Evening Star Newspaper, January 20, 1929, Page 60

Yooh or Do B : = ‘,Ifi‘th‘eMotor World BY G. ADAMS HOWARD. Columbia, particularly 4 those who are involved in accidents resulting in fatalities, are to be glven some special study and attention by Director of Traf- fie William H, Harland. The irre- sponsible spirit of youth appears , to stand out in studies of the ages *“of those involved in accidents, it ‘was pointed out, and the question has come to mind as to whether much carelessness has not en- tered in some ‘of the accidents, although in fatalities in most cases coroner’s juries hold to the ~accidental verdict. During the past week, it was added, there were five fatalities, and in four of the five cases the sy Jrivers of the automobiles were T below the ages of 25 vears. One was 19, two were 21, one was 23 and the fifth was 38. This fact, together with studies being made of past accidents, and.even of 3 'UTHFUL drivers of auto- .. mobiles in the District of ing and ‘speeding and similar traffic offenses show, as far as the check-up has been made, that in the vast majority of the cases the : drivers were below the age of 25 “years. Young Drivers at Fault. Going back over the figures of the fiscal. year ended June 30, last, Mr. Harland showed that of *'the 83 fatalities 31 of them, or nearly 50 per cent were caused oy ‘drivers less than 25 years old. Al- most : the - same percentage is shown for arrests and accidents == not involving fatalities. The study of the figures is to be continued in the traffic direc- tor's office, and in the meantime the young men and women below 25 who are involved in difficulties with traffic are to.receive much 'attention from the traffic author- {ities. It was pointed out that there ‘18 too.much reckless driving, and one way to break it up is to sus- m_ Or reveke permits. Even ugh the drivers are of legal age and can obtain permits, the c authorities intend to put a curb on it, so- far as it is within their awer.. Every youthful driver who comes involved in an accident or {in a serious breach of the traffic regulations is to receive special |attention in the traffic direstor’s ‘office. Each case ‘will. be thor- oughly investigated, and if there § indication that accidents particularly were caused by the egard of the rights of others 1t “CAITY & suspension or even a révocation. In connection with the prepara- tion of statistics as a part of the study of this matter, the ages of alk drivers will be checked up, as it s the belief of the traffic au- thorities that the great majority of the automobile drivers of the city are above the age of 25. This would indicate that there is too high a percentage of the accidents and serious traffic regulations being caused by men and women under 25. ‘The traffic authorities are much concerned over this showing, and have, fully determined to make a th gh investigation with a view 1to (clirbing the serious accidents jan{l fatalities by eliminating from Ithe ptreets the youthful drivers who (fail to obey the laws or to ,drive carefully enough to avoid accidents. i pe to Make Streets Safe. Al} accidents are being given consideration now; the pur- tbeing to make the streets Y ge the drivers caus- ! e troubles off the streets. 8 it was reported last week I the permits of any two driv- 'ers In’'an accident were to be h snded pending investigation, there have n some complaints Treceived at the office against this ! edure, and the matter will not /be carried out, at least at this time, it was indicated. It was fo ted oyt that it would be mani- ‘esbly unfair, particularly in a case, for instance, where a parked 'catr was hit, to suspend the permit lof ;the owner or operator of that |m: . * The matter was con- i mierely in a zealous effort K made to make the streets of Washington safe for all. There is not a uniform method of handling permit suspensions in Ithe traffic office. Whereas, permits 'of drivers charged with colliding and leaving the scene are sus- zended immediately upon. arrest, i po they are discovered, drivers of ‘cars engaged in fatalities or even serious accidents are not suspend- ed pending determination of the cases by either the courts or'the coroner’s juries. The permit, cf he man held for leaving the scene withheld pending action on his aseé, which may be three or four, ?oiflxs,or even more when a jury ftrial s asked. If he proves his Annbcence, by showing that the {police arrested the wrong man, e*has been irreparably injured, g igularly if his job depends on igsretaining his right to operate % mator vehicle. He has no re- ‘Uressi It was said that investiga- Mlois-ate not even made in these ases pending decision of the