Evening Star Newspaper, September 29, 1935, Page 16

INDUSTRY BACKS HIGHWAY SAFETY Continental Baking Co. Manager Describes Strin- | gent Campaign. With the public throughout the| country alarmed by the rising tide of | fatalities growing out of automobile | accidents, which last year claimed the | lives of 36,000 people, permanently disabled 100,000 and otherwise injured 1,000,000 in America alone, industry | 4s lining up solidly behind the move- | ments of city and State to promote | highway safety. | “It has been definitely proved that ndustrial &nd commercial concerns can play a large part in reducing that tragic roll,” says J. B. Luttes, manager of Continental Baking Co., describing | the stringent_ safety campaign which the Continental Baking Co. has car- ried on with great success. The com- pany also has joined The Star safety drive. “The utmost care in selecting sales- men who drive trucks, tests and train- ing even more rigid than the law re- quires, constant attention to the con- dition of equipment, and every-day emphasis on safety arc the leadin features of the company’s campaign,” | Mr. Luttes said. “As a result of these precautions, not one of the 36.000 | automobile deaths of 1934 were| chargeable to the negligence of any | of the company’s 3,400 salesmen, who drove a total of 49,000,00 miles in all kinds of weather. More than one- third of its drivers have rone for three years without a chargeable accident | of any kind, and many have main-| tained such records over periods of | from 10 to 20 years. If all concerns | operating fleets of trucks would follow similar procedure, a considerable num- | ber of annual automobile accidents could be avoided.” Personality and Ability. The would-be bread salesman must | have more than a good personsmy}y and sales ability. Proof of his ability to drive, not as an average driver, but | as a fust-class one, is the greatest | hurdle he encounters in getting his job. é After he has given satisfactory evi- dence of personality, sales ability and good reputation, the applicant might think that all he then has to do is produce a driver’s license to get the job. In the case of this company. however, his biggest barrier is still ahead. He is examined by doctors from head to feet to assure that uo physical defect may make him an in- competent or careless driver. He is given instruction sheets, starting with the bold notation. “If there is-an acci- dent, it is your fault,” and including | all rules of the road, local traffic ordi- | nances and company rules for safety.g After thorough study, he is given a comprehensive oral examination, cov- ering all phases of the rules he has studied, each question an important part of a careful driver's rule book. No catch questions, but a good, straightforward test. Then comes the | most important hurdle of all, the road test. He drives a truck over a course | selected in advance to offer every pos- sible application of both official and company rules. Again, no tricks, but & thorough and practical test cover- ing all the conditions of driving he may experience if he gets the job. Thoroughness of Test. With interview, medical examina- tion, oral test and road test completed, the prospective salesman has clearly indicated whether or not he is physi- cally and mentally equipped for the job, whether his attitude toward driv- | ing is right, whether he has previously developed driving habits which must be overcome, and whether he can be | depended on to carry out every com- pany driving rule. In case he is oth- erwise satisfactory but shows a need | for further training, he is given that training and repeated tests. | If he gets the job, he is responsible | for the condition of his truck, which must be rigorously inspected daily to minimize the possibility of accidents resulting from defective equipment. “The safety precautions do not end there,” M. Luttes said. “It has defi- nitely Seen established that, although many accidents are caused by drivers who have physical or mental defects or who are not properly trained, a great proportion of them result from carelessness on the part of otherwise | well-qualified drivers. After the tests & Continental salesman must pass to get his job, we know he is qualified | for it. But, to guard against any | carelessness, we emphasize safety ev-| ery day in the year. realization of the tragic possibilities | of careless or slipshod driving can make a sustained safety campaign 100 | per cent effective —_— . TRAVEL LECTURE SET An (illustrated lecture by Dr. and Mrs. W. F. Meggers concerning their recent trip to Europe will feature a meeting of the Ben W. Murch Home and School Association at the school | building Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. Friends | and parents are invited to attend. The following officers will assume offices for the coming year: President, Mrs. W. R. Chapline; vice president, Mrs. R. S. Paulette; record- ing secretary, Mrs. C. M. Borror; cor- responding secretary, Mrs, J. C. Suter; treasurer, Mrs. Meggers. Keystone Auto Club Aids Safety Drive Of Evening Star Lasting Good Should Be Result, Says Letter to Hazen. The Keystone Automobile Club yes- terday placed its full support behind the traffic safety campaign being con- ducted by The Evening Star, in a communication