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V Traffic Section TRAFFIC SECTION Executive Committee 1946-1947 General Chairman--Paul J. Price; Capt, Traffic Div, Dayton (Ohio) Police Dept First Vicr-Chmrmanr-Josesn M. Wyatt, Chief Justice, Baltimore (Md.) Traffic Court. Second Vice-Chairman--Harry E. Neal, Chief Engr., Div. of Traffic and Safety, Ohio Dept, of Highways. Third Vice-Chatrtruin--F. C. Lynch, Secretary-Manager, Greater Los Angeles Safety Council. ' ' Chairman, Committee- on Traffic Accident Records--J. E. Johnston, Traffic Engr., Nebraska Dept of Roads and Irrigation. Chairman, Annual Congress Program Committee--Edmund B. Smith, Judge, Kansas City (Mo.)' Municipal Court. Chairman, Membership Committee--Harold F. Liu.if, Manager, Lansing (Midi.) Safety Council. Members-at-Large-- A. W. Bohlen, Executive Dir., American Assn, of Motor Vehide Administrators. Norman Damon, Vice-President, Automotive Safety Foundation. . William M. Greene, Dir., Connecticut Highway Safety Commission. ' Juuen H. Harvey, Managing Dir., National Conservation Bureau. W. A. Huggins, Chief, Bureau of Acddent Prevention, California Dept, of Motor Vehides. A. R. Forster, Dir. of Training, Northwestern University Traffic Institute. J. J. Quilun, Judge, Traffic Div., Portland (Ore.) Municipal Court. T. J. Seburn, Traffic Engineer, Kansas Gty (Ma) Dept of Public Works. Edwin S. Smith, Dir., Rochester (N. Y.) Safety CotmtiL A. Glenn Smoot, Traffic-Engr., Arizona Highway Dept ------. Harry W. Whitcomb, Supt, Acddent Prevention Dept, Philadelphia Transportation Co. Ex-officio Members Traffic Court Division Representatives-- Wayne' L. Miller, Judge, Fort Wayne (fnd.) City Court Harry H. Porter, Chief Justice, Evanston (III.) Munidpal Court Police Division Representatives-- - Rulok Bennion, Inspector, Utah State Highway Patrol. W. L. Groth, Capt, Virginia State Police. Past General Chairmen-- W. Graham Cole, Asst Sec., Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Carl J. Rutland, Chairman, Dallas (Tex.) Citizens* Traffic Commission. Secretary-?.Donald S. Berry7 National Safety Coundl, Inc. 189 i \ [i '1jh* ' * .. -j :!;i 1 ) PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT r Presiding: W. Graham Cole, Asst. Secy., Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. t c f Traffic Safety and the Public Attitude By JOHN W. DARR Pres* Institute of Public Relations As a prelude to my discussion of traffic the cause and enrolls in the battle lines safety and the public attitude; let me read of her erstwhile foe. Today she is mo you one of the finest editorials I have ever bilized to construct, tomorrow to destroy. seen on public (opinion. It was written by the editor of a "grass roots" newspaper in South Dakota. It will describe in better words than I can the fickle character of public opinion and the challenge to those seeking to influence it "Strange ore the ways of Public-Opinion. "In her varying moods she becomes a savior of mankind or a destroyer of that which by her own demands she has saved. Today a. vampire, tomorrow' a saint; a Trojan in her demands for what today is heralded as right, as fickle as' Cleopatra vhen tomorrow's multitudes declare that right was not right "Brave as a roaring liop and yet as cowardly as a skulking wolf which has been separated from the pack. "Virtue-laden when Puritanic idealism possess the - land, she turns chameleon when that, idealism takes wings and van ishes away. Intolerant and yet a persecutor of the intolerant Such is Public Opinion. "She wears a halo to light her path and then destroys the very path on which she found her way to the light "She murders a Caesar on the ides of March, and on the morrow follows a Mark Antony from the funeral to destroy those who obeyed demands for Caesar's blood. "She burns Joan of Arc as a witch, and then sanctifies herself in the incense of the smoking ashes. "She talks 'peace on earth,' and at the sound of rolling drums plunges into a world war with peace-preaching Christian murdering peace-preaching Christian. Such is Public Opinion. "In a year of popular demand she capi talizes on the teachings of a century and passes laws for the preservation of those teachings; in another day of popular de mand, with a flash, she destroys the very laws -which were formed for her own pro tection. "She knows no constitution if that con stitution blocks the way to her desire. She is a builder of governments and a destroyer of civilization, a defender of constitutional rights and a defamer of the very constitu tion which protect those rights; a hero and a deserter; a thinker today, a careless "She is no respector of persons, or of follower of uncertain doctrines tomorrow. truth, or of fact, or of historical revela tion, or of prophetic vision; lover of truth and hater of the application of truth. "She struggles through the years for the accomplishment of a great ideal, then' in a day deserts the ideal and sees her own followers suffer the agonies which are cer tain to result from her popularly endorsed folly. Such is Public Opinion. "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Thy name is Public Opinion We may as well recognize that we must ` have solidarity of public opinion to achieve the gains for which we are striving. At the outset, we should not confuse public attitude with the public mind. We do have a public attitude on traffic safety, bttt it's mainly an awareness that the problem is "Today she leads an army in a righteous serious, that it deserves major attention, cause; tomorrow she has turned traitor to and that there should be strong enforce- ment nore< ing i no ( But long of tr we d To will!) abso! my first we i prog shou lieve men: prac belie has ing . calk I proc iagfc toda reset the port whir belie teret whit com in n tows jecti O) safe publ obje peer ing publ Ann men whe mov I ban Traffic Section ment for the other fellow. What we want the progress that has been made in virtu is a united public will for action. ally all fields of traffic safety. In fact I One of the outstanding reasons that...we do not have this public will is becaiise, through the years, the traffic safety move* ment has to a large extent completely ig nored the sound and proven rules for mold ing favorable public opinion. Some of you, no doubt, will challenge this statement. But the records dearly show that over the am convinced that the traffic safety mover ment is headed in the right direction; if it will quickly recognize' that public support is the missing element and move aggres sively to get that support. At the risk of being elementary, let's look at the whole problem just as if you were a client of mine. - . long pull we have never stemmed the tide What are we trying to achieve? We are of traffic deaths and fatalities to the extent trying to assure movement of traffic with we desire. maximum efficiency and convenience and a To achieve public support--if we are minimum of hazards. willing to honestly recognize that it is How are we trying to do this? By en absolutely essential, and I assure you from gineering into our highways the maximum my long experience that it is--tee must degree of safety for drivers and pedes- first put our own house in order. What, . trians up to the limits of available mate-' we have done up to now is to formulate rials and money; by enacting laws govern programs which we believed the public ing the movement of both vehicles and should accept; regulations which we be persons, setting up regular standards which lieved were best for the people; enforce most be met before a person can drive, ment methods which we believed were most setting up traffic courts and law-enforce practical; and educational efforts which we ment arms, and by broad programs to believed to be sound. Not enough attention train persons at the wheel and afoot All has been given to what the people are will of these things are essential and sound, ing to accept and give their individual and but we must go farther and reach 130,- collective cooperation. 000,000 .people--everyone who drives and I need not remind you that this is the walks--with the reasons why we are doing procedure that has been followed in Wash these things "and build understanding and ington over the last few years and we are . cooperation. today witnessing the confusion and dire ' Let me give you a case In point from my results. It is my confirmed opinion that own business as to how to build coopera the American people will accept and sup tion. port only those restrictions and regulations which they understand fully, which they believe to be' reasonable in their own in terest and the interest of other people, and which they believe to be necessary for the common good. This should always be kept in mind if we are to make a real approach toward public support of traffic safety ob Some time ago, the hat industry became concerned over the fact that an increasing number of people were going hatless. If the trend continued, it would mean a steady decline in manufacturing, with tremendous implications on the capital invested in the industry and employment As a result the Institute of Public Relations, Inc, was jectives. asked to survey the situation and make One of the great difficulties in traffic recommendations. We knew from the start safety, in toy opinion, is that we have made that laws to force people to wear hats public support a secondary objective--an would be absurd. We knew that to stop objective to be achieved after our engi people in front of stores and drag them in neering, enforcement programs were work and put hats . on their heads would be ing satisfactorily. What little I know about equally as absurd. We knew that badger public relations convinces me that the ing people who exercised their American American people will not join in any move rights to go bareheaded also would be ment wholeheartedly unless they know absurd. where and how and when they fit into that Instead of trying these absurdities--and movement efforts to force people to be safe are I do not want to be critical of what is equally absurd from a practical standpoint bring done, nor do I want to underestimate --we launched a program through the Hat f) 192 34th National Safety Congress. 1946 Research Foundation to find out why people has saved." This observation seems par-, went hatless. When we found this out we ticularly appropriate here because we all then found ways to make people conscious recognize that public opinion--public atti of the advantages of wearing hats, and tude translated into action--can. bring bet thus created a desire for hats which is ter traffic conditions, or. the public can proving advantageous to a vast industry. make these conditions worse than , we have I believe that the same principle can be ever known. followed in traffic safety, -If. you will Developments in the whole national pic utilize the findings of die public' opinion ture should be watched, as a pattern by all survey for the National Committee for concerned .with improving traffic conditions. Traffic Safety, which confirms many points During the war restrictions were widely I am making, you will have made a start imposed upon the American people. They The traffic safety movement provides an were accepted because of the war. People extremely interesting anomaly. The effort were told that they would end at the end to secure efficiency in traffic is the one-- and perhaps the only--effort in our com plex life without any organized opposition. Everyone is aware of traffic conditions and, properly sparked, will join any constructive of the war. However,. these restrictions are still with us and we all know the public attitude. All appeals for public support and all pledges and promises are proving unsuccessful in changing public move to better these conditions. When we opinion. All the power of government is analyze these factors, is it not rather amaz behind these restrictions; but the power of ing that we have not progressed farther the people will ultimately prove stronger. toward the goal of easy-flowing and safe From thestandpoint of traffic safely,' we traffic? In other words, with.no opposition . may as well recognize now that the much to be overcome and no lack of awareness vaunted 3 E's--the whole basis of traffic to be met, why is it that we do not have safety--will never be effective to. the maxi the public mind behind our objectives? mum degree unless they have public sup I believe that if we cannot find a means port of amply moving automobiles with. die The very essence of reaching the public restraint necessary to avoid collisions and and securing public support is simplicity. protect