The ratlo of this distance to the velocity of the car in feet per second scientifically e mental lag action time e driver It measuring vhich accurately classifies his qualifications as mediumly good or Each driver undergoes fi as many different speeds from 10 to 30 miles an hour. sults of approximately 300 tests show that a skiliful driver wi have a reaction time of a trifle more than one-half a second. The most ex pert among those tested made average records of as low as .31 second, while others required as much as 1.02 | seconds. The drivers Uncle Sam has tried out include number of George Washington University and Howard University students as well as a group | of professional taxicab operators anc a number of soldiers and officers of the Motor Transport Corps of the United States Army Reaction time is of fundamental | portance in the promotion or curtail ment of automobile accidents. Fi |example. a driver with a reaction terval of one-haif a second has a mer tal lag equivalent to a distance of feet when his car is traveling at speed of 30 miles an hour. This means that the car covers a space of 22 feet during the period from the time whe the driver decides to put on the brakes |and when he actually applies them | Naturally, a driver whose reactior time is one and one-half or two seconds correspondingly covers a longer stretch of roadway between the period when he realizes the emergency and the time when he stéps down on the brake pedal. Where the driver has a reaction time of one-half a second and the velocity of his automobile is 30 | miles an hour he will bring his car to a halt in a space of approximately 100 feet The difference X h er is instructed to develoy 10 1 n hour ar that rges the 1 at discha pistol possible e of e tests hich range The re these between safety and accident is usual presented by the varying reaction times of different motorists when confronted by sudden emergencies. One man will react rapidly and avert catastrophe. An | other, who is of slower mental stim ulus, will react proportionally much slower These experimental tests demon strate the “slow and sure” driver more often than not is the one who flirts with ‘extreme jeopardy in time of un expected exigency. Theoldadage might | preferably be scrambled about like an legg in order to visualize -present cir | cumstances in the motoring world. In | revised form, it would run somethirk | like this, “Slow and unsure; quick and ure.” ' The age factor up to about |44 years is insignificant, but from 45 |to 65 is a vital limiting factor. Un der such conditions, as a rule, the old the greater his reactlon er the driver time. | No decided variations due to sex or race have been appreciable in the tests thus far conducted. Several girl | students from George Washington | University made as good records as the male students. Colored students from Howard University did as wel as the whites. Intelligence, however |is a most important factor in the de | termination of what a driver will do in |a pinch and how quickly he will do it The more intelligent the operator, the | more rapidly his reaction to avert im | pending accident. Similarly, the greater the skill of the motorist the lower is his reaction time. A development of <he future which Washington automobilsts are sure to shake hands with will take the form of standardized driving tryouts. They | will constitute the acid test which wiil | determine the fitness of the prospes- tive operator to drive his motor cal within the confines of the District. Ons |efficient manner of producing better {and more careful drivers is to make Ithe requirements so severe that only | adept and experienced men and women and young people will be able to pass the tests. The fact that our motor accident mortality record aggregates 52 daily victims in addition to 1,200 in jured that are sent to the hospital demands that most rigorous steps be taken to rid the roads of dangerous drivers. | All Conveniences. 'HE new $80,000,000 terminal station of the Pennsylvania system | Chicago, just thrown open to the pub | ic arter’ 10 years of work, contains among other con iences a morgue, a chapel and a ail.