to Commissioner Mel- vin C. Hazen. Harvey L. Cobb, chairman of the Advisory Committee, and George E. Keneipp, secretary of the club, stated in a letter to the Commissioner: “The Evening Star has for many years past proved itself an important factor in promoting the welfare of the citizens of the District of Columbia. Its news columns for some time have been lent to the highly commendable of promoting the Safety Coun- cil of The Evening Star, encouraging motorists to observe the fundamental principles of safety while using the streets of the District. ’ “It is the opinion of this board that great and lasting good should result from this éffort. The Washington Advisory Board of the Keystone Auto- mobile Club is not only happy to in- dorse the campaign, but to commend The Star for its initiative and fore- sightedness in launching the program.” Only constant | — A—16 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SEPTEMBER 29, 1935—PART - ONE. Each Symbol Shows Where a Life Was Snuffed Out ASSOCIATION To Frederick WESTERN. To Frederick: \ASHNGTON s CQNRICHT ‘TRAFFIC ACCIDENT FATALITY MAP Covering 79 Deaths, Including September 26, 1935 In WASHINGTON, D.C. Compiled from Records of th_e_MetroooInan Police Department Map Prepared by the AA.A. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA MOTOR CLUB To Great Falls LEGEND AUTO - PEDESTRIAN AUTO - PEDESTRIAN AUTE - STREET CAR AUTO - AUTO AUTO - AUTO AUTO - FIXED OBJECT AUTO - CYCLE AUTO - CYCLE CYCLE - PEDESTRIAN FATALITY (ADULT) (CHILD) (oun) € (ADULT) (CHILD) -Qf (ADULT) g ADULT) @ (cHio) < (ADULT) ® (ADULT) ¢ To Baltimore & Annapolis WASHINGTON ' D.C. - ; George Preston Marshall, president of the Palace Laundry Dry Clean- ing Co., is seen as he signed a Star safe-driving pledge, while members of the company staff, looking on, wait their turn to join the drive to reduce the traffic accident toll. Left to right: Joe King, division superintendent; Edward A. O'Neill, division superintendent; Fred Sinclair, assistant man- ager; Curtis Henderson, superintendent of dry cleaning, and John C. Chevalier, general manager and assistant treasurer. —Star Staff Photo. Safe Driving Pledge N THE interest of accident prevention and safer conditions on the streets and highways and in co-operation with the Safety Council of The Evening I Star, 1 promise to: Never operate at reckless speed. Drive on right of highway. Stop at all S-T-O-P signs. Refrain from jumping traffic lights. Make turns from the proper lanes. Signal before turning or stopping. Give right of way in doubtful cases. Heed pedestrians’ rights. Never pass on curve or top of hill. Slow down at intersections and schools. Keep my vehicle in safe condition. Address__________ sl The Safety W. C. T. U. TO DEDICATE FOUNTAIN TO LEADER | | Mrs. Memorial to Mrs. Emma San{ord‘ Shelton Will Be Unveiled This Afternoon. Services unveiling a tountain to the memory of Mrs. Emma Sanford Shel- ton, one-time president of the Wash- ington W. C. T. U, will be held this afternoon at 3 o'clock at the building of the new Gospel Union Mission, to ‘ Be courteous and considerate of others. Emflo.yn___.____---.__--__-.._-- __________ el Council Of The Coening Star Washington, D. C. Sign and send above coupon to The Evening Star Safety Council, Room 600, Star Bm’ldin" whom the drinking fountain will be resented. The memorial fund was started by Mrs. Mary Sattes in 1926, the year of Shelton’s death. Mrs. W. H. Wadleigh, president of the District of | Columbia W. C. T.-U,, will preside at the services. Remote Control. The scientific world is still experi- menting with airplanes controlled from the outside by wireless or re- mots contral ¥ 508 © 0 7 Lz 2?2 040040y 43ddp) 0f 208 © \ NAYLOR ROAD 830104 puvjfisop uiayinog o (Continued From First Page.) Safety Council of The Star. “We | have been behind every safety move- ment,” an announcement reads, “and | | we commend The Star Newspaper for | sponsoring the present safety cam- | paign. It is a pleasure to form our | council as an affiliate with The Star and other business and civic organi- zations in the city. “We hope to see great things ac- complished by these co-operating safety councils. The existing con- ditions on the streets of the city must be changed. Safe sane driving must be brought about. The wanton | destruction of life and property must |end. The success of this drive is | vital to every one and must be as- sured.” | The Junior Chamber of Commerce will observe a traffic and safety day at its regular luncheon meeting Thurs- | day. Speakers from the American Automobile Association and other or- ganizations dealing with traffic prob- | lems will discuss various phases of | the problem. The junior chamber al- ready has joined The Star Safety Council in its campaign for street | and highway safety here. The Citizens’ Association of Takoma, | D. C.. also will hold a safety program | | at its monthly meeting tomorrow fnight. W. H. Youngman, 520 Fern| | place, chairman of the Program Com- |. | mittee, has arranged for several safety | talks. The association has been fur- | nished 250 special safe driving pledge cards by The Star Safety Council and these will be distributed to association members who own or drive motor vehicles. The District government has called upon The Star