those afoot, it minimizes our I fed that my friends in traffic safety be chances of finding that domestic and inter come a little bit involved in their own national unity we are all seeking. I believe techniques. They are so sincere, so detier- that if we cannot get our 48 states to mined and so crusading that they do not amplify and make uniform the rules gov stop long enough to let public opinion erning interstate traffic; it seems almost catch tip with them. foolhardy to .wonder why we are not at taining greater success in the effort to help fix the conditions under which people will live behind international boundaries. Some years ago, when I was responsible for the CIT Safety Foundation, we brought to New York 48 "Safe Drivers" from every state in the onion. It was a refresh I believe that if we cannot get our .Jaw enforcement officers in traffic courts and on the streets and highways to show for mo torists and pedestrians the same degree of ing experience. Those who were guests of CIT were asked to make suggestions on how traffic conditions could improve. Many constructive suggestions were forthcoming. consideration they expect from, these same people; we cannot talk too loudly about people in other lands not living in harmony. Bat the one that struck all of us most was very simple. It said that what is-needed most on our streets and highways is If-we can achieve the ultimate we are "motor manners." This suggestion provided after in traffic safety, with it will come a a theme which was followed in all efforts new appreciation of how people themselves of the Foundation. We sought ways and can point the way to. meeting other condi means of improving "motor manners." I tions that are extremely pressing. am convinced that it is the key to the Let me requote a phrase about public whole problem of the individual driver and opinion: "In her various moods she be individual pedestrian. comes a saviour of mankind or a destroyer Often I fed that it we were to review of that which by her own demands she the whole traffic situation in simpler terms. Traffic Section 193 'forgetting for the moment "techniques, ment that *90 per . cent of all car accidents re-orientation" and a. lot of other, high- result from overindulgence in liquor.' In soundings words and phrases--we would The New York TIMES Magazine of begin to have some new conceptions. We August 11 you published an article by would find that the surest approach to Maj. Gen. Philip B. Fleming, who was efficient and safe traffic and to a solution general chairman of the President's High of the other manifold problems is in recog way Safety Conference. In this article nizing that the basis of society is still the General Fleming lists the outstanding home, the school, and the church. This was causes of accidents as: recognized in by-gone .days when things "1. Failure to obey traffic laws. were on a much sounder basis than they "2. Substandard traffic laws. are today.. People are gradually getting "3. Differences in regulations and traffic- back to fundamentals. Out of it may come control devices in various states. a new consideration for others. Thus I "In regard to the subject of drinking. believe that with new attention to funda General Fleming refers to an. analysis of mental principles and methods of develop what he terms 'the most accurate .figures ing broad understanding and reasoning in available' and makes the statement that lieu of unsound and unpopular regulations, `one out of nine drivers in fatal accidents we can achieve our objectives in traffic had been drinking.' " safety. "And again, on August 12, The TIMES I readily realize that it means trying to carried an article on a traffic accident sur reach 130,000,000 people--all who drive or vey made by the New York Police De walk. Yet we must reach them to have partment and the Greater New York Safety the fullest degree of public cooperation Council, and you quote the Greater New and public support In the states and com York Safety Council to the effect that two munities where the people have been of every three serious accidents involving reached there is evidence of improvements. automobiles were the result of faulty I am informed that later in the day awards brakes and other mechanical defects. will be made for gains in bettering traffic conditions. I am confident that a question tq those involved will bring the answer that they achieved these gains because of state or community support "It is most important that the cause of accidents be known before curative or preventive measures can be applied. But isn't it rather confusing jo- the layman- to read one day that 90 per cent of the acci One of the direct approaches in arousing public support is to end once and for all the conflicting and confusing statements on accidents and their causes.'There should be ant recognized source whose statistics will be accepted. The various statements on accident causes serve to confuse the public just like, the conflicting statements from Washington, with' the result that people do not know what to believe. dents are caused by one factor, and. an other day to see that two-thirds of the accidents are caused by something else, and another day to find that there are three entirely (Afferent major causes, in the opinion of -someone else? "The National Safety Council has for "mam* years made-careful study and classi fication of accident causes, getting their facts from, police records and official Let me read you a letter I recently wrote ' sources throughout the country, and com which was published in the ; New York piling them most accurately. So why not Times. >"* let's take their figures as standard and "I am amazed at the amount of con authoritative^ and1 go on from there and flicting reports and statistics which are do. something real about correcting the being published concerning the various factors involved in traffic accidents. Let me illustrate by citing three examples from your own fine newspaper: situation?" I anticipated when you invited me here that yon might expect me to give some magic formula for arousing militant pub- "On July 28 you carried an article under lice support for a new consciousness in the by-line of Bert Pierce, in which he traffic. I regret that I cannot do so. Magic quotes the editor of the WEEKLY UN formulas are the greatest , foe of sound DERWRITER, as authority for the state public relations and the greatest barrier to 194 34tk National Safety Congress, 1946 an aroused public opinion. There is no magic It is a. case of getting back to fundamentals and it applies to every field of human endeavor, whether, it be inter national, national, state or local. However, I will highlight a few elements of the problenf which I believe to be helpful: 1. We have continuously tried to-approach the problem from the top down-- thinking too much in terms of restric tions, regulations, techniques, cam paigns and other activities in terms of things the people should accept Public attitudes are not formed by commands and direction. It requires a knowledge of what the public wants and what the public will. do. Thus the first requisite for success is letting die public, whose support we are seeking, have a part in formulating our program. 2. We must have better coordination of traffic safety efforts if we are ever to secure mobilized public support Un less those who are faced with prime responsibility can get together among themselves on what they expect the public to do, they cannot hope for the support they are seeking. Organiza tional activities must be dovetailed into a coordinated national program. 3. We must approach the public through the law makers, the traffic judges, traffic enforcement officers, safety di rectors, school teachers and others. In addition to their law books, slide rules, textbooks -and posters, they must be aware of successful methods for as suring public cooperation and public support 4. We must overhaul our whole system of mechanical control of traffic, and people. Traffic lights and stop signs must be placed only where they are needed and not because of the whims of some individual. Pressure sales manship has foisted on the American people untold thousands of unneces sary lights and signs that have no purpose in efficient and safe movement of traffic. The public is becoming aware of these conditions. 5. We must meet the changing times with new methods of arousing public con cern and .public interest With some minor changes the whole traffic safety movement is following the same old pattern. Just as business, labor and politician have been forced `to utilize new ways of Teaching the public, thor s . in the traffic safety effort must also revise their methods. In speaking to you today--an oppor tunity for which I am grateful--I know that I have departed from the customary pattern of atraffic safety message. I have not used *any statistics. I have not told you how road-building has been delayed, how our vehicles are being worn out; how the tempers of people are ragged, advanced any new techniques. I have simply tried to speak from my heart on some of the. basic things which I believe give new direction to the traffic safety effort Many of these things you already know. Some of them I have tried to hammer home in confer ences and private conversations with many of those present at this Congress. I should like to- say again that the traffic safety movement must be taken to the "grass roots'* in every cross-section of the United States. It is there that public opinion is formed and that's the place from whence will come the support and action so vital to turning accident trends downward and solving otiter disturbing problems facing mankind in this era of change. The City's Stake in Traffic Safety By MERTON E. RIDGE 'Traffic Engineer, Wichita, Kans. Russell McClure, City Manager of Wichita, regrets that illness prevented him from appearing here today. He asked that I fill hb assignment and present his address. Wichita, Kansas, affords an excellent example of a city where a thorough-going safety campaign has brought results. Every city has an enormous 'stake in traffic safety. We Midwesterners are not prone to brag, but I think we have met the accident problem with fortitude and never with procrastination. Did you know that there Traffic Section 195 is a city of nearly 200,000 population where there. is 100 per cent pedestrian observance of traffic signals? Wichita is that city. When a city continues through 16 years to win high places in National Safety Traffic Safety Contests, there must be a reason. Safety is individualistic It should begin in the family and certainly the city, which is the first echelon of government, must be file programming agency. What consti tutes a good safety program? I think that it has two principal ingredients; balance and complete public participation. A city is not blessed with unlimited resources and must, therefore deride the molts and priority of each improvement or service. Balance is very necessary if those engineering improvements are to be located where they are most needed and will do the most good, if enforcement utilizes fully manpower and equipment, and finally, if education realizes general public acceptance. All must operate as a team, all assisting each other, all pulling to gether. The failure of any unit will destroy the effectiveness of the entire program. Traffic safety is an integnt} part of our city administration. We believe in a friendly personalized service to our citizenry in all departments, and this includes safety. All public means of communication are used to make both motorists and pedes* trians safety-conscious every day. Educa tion of citizens in proper driving and walking habits plus focusing public atten tion' on the tragic consequences of care lessness has produced results. The street safety program began in the 1920's with the organization of the Junior Traffic Patrols. Today the police super vise the patrols and policemen visit the schools, showing safety films and talking on safety. For intermediate ages, the po lice conduct a weekly traffic school on Saturdays and children under 16 years of age who violate traffic ordinances are sent to three lessons at the traffic school in stead of bring called into juvenile court ' High schools have traffic courts of their own and high school students arrested for traffic violations appear before this court conducted by students with a teacher and a police sergeant as observers. Convictions usually bring a sentence to write a 5,000 word essay on a selected safety subject. All public schools have as an integral part of their