mat- $ers in the Police Court. S * ComsiZaration is being given by Director Harland to the matter ‘o! requiring vehicles crossing boulevard and arterial highways after midnight and until early morning, when the signal lights are out, to come to a stop before crossing. There seems to be some conflict of opinion and confusion on the part of automobile opera- dors in this matter, but Director "Harland says that there is no re- guirement that a vehicle come to a complete stop before crossing ‘when the lights are out. Some jnonths ago a recommendation iwas made to the Commissioners wof ‘the District by Mr. Harland ‘that a regulation be put into effect ‘reqhiting this, but it was rejected by the city heads. ! The question was ralsed as t0 ‘whether, if this requirement were in effect, it would be necessary for the traffic authorities to replace the stop signs aleng the arterial and boulevard high- ways which are controlled by traffic lights. Signs are .uspally required in present-day traffic matters to put everybedy on notice of a regulation, and if there is e requirement that a stop be made when the lights are out, as they are sometimes even in the day- Jight hours when they are bemg @epaired, then the > LR Paye to be replaced, those convicted of reckless driv- |’ ‘It was pointéd out that the presence of signal lights at a street intersection does not indi- cate that the street is an arteria! or a boulevard highway, as there are several streets having lights which are not so designated. A requirement of a stop before cross- ing a boulevard or arterial high- way which has signal lights would have to be presented to the public by signs. It was said, however, that this might be confusing, yet it also would be confusing even it there were no signs and the regu- lations required a stop. further pointed out that few people remember what are arterial highways and boulevard highways, and that there are hundreds of visiting motorists in the city who could not be expected to know them. Therefore, the only way to |give proper notice would be to | place the stop signs which would be in effect during the night hours when the lights are not working. | Persons convicted in the local courts of reckless driving in the future face further troubles with the Traffic Bureau, for the offi- clals, headed by Director Harland, are determined to get them off the streets just as quickly as they are found out. They say that the only way to eliminate it is to revoke permits, and this is to be done without fear or favor. The Bureau is constantly besieged by people whose permits are being taken away, using all kinds of argu- ments, but the officials are deter- mined that they shall be taught a lesson by being denied the right to drive, for a period of months at least, and that one case is no dif- ferent from the other. It is real- ized by the officials that in many cases the action will be a hardship, because of the fact that some drivers will be out of a job without their automobile permits. But the loss of a job is no argn- ment in favor of restoration, if the campaign to make the streets safe is mt: ?e carried out to the fullest extent. E Street Lights in Use. ‘Washington's traffic signal light system' is to receive an_ addition today, when at 10 o'clock this morning the lights will be turned on for controlling the movement of traffic on: E street from North Capitol street to Thirteenth street. These lights will control one of the most important and busiest thoroughfares in the city, as it is a direct route from the Union Station to the downtown section, and used considerably by taxicabs. The control sysiem for the lights s located in No. 14 Engine House; on Eighth street just north of D street. There this morning will gather Traffic Director Har- land and other officials of the Traffic- Department to put the new system into operation. Julian Brylawski has been invited and ‘s accepted from Director Har- land the honor of turning on these new lights. The system of control installed for these lights has more than one timer, automatically arranged, so that if the timer working the ts should fail, then the other come into use without the necessity of manual control. At intervals along the thoroughfare boxes have been installed so that particular intersections may be manually operated in case of emergency. The Local Auto Show. The local automobile show, the ninth annual event of its kind to be staged under the auspices of Association, will open its doors to the public Sat y evening at 7:30 o'clock. The: exposition will contain ‘:eingn 40 urr'ly of siv‘uflous- makes, inclu nearly 150 mod- els and ncceuor'lea. As usual the show will be