Council for 650 addi- tional safe driving pledge cards after exhausting its supply of 2,100 cards. ‘| These cards are in addition to special pledge cards used by the Police and Fire Departments, public schools and other units of the local government. Optimists Plan Luncheon. The Optimists’ Club of Washington will hold a “Star Safety Council- Optimists” luncheon meeting at the Hamilton Hotel at 12:30 p.m. Wednes- day. The club has called for 150 pledge cards to be used at the lunch- | eon. The safety program is being ar- | ranged by Capt. A. E. Nesbitt. The Washington Gas Light Co., which distributed safe driving pledge cards to all its employes, has called for 500 additional cards for the use of its employes who have members of their families driving cars. The Mode, F street clothing store, also has asked The Star Council for pledge cards for all its employes. Clyde H. Rennoe, manager, is han- dling the safety work for the firm. The National Home Loan and Sav- ings Association, 1505 K street, fol- lowing a meeting of its officers at which The Star campaign was unani- mously indorsed, has requested that 25 cards be provided for the pledging of its officials and employes. One hundred per cent co-operation with The Star Council has been pledged by Devitt School, 2961 Upton street. R. E. Terry, registrar of the school, has informed the council that every student of the preparatory school who drives & car has signed & safe driving pledge card. J. T. Richards Co., Inc., commission merchants, 1211 Water street, has called on The Star Counéil for an ad- ditional supply of pledge cards, having exhausted its first allotment in the signing up of company employes and members of their families. Employes of Frank R. Jelleff, Inc., | have signed up 100 per ceflt, The Star | Council has been informed. The Model Farms Dairy, 4115 Kan- sas avenue, also has joined in the safety drive and has requested that The Star Council furnish 30 safe-driv- ing pledge cards for the use of its employes. Letters on Campaign. Hundreds of letters dealing with various of the safe Haw o Tectred by Tha Bar Bty Officials of the Potomac Electric Power Co. pictured as they signed the safety pledge. Left to right: G. M. Thompson, secretary; J. H. Ferry, vice president; Willlam McClelland, president; T. F. Sullivan, driver; A. G. Neal, vice president; H. G. Haydon, controller; A. V. Hawkins, purchasing agent. Officials of the Continental Baking Co., the first firm of its kind to sign The Star safe-driving pledge, are, front row, left to right: J. J, Sanders, ‘Wonder Bakery, Corby plant; J. B. supervisor, Wonder Bakery, Corby Luttes, manager, Wonder plant; C. B. Campbell, supervisor, Bakery, Corby plant; George L. Braund, jr., sales manager, Wonder Bakery, Corby plant, and W. J. Lynch, supervisor, Wonder Bakery, Corby plant. Rear row, left to right: Wilbur Hildebrand, sales supervisor, Certified Bakery, Havenner plant; W. H. Tomas, manager, Certified Bakery, Havenner plant; L. H. Freiberger, sales manager, Certified Bakery, Havenner plant, and Fred Spanagle, saies supervisor, Certified Bakery, Havenner plant. Truck drivers of Tolman's Laundry, 5248 Wisconsin avenue, sign up in The Star’s careful-driving campaign, at the request of Fred W. MacKenzie, president. Council. Excerpts from some of these letters follow: “Permit me to thank you for the splendid work you are doing for the safety of human life. I have driven a car for 25 years. Drove to Wash- ingtof! froms Yonkers, N. Y. about three weeks ago and attempted to use my car here in order to see with leisure the wonderful sights of this most mar- velous city, but gave it up as a hope- less task. The result is that the car is safely reposing in a garage, which | means the loss of a sale for both oil and gas to someone, a disappointment to me, all due to the selfish desire of drivers to make that green light, cross that intersection, save a second and possibly snuff out & human life. The corner of Fiftzenth street and Penn- sylvanis avenus is & death 6D ., « AS 1 drive through Washington, I am a law-abiding citizen but I feel like what I think a hunted criminal must feel. A stranger cannot in one day become familiar with all turns and 1t seems to me it is up to your Commis- sioner of Public Safety to instruct his men that it is not necessary for sn officer to roar at a stranger, ‘Can’t you read signs? The language is the } same as in New York.” That happened | | to me my first day in Washington on | lovely Constitution avenue. “MRS. H. 8. ROBINSON, “Willard Hotel.” “May I call to your attention the urgent necessity of having a traffic light installed at the corner of Eigh- teenth and Florids avenue northwest, ferent directions? Although I am an adult, I often become confused in crossing this street, and now with the approach of the school term, I honestly feel that there is grave danger for adults as well as children at these points of intersection. Surely, some- thing can be done about it. “Occasionally I see a policeman at this street but 99 per cent of the time, there is absolutely no protection for pedestrians. “MRS. ROSE S. TRUSLER, “1930 Eighteenth street.” “I am signing the safe driving pledge which you are sponsoring and want | | to congratulate you in your effort | to reduce traffic accidents. I have