curriculum a complete safety edu cation program. The city has three scheduled radio pro grams daily on traffic subjects and a public forum program is broadcast weekly with citizens participating. Public address sys tems on police vehicles are used on the streets to issue warnings and attractive safety posters are used at all principal intersections in the downtown area. The entire community participates In the program. The Traffic Commission, com posed of 16 leading citizens, meets monthly and studies current traffic problems. These are public meetings and are attended by many persons seeking a hearing on traffic changes or with ideas topresent for con sideration. After determining the need for traffic improvement, the Traffic Commis sion recommends to the City Commission and receives its full support. The Chamber of Commerce has an active and extremely successful safety' committee. Many worthwhile traffic im provements have originated with this or ganization. For example, they are now sponsoring an off-street loading driveway to serve our largest high school and inter mediate school, and if past experience is repeated, I am sure that they will not reduce their efforts until the project is a certainty. Every civic club, every Parent-Teacher Association, yes, every civic or public or ganization in Wichita has a safety com mittee. The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts through strength of numbers assist in many safety activities .which require some hard work. Recently, the Boy Scouts sten ciled safety messages for pedestrians on all sidewalks in Wichita. Every radio station in Wichita uses at least one safety slogan or safety message every hour throughout the day. Every theater shows safety shorts every day ad vertising safe ways to walk or drive. We have a well staffed, traffic engineering divi sion. We are proud of our police depart ment; enforcement is positive and without discrimination. All city officials and all city employees are cognizant of their responsi bilities in providing safety in all facilities and in cooperating completely in the traffic safety effort I could go on and on, but X i 196 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 l doubt if this is necessary. I think you reasons, traffic safety records are no small must understand by now that to us "the achievement public is the thing." Here lies the key to To safety-minded Wichita citizens, success. winning contests is only ah incident Sore, Paradoxically, Wichita ranks at the top . they like to win--they expect to win, but among cities in the United States for per what really counts is that as the result capita possession of motor vehicles and in of their safety program, many children, 1945 was rated "by the United States Bu many of their friends and neighbors are reau of Labor Statistics as the nation's alive today. This to Wichita'is worth number one war boom town. For these - more than the awards won. The State's Stake in Highway Safety By W. EARL HALL Managing Editor, Mason .City Globe Gazette and Qua, Nat. Coin, for Traffic Safety In the past several years I have worked in many fidds of highway safety activity. I might ate my newspaper editorship, my participation, in our state Safety Council and my current position as Chairman of the National Committee for Traffic Safety, but only to indicate that no single task has carried quite the responsibility of repre senting the -Governor of the State of Iowa in an address on "The State's Stake in Highway Safety." Perhaps my deep appreciation of both' the honor and the challenge of the next nineteen minutes is rooted in my firm be lief that/- certain factors combine to give a state government the leading role in highway safety. At the very least, a state gets an equal billing with the individual highway user, "with the munidpality and with public support organizations in this drama of `deaths and injuries. Whether you insist that we have an all-star cast, or whether you are willing to set a state alone in the spotlight's center, you -will agree that safe highway transportation is a shared effort in which every component has an oportunity to prove capability, A state's unique position in traffic safety is derived from its strategic location as' the center of legal and moral responsibility. Except for certain phases of interstate commerce, the Federal Congress has left traffic laws and regulation?, and their en forcement, as the province of 48 sovereign states. That thirty' years of haggling and bickering has foiled to produce completely uniform motor vehicle -laws or completely uniform traffic control devices is a sad commentary on the American ability to work together. In my opinion, unless we can correct conditions through tire existing state governmental structure; with the aid of techniques and devices now available; it is only a matter of time before the Fed eral government will assume jurisdiction in. the statutory, regulation of highway safety*. If that time arrives ' I doubt "that any amount of screaming about "state's rights" will return our lost opportunity. Tins fact alone might be considered one of the state's principal stakes in highway safety. It is not unreasonable to claim that a state government has tire most direct re sponsibility for the coordination of the official'highway safety program and the stimulation of local .activity In "traffic safety. This is a natural outgrowth of the fact that municipal traffic ordinances often hinge , on state laws, and that such impor tant items as state traffic law enforcement are resolved in the county and tmmidpaf courts. It is obvious that .a state should expect more and better highway safety in municpalities only if it sets a good example. The 1700 delegates to the President's Highway Safety Conference last' May de veloped a plan of action which, it was hoped, would serve as a guide for those who have charge of bringing highway safety programs up to the standard which is essential for realization of a permanent reduction in the traffic accident toll. This Action Program was not bom in a muddle of theory. It was written by those who have the job to do in dvery section of our country. This plan, together with the seven mmfe e 52LS.B s.tfis-a-5 s a e - e * u h 0 ti c p t] a 1 \ a :t! V c r a v s a 'P P .s C t C t t Traffic Section 197 technical reports of the Conference, repre will place the blame for failure of a high sents today's total fond of .knowledge way safety program squardy on the shoul accumulated through our experience in the ders of legislative leaders. The average quest for safe highway transportation. To administrator will contend that special in day, little more can be said or written on terests, trades and pressure groups influ highway safety except as an amplification ence the law maker when he considers a to some particular portion of these re matter of regulation. The popular hue and ports. Only time and further experience will cry against regimentation has made it make any material changes in that which especially difficult to secure the enactment is proposed as the way. to highway safety. of traffic laws which even hint at the Included in the .Conference recommenda invasion of private rights. A legislator who tions are the. successive steps which a state will agree with the idea that we should most follow if it has set its sights oh an have safe highways will hesitate before he objective;of safer highways. What must a will record his vote in favor of periodic state do? inspection of motor vehicles or re-examina First, it. must perfect its own official program for. highway safety.. No state measures tip to all' the specifications of the President's Conference master plan. The difference in the amount of change needed to attain tins very practical ideal varies only in quantity. I am presuming , that no one challenges the wisdom of the petition that a state most set its house in order first before the municipalities or the general public can be expected to exert their full power in the same direction. . ... Second, the process of""setting the house in order" requires the dimination of over lapping safety jurisdictions and duplications of effort It is not uncommon for a state to have from six to nine departments con- ' cerned with regulation of the use of the public highways. If these departments themselves cannot agree in either funda mentals or details they cannot expect a favorable response from the highway user. We have even seen the extreme of dis- . agreement m two state departments over the type and color of clearance lights which mark the width of a truck. I can cite another state in which one department tion of drivers at the age of 60 before' issuing further license privileges. In con-, txast, legislative committees will point out that administrators have beengiveh broad general powers to issue such administrative rulings as are necessary to carry out the intent of a particular statute. Under these conditions it. will be claimed that the ad ministrator is not making full use of the authority with which -he has been vestedFrankly, my sympathies are with the ad ministrator--if he makes too much use of his power to regulate by ruling he will, find himsdf out of a job wben.his appoint ment next comes before a Governor or an Executive Council. ^ Fourth,- a state must take much of the initiative in seeking public support for its official highway safety program. Some of tins support will he ..automatic when-the. . public is convinced that the state knows ' what it wants in public safety and how it proposes to get it. Other support "will come only through a gradual evolutionary process, patiently educating the people un til they can seeeconomic gain a$ well as : social betterment in a single forward step. regulates vefaide and driver licensing, These four objectives are stated in ram another department vehide weights and - bling terms. Were I to expect them to be widths, another department the hours of a. sufficient mapping of the route to high-' service of commercial vehide operators way safety I could be justly accused of and yet another department exerts general evasion. Actually, these are the specific policing power. Such confusion can only steps: produce confusion as to what items eon- 1. An analysis. and comparison of a . . stitute the official highway safety program, state's highway safety program with the Third, a state must agree, within its recommendations of the President's High own family of departments, as to its fu way Safety Conference. This is largely a ture course. in attaining highway safety. matter of self determination.' .There can Official steps may be made through only be little question on any specific point A - two means:, legislative action and adminis state's driver license law either measures trative rales. "The average administrator up to the standards necessary to achieve . 198 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 safe highways or it does not We only tory its traffic accident prevention pro fool ourselves if we read into our law the cedures by comparing them with those of principles which are missing. To justfy a its neighbors and. in the light of recom lack in our law because in our state the mendations made for its own -well bring. situation is "a little different" is an open admission of weakness. This analysis is the first step toward coordination. Assistance is available to us through one or more of the important supplemental highway safety programs currently being conducted in the United States. 