staged ‘at the Wash- ington Auditorium. = With the exception of next Sunday the show will be open until and thrmzxgh Saturday night, Febru- ary 2. Rudolph Jose, chairman of the THE WHEN YOU It was, = SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, WHIP OUT YOUR SUMMONS BOUOK BEFORE AN APPROVING AUDIENCE, AND THEN DISCOVER IT5 YOUR WIFES CAR. NEW TRUCK RATING CAPACITY PLANNED Pay-Load Power to Be Used as Basis of Selling Schemes. A sensationally far-reaching develop- ment, affecting the customary method of rating truck capacitis, will soon be announced in the automotive industry, it was learned here, yesterday. Paul W. Seiler indicated to interview- ers that an entirely new basis would be established, providing exact knowls edge, in advance, as to the most efficient pay-load capacity of any given truck, equipped with any type of body. It will clarify the whole situation a truck buy- er faces when he comes to invest in new equipment—and will make possible much higher efficiency in the operation of trucks,” he said. Exhibitions cf the 1029 light duty series of truck&hhve alrea guaranteed on this . clean-cut new basis,” he said. “There will be models of seven different basic ratings, as estab- lished by the modern methods to which I refer. With each information will be o Comparatively Jghier ypes are. uied, of comparal r types are used, such as & stake-job, payload capacity will be relatively greater than for the same model equipped with- a ‘heavier body, such as & van job, “A man will be able to invest in equipment exactly suited to the require- ments of his work. He will neither have the Washington Automotive Trade | he acedsnar will b have s Hak the e needs—nor will he have to risk the hidden costs and penalties of overload- ing. His tire equipment will be of pre- cisely determined capacity, known in ‘advance, to give the utmost mileage- | Roads Commissi ‘economy.” Outstanding advancements in this light dul will be Increased horse- power without increased tax lability, it was “stated, performance being from 10 per cent to 30 per cent greater; with actual horsepower increased more than one-third. ah 2 Longer and sturdier chassis have been provided, the new specifications show, with increases of strength in axles, transmissions, propeller shafts; show committee, prophesies the exhibit to be “the best ever.” Motoring enthusiasts of the Na- tional Capital should display their interest by a vecord attendance. more generous proportions throughout. Models so far exhibited show marked smartness in line and finish, and equip- xuueat and fittings are unusually com- lete. D. C, JANUARY 20, DOWN THE ROAD—Actions You Instantly Ragrét Better Cars Need Better Roads, View Stressed at Cleveland Auto Exhibit| URGED IN MARYLAND ‘This week is Good Roads week. Mas- sive yet trim pieces of machinery rest- i~ in a national exhibition at Cleve- land mutely reveal the purpose of the occasion, according to E. E. Duffy, high- way educational writer. From all corners of the United States county and city officials and engineers and State highway leaders, gathered at one of the largest conventions and shows held yearly, are listening to the | newest experiences of men who know the road business and gazing at the latest contrivances for smoothing the way of the motorist. There is not a single progressive community in this country that will not in some way be benefited by what is- being seen’&nd heard in Cleveland this week. New York last week witnessed the new year's first automobile show, at which was presented the world's great- est collection of cars—cais more beauti- ful than ever, but of larger importance; cars -that are finer mechanically than ever before and cheaper. These two _exhibitions present a or opened, " BOULEVARD SYSTEM FAVORED FOR STATE Sasscer to Offer Bill to Require Full Stop at Main Roads in Maryland. “wecial Dispatch to The Star: BALTIMORE, Januaty 19.—As bou- e Siate a8 well "aireets N stree under which traffic entering from cross- roads or side streets will be required to me to & full stop will be embodied in & bill to be offered in the Legislature next month by State Senator Lansdale G. Basscer of Prince Georges County. The bill will be sponsored b{ John N. Mackall, chief engineer of the State system would eliminate the . right-of- way practice, which he considered n commenting on the proposed legis- lation, Mr. Mackall said: fon' of the Leisinturedesgnated e sion o ure des! A e State Rdads Commission to decide what roads in the counties should be classi- fied as boulevards, while that power 'was given to the Police Department in e Bout tom - ulevard sysf as proposed is expected to s traffic on main high- ways, at the same time forcing the driver to be more attentive to operation of his automobile.” 