been | driving since 1923 and have driven where the trafic flows from six dif- |about 70,000 .miles without even & L RECORDS OF SPEED OF CARS PROPOSED Frederic A. Delano Offers Railway System to Pro- ‘mote Safe Driving. ‘The keeping of permanent speed records for every automobile as & positive check on reckless driving and speeding is advocated by Frederic A. Delano, chairman of the National Capital Park and Planning Com- mission and uncle of President. Roosevelt, in a letter to The Star Safety Council. The text of Mr. Delano’s letter follows: “I am inter- ested in seeing the active part you are taking in et tne F. A. Delano. safety movement. As I travel about a good deal on foot I am greatly im- | pressed with the amount of reckless | driving that I see not only in the city | itself, but also on country roads. I {am going to offer a suggestion which I think has not been made before, but which coming from a long railroad experience, convinces me it would be | worth considering, to wit: “That the States adopt laws re- | quiring that speed recorders should have paper dials that could be re- | placed every 1,000 miles, making a | permanent record of the speed of the !car. This would always be in posi- tion and when an accident occurred |it would be more effective than any testimony of either bystanders or the motor driver. | “As long as 25 years ago the ra | roads adopted this method of keepi [ tab on the speed of their trains, espe- | cially passenger and mail trains, and we soon learned there was an immer | difference in the way engine driver operated their trains. Some men | would lose time at stations or in other places along the road, and then en- deavor to make up the time lost running at reckless speeds. The be: men would maintain a fairly uniform speed and still make the schedule “I have talked with men who dr busses on long routes, and they tell | me that the best drivers are those who maintain a fairly uniform rate of | speed, and they also tell me that a large number of accidents are caused by men who have an insane desire to pass other vehicles and after doing so | drop down to a more moderate speed “While the above suggestion would 'involve a change in the design of | speed recorders, I am sure the people making these recorders could meet the requirement without serious difficulty.” AUTO HITS TRAIN; WOMAN INJURED Crash Near Baltimore Delays Four Trains on Pennsyl- wania Line. Special Dispatch to The Star. BALTIMORE, Md., September 28.— A woman was injured and four trains | on the main line of the Pennsylvania | Railroad between Baltimore and Wash- ington were delayed tonight when an | automobile crashed into the American, | crack electric express, at the Stony Run crossing, 12 miles southwest of the city line. The woman, Mrs. Hannah Golas, 52, of Hanover, Md., was brought to St. Joseph's Hospital here, where, it | was said, she was suffering mainly from back injuries. Her son, Leonard, 16, who was driv- ing the car, and another son, Joseph, 14, who also was in the machine, were not hurt. The engine had passed the cross when the automobile struck the plat- forms between the first and second sleeping cars. The automobile was wrecked and the steps and trucks of | the two cars were so badly damaged that they had to be uncoupled and the passengers transferred to the 10 other cars. While train crews were ¢learing away debris and shifting the damaged | coaches, the American was held up | 40 minutes. Meanwhile, after auto- | matic signals had halted them, three | other trains were rerouted around the | blocked tracks. According to Pennsylvania officials, | & watchman at the crossing signaled the machine with a lantern in a | futile attempt to stop it. Leonard | Golas said he did not see the watch- | man until he was about 40 or 50 feet | from the crossing and then the watch- | man ran frantically out of his “hut” and began waving a lantern. COMMISSIONERS LAUD DISTRICT RED CROSS $53,931 Roll Call Regeipts Put Campaigners Here at Head of List in Nation. Praise for the District Chapter of the American Red Cross in connec= tion with its annual roll call vwas voiced yesterday by the District Com= missioners in a letter to Mrs. John A. Johnston, director of the campaign here. “We note that in 1935 the District Chapter stood at the head of the list of the more than 3,700 chaptars throughout the country, obtailning & total membership of 36,584, yielding $53,931 in receipts,” the Commission= ers wrote. “It is also gratifying to note the small sum of $3,490 spent in the col- lection of the amount, which we know is possible because of the many hours of efficient service given by many vol- unteer workers during the roll call call period as well as throughout the year.” ‘The current campaign began Sep- tember 1€ and extends to November 1. minor accident, for which I am thankful. “J. H. INGRAM, “§53 F street northeast.” “You are doing a splendid work for safe driving, devoting much valuable space in your paper to it. Will you | permit a suggestion? A short slogan repeated often ‘next to pure reading | matter’ would do much to imbed in | the mentality of drivers the funda- mental principle of safety on the road. “For instance, ‘The Rule of the Road is the Golden Rule. “MAURY H. BROWN, 14 Marion street, Hyattsville, Md."" ) «