2. When the analysis is complete, and In connection with its National Traffic Safety Contest, the National Safety Coun cil is offering an analysis sendee of which any state can well afford to take advantage. The inventory is made at the time the annual Contest report is prepared. When file judging is complete and the outstanding records and programs are recognized, each coordination is about to become a reality, performance item on the report of each each state should hold a highway safety state is'tabulated. Thus, performance stand conference. This conference accomplishes ards are developed. the double purpose of advising the public of the outcome of the analysis and co ordination and inviting public support by encouraging public assistance in formulat ing the future program. To date 13 states have held highway safety conferences since May 10, 1946. Four other states have set definite dates before the end of file year. Other states have agreed to hold a con ference but are hesitant in naming a time. While I mil acknowledge the gains which have been made in the past months I do not hestiate to say that for % of the states to take no positive action since the national meeting on highway safety has all the earmarks of a disgrace. Such a lack of understanding is indicative of political ter ror, moral atrophy or mental stagnation. Possessing this information, along with the recommendations of the President's Highway Safety Conference and those of various- organizations, such as the Inter national Association of Chiefs of Police, the American Association of Motor Ve hicle Administrators, and the American Association of State Highway Officials, the Council can make a crtical diagnosis of the traffic program of any state' so requesting. Such an analysis was made this year of the reports submitted by 33 states, includ ing the State of Iowa. Despite tbe fact that my state was singled out by the Contest Committee of Judges,for the State Grand Award, the analysis report revealed many imperfections and deficiencies in our 3. Invaluable help in a state program can traffic accident prevention program--some be secured by a full scale participation in minor - and some glaring; You can be some of the broad and important supple assured that this analysis was forcibly mental highway safety programs. The Na brought to the attention of each state tional Pedestrian Protection Contest is a department head concerned. good example. Every state must recognize the benefits of the Brake Emphasis pro gram of 1945 and the Police Traffic Safety Check for 1946. Still closer to the imme diate problem of coordination and plans for the future is the National Traffic Safety Contest There are times when a state must stand before a mirror and do some scrutinizing. A state must scan its own official reflection for imperfections and shortcomings, par ticularly when these imperfections and shortcomings may be taking the lives of the people the state is intended to protect. While these analysis reports to states are kept confidential, several-governors have revealed the content of their reports for public scrutiny. 4. A state which wants and receives the greatest measure of public support for its highway safety program Is one which gives its material as well as its moral endorse ment to the .activities of a statewide safety organization. We have in existence today a sufficient number of examples of state safety council supported by state funds to indicate that political domination is not necessarily a part of such support Frankly Self analysis is good, but not enough. I believe; as did the Committee on Or Like people, a state needs to look at itself ganized Public Support of the President's through the eyes of others. A state must Conference, that financial assistance for a see itself as it is seen. A state must inven non-official state safety organization is the Traffic Section 199 best way for a state to recognize the public damage and, at the same time, have suf nature of the enterprise. If this condition fered thp incalculable loss in human lives. cannot prevail, it in no way lessens the * If a state recognizes the extent of its importance of the safety organization,'.but stake in highway safety its program and it does intensify die need for the strongest accomplishments wQl only be as good as possible backing from a state government its leadership. This leadership starts with for the idea of an active state safety group. the Governor, and goes, on down-through The state's stake in highway safety is a the various department heads and em matter of the public welfare and of eco ployees to the point where it has direct, nomic stability. No government can over on-the-spot contact, with the general public. look the humanitarian problem which re A weakness anywhere along the line may . sults from' fatalities and injuries on our nullify the gains made at other points. A streets and roads. No government can coordinated program for highway safety afford the economic loss from these per means consistent , hard work and no devia sonal deaths and injuries, and the attend tion from the objective. The public inust ant . property ' damage: In recent years, be ready to support "a ceaseless campaign despite expenditures running into billions to give our public officials the essential of dollars for highway construction and' laws, personnel and. budget to operate an maintenance, the monetary loss from high adequate safety program . . . .** This sup way accidents has nearly kept pace: While port can be expected only as a complement our highway income has been the greatest to a forceful, intelligent .official program. in history we have dissipated it in property Common sense will allow no alternative. How We Did It (Panel Discussion) By representatives'from city and stale*winners in the 1945 National Traffic Safety Contest Dticussion Leader: Norman Damon, Vice-Prea, Automotive Safety Foundation. Participants: Frank O. Bayne, Dir. of Safety Edu cation, Wichita (Kans.) Police Dept Major J. H. Boice, Chief, Lynchburg (Va.) Police Dept James Goer, Mgr., Buffalo (N.Y.) Safety Council. Judge Harry H. Porter, Chief Justice, Evanston (HI.) Municipal Court \V. Howard Sharp, Eng., Connecticut State Hwy. Dept Jack W. Sowars, Asst Mgr, East Bay Chapter, NSC, Oakland, Calif. Capt. A. F. Temple, Chief, Texas , Driver License Div. Carl T. Bailey, Exec. Dir., Utah Safety Coundl. Bert L. Woodcock, Dir., Safety Educa tion Div., Iowa Dept of Public Safety. MR. NORMAN DAMON: I would like to pay my personal tribute to these win ners. They set an example that can well be followed with profit in each state and each community. These men. represent the leaders in traffic safety for 1945. I hope that in 1946 all states and all cities will equally become leaders. I would like to point out to all of you that I believe the NTSC provides the bestrunning inventory that any state or any day could ask as a measure or a gage of progress or of backsliding. MR. BAYNE: In 1945, Wichita won the grand award in the Traffic Safety Con test I think I can tell yon how we did it ' in about two^words--hard work. We drove home safety education every minute of the day in every. conceivable manner to all dasses of people and if yon really do that, ladies and gentlemen, that's work! In June of 1944, we lost the services of our traffic engineer and were unable to replace him until November, 1945. So, without the services of a traffic engineer in 1945, we had to redouble our effort in safety education. 200 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 This was done with the' 100 per centcooperadon of ail civic dubs, the Chamber of Commerce, the schools and even the churches, where 75 per cent of the pastors admonished their congregations to drive and walk safely as they left their respec tive churches. The program carried on in Wichita can be followed by any other city. We feel that we have a long way to go before attaining perfection. I think that all dties can improve their safety program by ex change of . views and ideas with other dties. We in Wichita are ready at all times to exchange our plans with those of other dties, not in the spirit of "We are the winners of the grand award," but in the spirit of hdpfulness and friendliness with everybody; in the hope drat the ex change of ideas .may improve our respec tive programs, and that our program may be so designed to be of greater hdp to us all in saving more lives in tins humani tarian work we are all engaged in. MAJOR BOICE: The third paragraph of the pamphlet "America's Traffic Safety Champions," under die heading of Lynch burg, Virginia, I dunk will explain to you how we accomplished this feat This .sen tence merely says this: "It is interesting to note that despite the manpower short age, 75 per cent of the total uniformed force spent at least 50 per cent of each day working cm traffic." Now our theory is simply'this: every uniformed man we have in our department is a traffic officer. Despite the fact we have a Traffic Bureau, we do not allow an officer even on foot patrol, to pass up any traffic vio lation. We supplement the Traffic Bureau with uniformed patrolmen. We carry it one step further and do not allow plainclofhesmen to pass up traffic violations. It might be interesting to you to know that . I have to appear in court myself a week from Friday on the case of a drunken driver violation. I think that every chief of police should set the example for his men to follow and should insist that his men abide by the rules and regulations and by the ordinances of his city. We are meticulous on that point We maintain a tight chain-of com mand. I realize we are a small city as com pared to the cities represented here by other members of the panel Our Traffic Bureau consists of eight men to start with, but one of those men has the duty of keeping in contact with the newspapers to promote safety; another one with radio stations to promote safety; another one keeps in touch with the .civic dubs and P.T.A. Association, and we have assigned each man to some specific thing to pro mote safety right down through the whole category. For Instance, the man who con tacts the newspapers, preserves all the dippings that pertain to safety in our local newspapers and at the end of the year, he has that file and it is a tremendous hdj> in making out our report MR. CORR: Cooperation is responsible for the fact that Buffalo won the honor of being the safest dty of 500,000 population or over last year. We have what is known in Buffalo as a Board of ^Safety. It is comprised of civic members interested solely in the activ ity of traffic safety. That committee meets every week formulating, discussing, and approving plans on traffic safety. Many of the requests that come in from the public are received through our organization, the Safety Council,, and we in turn pass them over to the Board of Safety. We feel that the greatest credit for winning that award perhaps should be given to the police department They have done an outstanding job. They made something like 2300 arrests for traffic in 1945. We' have a squad of about 350 motor vehide men that patrol-the streets constantly. Our automobile association has done a remarkable job in school patrol works; in furnishing patrol badges, and various kinds of material to educate students who are trained by our police officers. They also furnish posters and literature of all types to the schools in Buffalo and all through out Erie County. A great deal of credit can go to our radio and newspapers. Last year we at tempted to put on a program for a 13 week period in which the radio stations participated However, due to the Presi dent's death, and the ending , of the war, we did not finish out that particular phase of our work. We felt, however, that it had done a tremendous lot of good It reached everybody in the home as well as the people on the street ' Our newspapers also helped us in bring which has changed our picture one single ing out traffic violations hi picture form whit We kept the heat on in traffic law and in news items and various other ways. enforcement. We have kept an intensive We of the Safety Council last year con educational program. Our engineer is pro-' ducted about' 200 meetings of all types. gressing this year. We have eliminated We never let a meeting go by. Through in the main center of town a fountain and our PTA's, the women's dubs, the Boy that straightened out the kinks in the main and Girl Scouts,. and any other type of traffic. Complete candor requires me to organizations we could reach, we stressed say that this year since the 18th of Janu the value of their cooperation with us. We ary, we have had three traffic deaths. feel confident, that if the spirit of coopera MR. SOWARD: On the 1st of Octo tion can be obtained in the cities in which ber, a new captain in our Traffic Division you work, there is no doubt but that acci requested us to outline- a program of dents in traffic will be reduced. intensive selective enforcement and selec JUDGE PORTER: As yOu know, our tive education for the remaining three Traffic Safety Council commenced about months of the year. We could not, I re the fall of 1928. We reached; I think; the gret to say, do all of the things the new maximum peak of enforcement along about captain wanted us to do, primarily because the year 1931, and we have generally in of lack of finances. However, within the Evanston held the level of enforcement at division, the Police Department arranged > that peak ever since. Complete candor re to take care of many of the things that it' quires me to tell you that during the .year was not possible for us to do. 1945 there was no change in our program. The radio stations, the newspapers, and Our educational