2 , | Ai America’s smarlest galhering places.. 'KNIGHT The finest huasporhglz’on of today STERRETT & FLEMING, Inc. Home of the Gold Seal Us_cd Car Champlsin St. st Kalorama Rd. .- Colifhbia 5050 iy 1711 I4th St, Display Rooms NW, . striking contrast; the one composed of colorful beauty that all the wealth of Croesus could not have produced; the other, drab, as far as color is con- cerned, embracing great lumps of iron and steel formed into concrete paving mixers, tractors, steam shovels with hungry jaws, having about them an air of capability which acclaims that his majesty, John Motorist, have attention. The Cleveland display calls to mind that only‘ a few yetr; uod ;:lgn im- provement programs depen: no small measure upon the limited number of, con equipment would permit_them to build but a few miles of pavement in a season. Nowadays road ‘bullding is a great industry, with contractors everywhere ready to do well the public’s bidding. It is today more a matter of the State providing work than it is of fitting road programs to road builders’ equipment. Now is the time of year when the public and its official representatives should be making actual plans for the road-building season just ahead. Funds must be made available and contracts must be let, so that the road-building army may lay pavements as soon as the frost is out of the ground and ex- cess water ed away. !de:ter automobiles demand better Toa: Large, Fine, Roomy and Luxurious Bodies - Horsepower—Above 80 Miles an Hour—7 All Day—Greater Economy—New design dtfible-«:don 4wheel ‘brakes unaffected by weather—4 1929—PART 4. TADVANCES IN MOTOR TRAFFIC DESCRIBED BY JOHN 'WILLYS ‘ Export Sales_ Show Speeding of Téx;;;orta- tion by Foreign Countries, With More Than 810,000 Vehicles Shipped in 1928. \ X RN S SRR AN S AR — — SSINNSSS SLAG HIGHWAY PLAN Eastern Shore Commissioners Ex- plain Cost Will Be Much TLower. Special Dispatch to The Star. BALTIMORE, January 19.—Con- struction of & secondary State highway system of slag roads, which can be built at a cost much less than concrete, is advocated by the Eastern Shore county commissioners. John W. Mumford, president of the assoclation, is sponsor of the slag roads lan. He says the cost will be much Efi!r»lnfl the annual construction of county. roads by the State could be tri- pled with no additional expense. “From what engineering authorities say,” said Mumford, “the expenditure of $25,000 a mile for’ concrete roads the “fvunun is not justified unless 300 or ‘more vehicles pass over it in a day. “The funds for construction of the proposed roads would be taken, of course, from the money now used to builld the concrete lateral and post tically all of our county roads in this class have been constructed of con- crete, and now the n;o:unm- are desir- e ¢ -mijeagez of qur ST ik Ved bk R osi: ble under the present concrete roads program.” i Motor transportation is making tre- mendous strides in almost every coun- try because of its effects in economizing human energy, decreasing distances and contributing to commercial and national prosperity, according to John N. Willys, chairman of the export committee of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce. More than 810,000 motor vehicles were exported from the United States to other countries in 1928, as compared with 643,262 in 1927. Some of these aré exported complete, and many atre shipped in parts and assembled in fac- tories scattered throughout the world. ‘The reasobns for this steady rise in export sales are manifold. The motor vehicle is productive of ‘increased effi- ciency and prosperity in every field of human activity. -Wherever railroads are lacking in mountainous or sparsely populated countries, the automobile’ is the logical method of transport for pas- sengers and express matter. Llamas Yield to Cars. Over the high passes of the Andes and across the wastes of the Gobi and Syrian Deserts fleets of cars and trucks, on regular schedules, are: taking the place of the llama trains and lumbering camel caravans -of the ancient: trade routes. Even in Iceland American au- tomobiles have replaced horses and carry passengers and produce to and from the few towns. Ranch owners in Australia and Argentina, with enormous sheep and cattle ranges to supervise regularly, find the automobile invaluable. A very important development is also the co-ordination of rail and motor transport, whereby railroads use motor trucks and busses as feeder lines into territory where it would be unprofitable to build or operate a railroad. In Mex- ico, where distances