program has been for all the other agencies of public information many years now, intensive. That, program gave .as whole-hearted cooperation during did not change, and in short, I have spent the remaining three months of the year. ' an hour and a half talking with the com On October 1, the traffic death rate for mander of .our Traffic Division of onr the City of Oakland was higher than it Police Department in Evanston, prior to had beat the previous year as 91 persons coming to this session, trying to pry' from were killed The three months of selective him,some one thing that has been dime enforcement and three months of educa in our dty in 1945 that was different from tion paid off as it reduced the death toll t what has bqen done the year before or in from 91 the previous year to 69. Those any yearjfefore. He was at a complete 22 deaths were saved in the last three less tcfexplain anything new that had months of the year which shows definitely happened in his department From Novem that intensive selective enforcement and ber 30, 1914 until January 18, 1916; or a intensive selective education can do it. period of 13 months and 18 .days, we wait We are stiff carrying on the same type without a single traffic death in a city bf of program, not so intensively, but we will, 70,000 population, swollen by the war to during the last three months of this year, 82,000. do the same. At the present time, our death Our city has long delayed furnishing us rate is 6 below last year, which, in turn, with a proper building for carrying on the was an improvement over the previous police court activity. This year, as dis year. tinguished from 1915, they, finally have CAPTAIN TEMPLE: I think the pri- have given us a new city hall building. I raaiy things that led to the winning of the have never seen anything that was so ut first place award in the Southern Region terly amazing as the attitude of those were public education and state-wide^ en people who come into the courtroom in forcement Even though our highway pa this building. The room is exceptionally trol was only 75 per'edit of full' strength beautiful. A considerable amount of money during 1945, the job wasv carried on by has been spent on it and in contrast with each man working longer hours, making the attitude of the pnb1ic,in the old build more accident investigations, malting more ings, we have an entirely different situation arrests, malting more warnings and travel now to handle in the courts. ing more miles. However, I might say that nothing has. In addition to these things, numerous occurred during the year 1945 in'our city police schools were carried on during the 202 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 year.- Each returning veteran to a de The most important is stringent.-,enforce partment was placed in a retraining school. ment of the-traffic regulations. .That is die Several-schools were held for- traffic officers quidt-nrige method . of. getting results. from die various state departments in the That can. only be obtained, through the state; It was primarily public education. cooperation of various police departments We think that: is responsible for the record and. the. justices and judges. . made by Texas in 1945. The second, .of course; is education. We The Texas Safety Association gave - ns have a tine cooperation from die. press. it : .' their .'wholehearted support, and. coopera We have 66 newspapers in the state that tion in reaching the people of our state. - belong to die.Utah Press Association; and t They not only have provided time on the they have given us an unstinted amount of - 1, i< ; <. radio and press releases for contacting the people, bat they have assisted the Depart ment of Public Safety in the distribution of space in their publications. The city press have done likewise We have an outstanding driver licensing VI -.Ci. t:V i: three quarters of a million pamphlets on safety education. They have assisted the department in placing a driver traimngcourse in more than 200 of pur- high schools. They have assisted ns in ah types bureau. We -have stepped up the reqmrements for driver licensing. We had a lot of opposition to that; but nevertheless it 'stuck.. MRSHARP: The Stele of Connecticut of the traffic schools that have been con has been fortunate in receiving over die ` S' ^ ducted and have cooperated with the De partment in making theState of Texas a safer place in winch to drive an automobile. The traffic courts of our state have made past several years, six awards, and three honorable mentions for its traffic and safety work from die National Safety Council. The traffic, division of the Stsite High I the penalty known to all drivers when they way Detriment does not riaim to be the are arrested. That has helped to a' great agency solely responsible for these awards, extent in holding down accidents. Our but we do fed mat the traffic .engineering Accident Report Section has been reorgan-' work carried on by die traffic engineering ized and better use was made of the rec division is a definite contributing factor in ords in 1945 in selective enforcement and winning these. awards together with die selective education. cooperation and coordinated effort of the ' Those things, we think, led to the win other state, agencies interested in traffic ning of die first place award in the South and safety work. ern Group of States. We fed dot the successful functioning MR. BAILEY: We started our traffic of onr* traffic engineering division is due safety program in Utah in 1959, and at to the practical application of the theory that time the governor of die . state organ of'.traffic engineering, and.also the research ized a traffic safety conndl. He set up a work which is continually bring carried on. Traffic Safety Coordinating Committee One of die basic research functions of consisting of leaders of various' depart- our traffic engineering division, which in meats. .Since that time the efforts we have fact, should be a function of everyTraffic. extended as a state organization with- the engineering agency, is foe analysis of high cooperation with die rides and various way accidents to detennine the factor civic groups, have' gradually developed a winch may: be contributory to the .accident public consciousness of the seriousness of by the highway, by the Yehide, or by the 1 ; the traffic situation. driver. We have in onr files a card system We recently completed a Governor's con showing die. analysis of every accident II' I> ference, We had represented at that conference 565 people- representing 91 of onr rides and all of -pgr comities. We fed. that through, their cooperative effort, we -occurring on state highways for die past six years. . The fads gamed from this traffic analysis are used to a great .extent indetermining design features, location and J have been able to do the things we have method- of. delineation, line painting; and done. I am speaHpg of 1945. We are so forth. We also maintain an accident looking forward to a more aggressive spot map which is continually watched for year in 1946. There are three essentials as the development ofan accident "hot spot,** I see it, in trying to curb traffic accidents. so that we may be able to take die neces sary publi It signs of ti manj acqu a si( cm a ever date rate* tone signi is a die ; cent have 6000 com] men) to t limit sizec ing i he I mot* for car be r . A) high park smni driv thei W on mini Thr prol . In mail ther ther aloe hap a% ther .not nect higl hoi whi< ..and of i Traffic Section 203 sary steps to correct- conditions before the edge of the pavement so. that die public seatim&t is aroused. : : ' pedestrian can use what would be normally It is felt that the properuse of a few signs" is inoro advantageous to .the safety, of die highways than- die use of a great many sighs' which is a habit quite easily called a shoulder area, for walking pur-: poses. Since we adopted that principle, I do not recall having any injuries of pedes trians within the marked area. . . .. acquired.., With this in mind. We instigated There are. also maintained stop signs'at a sign . inventory systemwhereby a record all side road intersections on the state, on a punch card system is ihaintained of highways, as practically all: of our trunk everysign in the field.; This record, of fines are considered to be boulevard stops. * course^isnotmade until after a desig Guide lines approaching all channelization nated section ofi^the state has 'been' inven installations in. afeas where the roadway toried by a, trained man to determine what may be restricted-^ by -bridges or under - signs are needed and. to see that each sign passes are maintained. is erected to convey a definite message to Prior to the final drafting of plans' for die public. Our ljlgbway system, is 75 per new construction by the design section of . cent complete -turner this system;. and we the Highway Department, the traffic eh- have been aide to eliminate approximately ' gineering division was givCn the oppor 6000 signs. As yet,;ne have not received tunity for reviewing these plans to deter complaints from die motorists or enforce mine whether the design of the intersec ment officials or local traffic authority due tion would handle the traffic with the least to the lack Aof adequate signs. We'have amount of accidents. I am happy to say limited the use of ipedal signs and over- that the cooperation between the design sued sighs ' through a study of the exist-, section and the traffic section and the re ing conditions: It is felt large signs should sults obtained:are gratifying and certainly- be'placed, to indicate die condition to die result in a safer highway. - motorist traveling at a high rate of speed ' far enough in advance so be can bring, his car under control to execute whatever may be required. MR. WOODCOCK: We in Iowa have a of problems. To tell yon . how we happened to win the grand award in 194$, I would like to say -fins: such an award . All signs which are used on the state . doesn't jnst.. come. , It' isn't through the . highway system with the . exception , of effort of one organization. or department parking signs are reflective so that the, or division that such an award is won. same message may be conveyed to the. driver at night that is conveyed during Our real program m traffic safety began in 1939, andithas been increasing ever die dayfight hours. . since. I would say in making a generaliza We maintain, 3000> miles of line painting tion that the award really was won because on die state, highway system.: Keep in of the complete cooperation of all state , mind; that Connecticut is. a small state. . departments, of file State' Safety Cornual, Three ..thousand miles. Comprises a great and so forth, with extra cooperation! from proportion of our total state, highways. the Highway Commission, and I don'tknow In addition. to..center line painting, we maintain shoulder fines in areas where ' there.are no sidewalks provided^ bnt where there is qpite. a. bit of pedestrian, traffic -along the road. I. might explain the ver nacular I use here of "shoulder fines." In a 'great marry of our rural areas' where there are schools and where the areas can- . not financially afford sidewalks; wein Con necticut, in - connection with our - regular how.; many engineers. We might take a poll of police chiefs here and find very few, bnt we have two of them from Iowa. ' Ottr highway commissioners are here every year, and they attend all of our confer ences in the state. Then,' our Educational Department in cooperation with the High way Patrol, is responsible for, thousands of speeches in service clubs and all types of organizations. highway construction, maintain a hardened Bnt, I think feat the traffic contest it shoulder, ft may be- ah oiled shoulder ( self probably has ,done more.. than any which in proximity to schools, :dmrches, ' other medium to promote the; program of -and places fike that; makes Tor the1 safely safety throughout the whole state of. Iowa. of. pedestrians. We place a white fine. on The state working with the cities and the -f 204 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 cities in turn working with the state, all puli together to reduce the accident toil in the State of Iowa. Just generalizing; it is the complete cooperation of all state or ganizations and then the grand help of all of the members of the national organiza tion that has made it possible for us to win. Discussion JUDGE HILL (Dallas): We pass speed laws, give a man. a.file highway'to travel on and a powerful automobile out of which he can get an excess speed over the speed limit, and then we expect him to observe that speed law. I would like to ask, .wouldn't it be. much more simple for the automobile makers to put a governor upon that which he could press and regu late his speed? Most of the people I catch for speeding do so. unintentionally. Wouldn't it be practical and possible for the automotive engineer to place a gover nor on a man's car and when he gets in the 45 mile, zone, he could press a button and he would have a 45 mile speed. If he is in the 60 mile zone, he does the same thing. He would be automatically within the speed limit Is that practical? MR. DAMON: I am not an engineer, but the engineers have been able to answer most questions with respect to car manu facture. I can only quote to you what General Knudsen, former President of General Motors said at one time, and this goes bade to pnblic opinion: "If the pnbltc wants cars with governors, we will build them with governors." I think if you could assure the industry that today people will buy cars with governors; that they wouldn't tamper with them; that they wouldn't disassemble them, and that you could enforce that in the 48 states, you could put governors on the 25,000,000 cars now on the road. I frankly don't know whether we would gain or lose because obviously if .you have a car from one state on the road with a governor *and you have another car along side of it and he doesn't realize in the passing maneuver that the other car does have a governor, you are going to pile them up head-on. I think perhaps those who are traffic engi neers realize that in the passing maneuver there is an extraordinary small fraction of time, a small margin of safety left by the time that clearance has taken, place. I think the suggestion is one that can't be answered categorically by'saying "No, it couldn't be (krae," or"Yes, it should be done." I wouloifice to call on someone else to express any views on it JUDGE HILL : What would you need in the way of public opinion to convince yon that that is practical? MR. DAMON:. Public opinion that would put governors on the 25,000,000 vehicles now on. the road, would presume ably require state laws , in 48 states. Does that answer' that part oLifTThe question is in two parts with respect to'the . practica bility of first,, putting, governors ott new cars; second, the question of putting, gov ernors on the cars now on the road. Oth erwise you would have speed differentials that' create a passing hazard far in excess of the hazard now existing.' MR. CLAUDE STUBBE -.(St. Paul, Safety Engineer): Is It required by the Department of Education that safety edu cation be a part of the school curriculum in Kansas? MR. BAYNE: No, it. is not required. During the past two years, we finally got to a point where the Director of Education in the State of Kansas made, a few passes along that line. We have safety education in only 33 of the Kansas high schools, but I do believe we are on the road to getting progress in that direction. MR. STUBBE: Do you believe the Fed eral Government should require all states to adopt that in their public education: MR. BAYNE: Decidedly so. I think the majority of safety men would agree with me on that MR. BAILEY: In the State of Utah it is a requirement for teachers* certification. They are required to have*certain credits for safety education before they are certi fied as teachers. MR. HODGES (Great Britain) : Bear ing in mind the different numbers of vehicles, differences in population, differ ences in densities and various things of that kind, how do you manage to judge them impartially? I was very interested in the remarks made by Chief of Police Boice. In Great Britain; we have some 250 Chiefs of Police ' and almost without exceptiqn^ every one of them is solidly behind me movement. and neai sea will the h sbo doc Hu dob yea nati J bee edu and our wh dor teat trai Tb per seb Afl dm COB can by dor soii ,2 the ym pul jot am < cal al ing to for do an am in' ed ] not Sa do op: yo Traffic Section 205 Vi and. if I tell you that out o. those 250, In the Iowa Teachers College, they have nearly 100 of them actually acted as local a safety course for .teachers .and we are .on secretaries to the local,safety council, you the road to making it mandatory that every will see we have a great deal of help from one graduating from teachers collegeswill. the police. .. have to have credits, probably a minor, in MR. DAMON: That is one question we. should refer to* the International Associa tion of Chiefs of Police in`this country. They have, a Safety Division which is. doing a very effective job and tins past year.dtfried on one of the moist, effective nation-wide programs we have had. JUDGE POWERS (Akron) : I have been disappointed that we haven't had an educator on our panel If public opinion and public support are needed to cut down our traffic accidents and traffic fatalities, safety..education. They are going to have A practice driver training range available for adults in the communities, high. schools and so forth. Teachers will get driver., training and- then they , can go out and teach. In Iowa, there are 300 schools that have some form of driver education; and our experience has been as you mentioned. We have ait down the accident rate. We will not get anywhere until we train drivers and I think that answers the speed proposi tion. why don't we begin-in our schools? Why Speed is not one of the mam hazards. It. don't we give full curricular credit for 'is not the cause of accidents' and I think teaching' safety education and driver we are barking up the wrong tree when we training? It has been proved in Cleveland. chop down the speeder altogether or try They have tested if out. They had 1800 to regulate automobile speed mechanically. persons who took it in a certain high The engineers win tell yon that we can school. - They , traced their driving careers. .. build the safest highways in the world and After five or she years out, they found you.can.go out and kill yourself on tiulm, this group had less than 50 per cent of the and. you can do the same, tiring wfth the accidents and deaths as against another safest- automobile. Certainly if anybody controlled group of the same number. If we drives 50 miles an hour in a 35 mile zone, can cut down traffic accidents 50 per cent he doesn't know what he is doing: We by resorting to that simple expedient; why won't get any better unless we tram them don't we listen to it? Why don't we do first Until everybody is trained to drive an something about it?. autpmobile and know; what they are doing MR. DAMON: I would like to point but there are two. questions again involved in your own question. One; the matter- of and can pass a comprehensive driver's license .examination, you are not going to have safe drivers. public opinion that will hade an educational MR. BAILEY: At the Governor's con job in the school; and second, the accept ference in Utah there was a recommenda ance of that responsibility by the educator. tion by tile Educational Committee which On the first question, my attention is called to the fact there will be a public safety education session tomorrow morn ing: I think'you will find that topic fully explored. I would also like to call attention to the fact that the National Committee for Traffic Safety, including (A organiza tions in its membership, has just accepted an assignment to -support driver trailring and driver education in the high schools in' tins nation as one of their major proj consisted of leaders of oar educational group. They recommended that they de velop and have in some of the schools now, a driver educational program as an extra-curricula. They recommended, too, a behind-the-wheel program with the un derstanding that many of our civic dubs will- provide cars with dual control as a dvic dub contribution to many of the school districts to carry, the' program through:-. ects.. INSPECTOR MILLER (Washington, MR. WOODCOCK: Perhaps you didn't D. C): In 1939 we passed a pedestrian notice that I happen to be the Director of regulation, after we had submitted the Safety Education. One of our leading sec program to the public and found we would tions is the Educational Section. Public have public support We > went through opinion of course; as the other men told with an educational program ;for several you, through press and radio is important months and then we attempted to enforce 206 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 % it. We increased our enforcement until we reached the peak, I believe in 1944. Since that time, it has levelled off a little bit, but now we think that we have good observ ance. It is good, for example; in the down town section, but in die outlying sections where traffic signals are somewhat scat tered, not as good. This year, our program seems to be more effective than usual, in that our deaths so far are much less than they were at the same time last year. At present, we are carrying on more of an educational program than an enforce ment program. The radio stations are co operating and have given us more time, than we have ever bad in the past The newspapers carried on a program rite first part of August and on into September. In the District of Columbia, we'went 23 days without a traffic fatality, which shows what you can do if you intensify your program by use of the radio and news papers. But, don't lose sight of enforce ment. We stepped up the enforcement; not only with the pedestrian, bat the drivers. We had more traffic cases the first months of this year than in aU of 1945. JUDGE HILL: What is your pedestrian percentage of deaths as compared to all deaths? 1 INSPECTOR MILLER: The average city percentage runs around 67 per cent to 70 per cent Our percentage of pedestrian fatalities in the District of Columbia was slightly less than 79 per cent and a frac tion. MR. DAMON: Dick Bennett, Secretary of the Safety Contest will give you a summary of what the discussion has cov ered. MR..BENNETT: I think by and large our panel members and members of the audience have put a stamp of approval ou the words of one of our earlier speak ers, Mr. Darr/tbat public support is abso lutely necessary. I know from my own personal observation that none of these cities and states that won in the 1945 contest got way out in front of the public --they took the public along with them. That is how they won. Another thing I noticed was that every speaker used the word "cooperation." Some of them used it many, many times. I think that is important too. Another point they mentioned was bal ance. I think Bert Woodcock said no one department could take credit for it. You have got to have balance. The National Traffic Contest helps get balance. It Shows the weak points and shows where the sec tions of your over-all program aren't up to standard. As Mr. Damon told yon, the National Traffic Contest; does provide a measuring stick. It is an inventory. We are not inventorying you; you are inven torying yourselves in comparing the re ports. I bope you all do. TUESDAY MORNING SESSION October 8, 1946 Group Session for Police Presiding: Ca.pt. William L. Geoth^ Safety Eng. Dept, Virginia State Police, and Chm, Police Div., Traffic Sect, N. S. C Why Investigate Traffic Accidents? By PROFESSOR J. L. LINGO Director, Public Safety Institute, Purdue University The value of accident investigation as an important phase of any traffic accident pre vention program has been generally recog nized and accepted since the theory was first proven through practical application in Cleveland and Evanston hearty twenty years ago. Most of us are familiar with the usual claims which are made regarding the values and purposes of accident investigation. We know that accident investigation Is the very foundation Upon which most of our really effective traffic safety efforts are based. We know that it is the only method yet found <I - ^---.