are great and pop- ulation sparse, the railroads are increas- ing their scope inexpensively by use-of motor routes, which open up for settle- ment and commercial development ter- ritory previously populated only by grazing cattle. . Trucks Brave Jungle. Across the high plateau of Qld Cas- tile stretch routes of passenger bus lines which bring to. isolated .communities. an access. to the outside world which they have never enjoyed before. For many hundreds of miles along.the coast of Prench Indo~China trucks. and busses follow a winding. road through tropical swamps and jungles to link up a rail- toad in the north with one in, the south and give access to the cost towns along the way. “ Another ‘stimulus in’ motor fransport, it many countries is 3 growing realiza- tion by their governments that faxation of motor vehicles must be reasonable. A reasonable tax tends to make cars available to persons of lower purchasing || power, and the aggregate use of motor vehicles becomes far greater than it would be under a system of high taxa- tion. The nation as a whole prospers from the increased facilities for trans- port and communication thus created. The government revenues from the mo- in | tor vehicle tax are also greater if large numbers of cars are in operation at a low tax per unit than if the automotive transportation is strangled zl a ‘high tax per unit and corres) gly few cars are put in use. [Governments abroad are showing ap need and are anxious to ample of the United Sta ceived the enormous suny of in revenues from motag last year owing ta low limit tax- ation and the large registration of automobiles thus encoufaged. In many parts of the world the chief obstacle to the spread of motor trans- port has been the lack of adequate road communications. . Espeeially is this true in Central and South Amer- jca, where fuch’ of"the terrdin s so rugged or tropical that highway con- struction and maintenance is extremely difficult and costly. Efforts are, how- ever, being made to construct ore link after another in the chain of commu- nication which is gradually bringing the Latin American countries closer to- gether. In Colombia four great:high- ways are being constructed, which will soon supplant the steep and tortuous mule trails crossing the high mountain passes from the Magdalena River to the Pacific and make Bogota: readily accessible from the West Coast by mo- tor transport. At the same time a mo- tor highway is being completed to the Venezuelan frontier, whence & good motor road constructed by the Vene- zuelan government. extends all the way to Caracas. Medillin is also securing a new outlet over its “highway to the sea” on the Gulf of Darfen. Argentina is launching & $250,000,000 road building program. Brasil is push- ing work on important projects for completion in time for the Pan-Ameri- can Roads Congress at Rio de Janeiro next July. Panama has also begun work on a program of extensive road construction which. will open up the interfor to economic development. Honduras, Costa Rica and the other Central American republics are also launching road building programs. As the chief obstacle to the sale of Amer- ican cars in all of these countries has been the Jack of good roads on which to drive them, our exports to Latin America should receive a marked im- petus from this wholesale construction of highways. Motor Taxes Applied to Highways. Improved methods of financing have done much to promote the construc- tion of highways in Europe. Modern practice in this regard tends toward _ the segregation of automotive revenues from the general budget of the'coun- try and the assignment of them for in- terest and amortization of highway bonds. In this way taxation need not be so high and favorable results.in in- creased road construction are obtained at once. Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Ger- many, among others, have tly enacted laws for the issue of thway * bonds,- so that all parts of their ter- ritory may he developed as quickly as possible. 74eGREATER UDS @ . Te New Heights of Achievement 492 ydraulic two-way shock absorbers — Non-shattering \ — . 'Windshield—Easierriding, steeringand. dcontrol ever. Miles on Howr LAMBERT-HUDSON MOTORS CO. DISTRIBUTORS—PHONE DECATUR 2070 Cor. Fourteenth and R Streets N.W. 2917 14th St.—Col. 3747, (Cor. 148 & Col. Rd.) 3 1529 M St. NW. Tel. "Norih " 308 Howard Motor Co. Cor. R. 1. and N. J. Aves. N.W. Tel, North 458 Service Station, 24th and M METROPOLITAN DEALERS I°C. Barber Motor Co. ‘Universal Auto Co., Inc.’ Saunders Motor Co. 3206 M St.—West 144 Schultze’s Motor Co. Is 1496 H -St. N.E. Phone Lincoln 6265 Neumeyer Motor Co. . 1344-48 Conn. Ave,