*' . Traffic Section 207 to adequately get the (acts so necessary (or doing enough in traffic safety to justify use . in our programs of enforcement, en making a report? Does it mean that the gineering and. education. police departments in two-thirds of our We know that accident investigation will help to determine if law .violations are com mitted and, if so, to collect evidence which will support a prosecution. We know .that it is the only way we have to gather factual information concerning the circumstances cities are ashamed of the job that they are doing and want ho record made of it? Does it mean that over-seven hundred dty police departments are just not interested in conducting a sound traffic enforcement program? of accidents which can then be used in pre Whatever the meaning, it clearly indicates venting future accidents. the need for drastic improvement in the Before we can discuss the reasons why we should investigate traffic accidents, it becomes necessary to analyze the entire problem in relation to what is being done and what needs to be done. In other words, if we are willing to accept the premise that accident investigation is the. very founda tion for all effective traffic safety efforts, how well have we accepted our responsi bility for doing the job? Just where do we stand today in regard to the use of effective accident investiga majority of our city police departments. It also serves to characterize the past and present conditions regarding this important problem. In order to be effective, the results of accident investigation must be translated into practical summaries and reports. These * summaries and reports must be placed into -practical use. What about the uses that are ` made by our police departments of the reports and records obtained through acci dent investigation? tion techniques by our city arid state police Again referring to the National. Safety departments? This is certainly one of the Contest for 1945, we find the following in questions that must be answered before we teresting summaries: (1) "Enforcement can proceed with, our general discussion. planning was based on accident reports and It is quite evident that the police of this country are doing a very poor, job of acci dent investigation today. This also implies that the police are doing a poor job of the other . traffic enforcement activities that most be predicated on the facts gathered dirough proper investigation of traffic accidents. I seriously doubt that there are a hundred police departments in the country today who are conducting truly effective traffic accident investigation pro records in slightly more than half of the cities over 250,000 population but in only% quarter of the cities between 25,000 and 250,000 population." (2) "Only about onefourth of all cities indicated that accident reports and records were used for educa tional purposes." Again we must keep in mind the fact that we are referring to only about one-third of all cities over 10,000 population, who were sufficiently interested to submit reports in the Contest grams. In the state section of the National Con Whether or not you agree with this esti mate, the important fact is that, individually and collectively, the police of this country have not yet fully accepted and lived up to their responsibilities for saving lives and conserving property through sound traffic law enforcement test the reports also showed serions weak nesses in the uses of accident records. A quotation from the reports states: "Rela tively few states made special tabulations of accident data for enforcement planning and only about a third use special summaries for this purpose." The reports submitted by states and cities For nearly twenty years we have agreed enrolled in the National Traffic Safety Con that accident investigation is a very valu test further substantiate my previous state able and important technique, that it is ment regarding, the poor showing made by basic to the entire traffic safety program of most of our police departments. any state or city. Yet with all of our Of the nearly 1100 cities in this country agreement; its practical application has been with 10,000 or more population, only 380 sadly neglected. or about one third submitted reports in the Unless this responsibility is more gen 1945 Contest Does this mean that the other erally accepted--unless the facts about acci two-thirds, or about 700 cities, were not dents are better obtained and used--most of 208 * 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 our efforts to place accident prevention on ceiving a high number of-accident reports a factual baas will prove futile. and sends squads to the .scene, to investi What then, do we need to do in order to correct die present difficulties 'and place accident investigation bn the plane whereit belongs? How can we make police admin*, gate every acddent. The,weakness, liesin die poor quality of the investigation that is . made at the scene and' in the poor report that is prepared By the investigating officer. . istrators and police bfficess more conscious ..While drivers* reports of acddents are . of their responsibility in this.field? known to.be almost useless from a real Perhaps the best answer to these ques tions lies in again pointing out certain of the present weaknesses that exist in many of our police departments today. The weak nesses would range from poor attitudes on factual standpoint, we have also seen many reports made-, by police officers that cer tainly do not proride much basic infor mation. . The reason for .this condition usually in the part of police officials in certain de volves the attitude of the individual officer. partments to complete lack of equipment, This attitude may be based on many factors personnel and training in others. In my work, a part of which consists of making traffic surveys in various cities, we find city after city where snch weaknesses have been flowed to continue for years. One of the very surprising factors in this regard is that; in many instances, the police officials of the city are not aware of or are not interested in the conditions, that exist Many city police departments still oper ate under a policy of ignoring completely those traffic accidents in which no injury ty death occurs. Others limit investigative attention to those accidents in which there is death, serious injury or where the com bined property damage is $25 or.more. The fallacy of this policy is obvious but it is still the! established procedure in many .de partments, with the result that only a small part of the city's accident picture is known. We have found city after dty where only a fourth or a third of their traffic accidents were even reported to the police. This, of course; means that even a smaller number were investigated. Most of us know the advantages to be gained through complete reporting and in vestigating of accidents in any dty or state. There is no mystery about the methods that can be used to increase such reporting and investigating activities. We know that there are many police departments who have dose an excellent job of getting the public to report acddents immediately, through the 3 use of an immediate reporting ordinance backed up with proper public education. but-is generally due to a lack of knowledge or understanding of the importance..of bis particular job.. This, of course; wffl indicate the definite need for better administra tion and training m the department. Overspedaliration in traffic work; lade of proper equipment, low'salaries, and many other factors play aimportant. role in moulding the individual .officer's attitude toward the job of acddent investigation and traffic law enforcement generally. Many times, the poor attitude of a police officer toward acddent investigation is due entirely to the. practice, of the department of not making the proper use. of. acddent reports and records.. This may be due to a lade of understanding of .the value of such records and to what uses' they may be. put by the department On the other baud, the officer may know that the time and effort spent hi Investigating acddents and in the preparation. of -reports will.. prove, futile because the reports are not used to any advantage. This factor, I fed, isprobably the great est weakness in the traffic safety efforts of most police departments today. They either make no effective, use of the facts gathered through acddent investigation or they fail to, properly acquaint'the individual officer with the uses that are made of his reports. We have seen that there is modi, room for, improvement in our efforts, both col lectively and individually. We must, realize that the time has come to stop, kidding ourselves about the place and responsibility of- law enforcement in the traffic safety ' Another weakness which we frequently field. We must , make realistic answers to find involves the qualify rather than the these questions and sincerely strive to dimi- . quantity of acddent investigation. This is nate the conditions tbit ,make such weak the condition where the department is re nesses possible in our state ordty. ,\ be are bai thii del dd SOD inv car dei the ing wh im] we aim i me cer tra the me Co ard to 1 par Co aw. to . thr fol the I var sis! Int Po tec col! 1 ms ing ma ren f gr* use ant I rea inti . not arc exi rea Traffic Section 209 , We. must all realize that accidents can collective police responsibility and not . just be reduced because in a true sense, they the problem of. a selected group within the are not really accidents. Top many of . us department This, of :course, implies more have been thinking of accidents as some effective coordination of .all police activities, thing bound to happen and. accepting a' and a broader concept of law enforcement defeatistattitude, about reducing them. Ac generally. It means, a change of emphasis cidents, in the main, are caused,%nd usually in the trend. toward over-specialization in some violation or violations .of law are traffic work which has been responsible for involved' in .the. causes. Because they are many of our present difficulties. We have, caused, they can be controlled. Such control in many departments, carried specialization dependis upon the thoroughness with which in traffic activities to the point where less the police attack the problem of investigat than a fourth or fifth of the potential police ing, the occurrence and reporting the facts enforcement capacity is even expected to be which they. discover.. Perhaps it would - devoted to traffic activities. improve bur thinking along these lines i Bruce Smith, an eminent authority on Jaw we'changed our terminology and substituted enforcement, las stated: "Strenuous efforts another wordfor accident . have been made to convince general patrol : I strongly fed dot the. police depart officers and specialized traffic officers that ments of this country should.make a sin each should play-the other's game. Such cere and realistic effort to evaluate their efforts have tilled, in large measure^ be traffic enforcement activities in relation to cause the generalist tends to be distrustful the nationally recognized standards recom of the. preoccupations of the specialist, mended by. the President's Highway Safety while the specialist tends to narrow down,. Conference. If they do not meet the stand rather than to widen the scope of his in- ards, every possible means should be taken terests. If the functioning of the police to make the. necessary changes. ` force, or any part of it is made dependent Every police dqartment should enroll and upon the closely articulated action by a participate in the National. Traffic Safety number of specialized , units or bureaus, the Contest. Whether or not the city wins an failure of one may destroy the effective award'is of little significance in relation ness.of alt" to the valuable services which it receives In concluding our discussion it ought be through the analysis of its report and the wdl to return ..to our original ..question: followup assistance which is available from "Why. Investigate Traffic Accidents?", and the National Safety GouncsL . try to point out some of the outstanding Every police department should take ad advantages from the standpoint- of the vantage of die' survey and in-service as ^police department and of the individual sistance . programs available through the police officer. - International Association of Chiefs of Accident investigation, properly used, can Police Traffic Division, the Automobile Pro be of great benefit to any police department tective and Information Bureau, various We have already seen some of the weak colleges and universities and other agencies. nesses. that are sure to exist when law Every police department should recog enforcement is based on opinions rather nize the Value and need for adequate train? than upon facts. These weaknesses are not ing and should utilize the'.services of the . limited to enforcement alone but are sure many organizations which are capable of ' to be found in all of our efforts involving rendering assistance in this: important field. education, engineering and legislation, as In many departments the job could be well. gready unproved by the development and How, for example, could we hope to re use of more efficient policies and procedures vise our outmoded city ordinances unless and by more effective administration. we have the facts about what is needed? . Police ' administrators1 must accept the Accident investigations, can provide a large reality of traffic law enforcement as an part of these facts. integral part of modern police work and How could we conduct a selective educa . not consider it as a stepchild to be kicked, tional program for pedestrian safety unless around bySward heelers," so called "traffic we know* the facts about pedestrian accident experts" and other, amateurs. They must experience? Accident investigation can pro realize that traffic law enforcement is a vide these facts. . - , 210 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 How could we determine which of our from basing our program on the facts intersections need engineering attention un about where accidents are occurring, when less we know where, when and how our they are occurring and the major violations accidents are occurring? Accident investi that, are causing them. The importance of gation can give us this infor matron. selective enforcement needs no further So then, the most important answer to our question is that effective accident in vestigation will provide the facts upon which all of our efforts toward real acci dent reduction are based. elaboration on our part today. 4.It creates an attitude on the part of the driving and walking public that acci dents are not merely individual affairs but that they are likely to result in action by Most of us are primarily interested in the enforcement phase of the traffic safety problem. We could spend many hours of discussion on the great number of advan tages to be gained for law enforcement through effective accident investigation. In general, these advantages are the same as would accrue to any business project that was being operated on an efficient and factual basis. Some of the more important advantages to be gained through effective accident investigation are: 1. It raises the standards of police per formance and -brings law enforcement nearer to the professional status that it so rightfully deserves. ' We hear a great deal about profession alization of the police service today. One of die retarding factors in this regard has been the enthusiastic; but often premature attempts to apply the word "professional" to policing without sincerely facing its im plications. Factual accident .investigation, properly used, would do much to assist the police in meeting the implications and re sponsibilities of professionalism. 2. It shows die public that the police are aware of their obligations to enforce the law and to protect life and property; thus resulting in better public support and im proved public relations. In other words, effective accident investi gation and its related activities in policing, provide one of the best media for public education and for obtaining public support for die needs and objectives of the police. When higher salaries or more expensive equipment is needed,, the public will sup port the police only if they are fully aware of the'reasons why such things are needed. 3. It provides for an effective utilization of police manpower and equipment on the basis of real selectivity. the police, hi a sense, it protects the in terests of those who are the victims of a wrongful act or violation of law. It seems incredible that many police de partments today will arrest a driver who goes through a preferential street without stopping, but where no accident occurs. Another driver commits the same act, an aeddent results, and no arrest is made. The creation of a public awareness that police action will likely result from a violation of law in accident* cases is one of the best means of deterring future violations. Just as these factors are sure to mate' rially benefit the department, so will they prove most advantageous to the individual officer. Effective aeddent investigation will also benefit the individual officer in a number of other ways. It provides a real interest motivation and incentive for doing a better, job. He will know that 'the department is functioning as a coordinated unit and that his efforts play, an important part in determining the suc cess of the departmental program. He will know that the information which he spends time and effort in obtaining is being prop erly used. He will know tint this informa tion and his part in the entire program is vital- to the reduction of accidents--to the saving of lives, human suffering and money. These factors are very important because no .departmental program can be effective if tiie individual officers are not .thoroughly interested in traffic law enforcement . In concluding this discussion, I should like to express my thanks to all of you who have listened so attentively. I hope that at least I have, been able to bring you a new thought or two regarding this im portant matter. I hope that when_ you go hade home you will make a realistic inventory and evaluate' We all are familiar with selective en the job that is being done in yonr own forcement and the advantages to be gained department Traffic Section 211 1 hope that all of you will, realize the value of the. factual approach to traffic safety and make every effort to place your operations, on such a basis. '. I hope that we may stop making excuses for poor performance and really begin to get the job of accident investigation done properly. I hope that law enforcement generally will accept its responsibility in the traffic safety field and that in the coming months we may experience some real results in accident reduction throughout the nation. Law enforcement today is on the spot. All of us can help to place it in the high position where it rightfully belongs. Why Investigate Traffic Accidents? (Summary of Panel Discussion) Leader: CAPTAIN JOHN P. O'NEILL Accident Investigation District, Bureau of Police, Philadelphia, Pa. Participants: Capt. J. Millajid Gibson, Commanding Traffic^ Police Dept., Sioux Falls, So. Dak. T ' -..... - H. W. Johnson, Supt, Traffic Safety Div, Police Dept, Kansas Gty, Mo. Capt. Ruxton M. Ridgely, Maryland State Police. Lt. Geobge Wakneb, Traffic Div., Police Dept, Lansing, Mich. Sgt. Majob Pbeston B. Weeks, Acci dent Reporting Div, Georgia Dept of Public Safety. Enforcement should be handled by all members of a department, but accident in vestigation should be assigned to specially trained men whenever it is possible. There should be as much specialization by per sonnel engaged in accident investigation as 'there is in criminal investigation, since accident investigation is. fully as intricate and requires an equal amount of special knowledge and training. Every attempt should be made to increase the quantity and quality of reports turned into the police department The steps which must be taken to increase such reporting are proper legislation, education . of all members of the police department, educa tion of the public through all possible media, prosecution of those, who fail to report" or who report late, improved service to titizens who do report promptly and properly and wider use of the sound slidefilm, "On Record," to make the problem and its 'solutions known. TUESDAY MORNING SESSION October 8, 1946 Group Session for Traffic Court Judges and Prosecutors Presiding: Judge Joseph M. Wyatt, Chief Justice, Baltimore (Md.) Traffic Court Adequate and Consistent Fines and Penalties (Summary of Panel. Discussion) . . Leader: JAMES P. ECONOMOS Ex. Secy, Traffic Court Committee, Jr. Bar Coni, American Bar Assn. Judge Ruvian D. Hendrick, Gty Court, Shreveport, La.: Laws are made for the protection of the life and liberty of citizens. The enforcement of such laws should be designed to further this purpose. All aims of the judges occupying traffic benches should be directed to the; education and correction of offenders. Punishment is secondary and revenue should not be taken into consideration. In order for a traffic court to be' effective, its activities must be coordinated'.- at the scene of the offense over the past five or ten years. (5) Records of the Traffic Court's penal ties. Xo matter how minor an individual's rights might be, they are of sufficient im portance, judicially speaking, - to warrant individual attention by the judge. This ideal is not achieved where a Cafeteria Court exists. The cooperation of the public plus a rigid application of uniform fines has proved effective in Salt Lake City.- Judge Edmund R. Smith, Municipal Court, Kansas City, Missouri; and ViceChairman, Traffic Court Division, N. S. C. ... Juveniles include the group of persons under 21 years of age. Sane courts with traffic jurisdiction are enabled, by the gov erning statutes; to handle those age. groups above 17. Thus the imposition of a $35.00 fine on.all What a particular court can do in treat speeders who are unable to show legitimate ing violators within these groups depends, excuse or extenuating circumstances has upon the power and authority given to the ' been so effective that virtually no repeater court The most effective deterrent is to problem exists. This can be attributed to arrange to take away the juvenile's driving the high fine and impartial imposition privileges either by suspension of license thereof. or parental cooperation. Another excellent When an offender does appear with two previous convictions of moving violations against his record, a jail term is imposed. Drunken drivers get a high fine and short jail sentence for the first offense; a straight jail term for the next misstep. The ex perience has been that an increase in fines if followed by a decrease in accidents. Judge Guy Shearer, Traffic Court, Louis ville, Kentucky: Records are subject to the rules of evi dence but ,are of great value to the court both in determining guilt or innocence and for the assessment' of the proper- penalty. Such records as are not acceptable under the rules of evidence for the purpose of determining guilt or innocence may behelp ful, if received after that issue lias been determined, on the question of punishment A conviction on felony charges, records of physical facts concerning the scene of the offense, and facts set out on driver's license of the accused are generally acceptable as evidence. Those listed below are generally pro hibited : punishment is attendance at traffic schools, particularly for those who do not know basic requirements of the traffic code. How ever, this punishment is no better titan the management of the school. Fines are only worth while if the offender "sweats them out" and not if the parent'pays. The use of parental cooperation on this score is im portant and can easily be obtained. Judge Otis R. Hess, Municipal Court, Cincinnati, Ohio: Since judges administer laws and laws usually specify penalties, the judge is legally bound by the provisions of statutes. Punishments not therein provided should not be used. However, where the court is permit ted probationary powers, it can, by means of offering violators probation provided they agree to accept certain requirements, utilize provisions not ordinarily provided for in the law which creates the offense and specifies its punishment Examples of this are having license plates, turned in for a specified period, restricting driving privi leges and sending offenders to traffic school. Judge Joe M. Hill, Corporation Court, Dallas, Texas: (1) Records of all previous motor vehicle violations and convictions other than felonies. The purpose of traffic courts is to obtain compliance from drivers. Punishment is not an end in itself. The experience of one (2) Records of conviction for misdemean ors in Police, County and Magistrates* Courts. (3) Records of accused's previous attend ance at the Traffic Safety School. driver in court shonld be passed on to those who escape the experience of a trial. This is traffic enforcement through education and depends, in a large measure, on the radio'and the press. Two important aspects of enforcement which-, cannot be over-esti (4) Records of traffic accidents occurring mated are certainty of punishment and the leS CO! pn to Pf *0 as: ao ms av Hi joi an ret tie trs or an. i of of rd re! ao .tin ws in sei Pr fn dii po fla ex ar tw co r Iai or Traffic Section 213 ieSson of .courtesy. Most infractions are committed tmthinltingly; AH 'drivers are ' prone to violate traffic laws and the job is to impress on them the importance of con- centrating on the job at hand. If we ivere able to sell the idea of courtesy behind the wheel, much of the traffic law enforcement problem would be eased. TUESDAY MORNING SESSION October 8, 1946 Group Session for Traffic Engineers Presiding: T. J. Sebohn, Traffic Engineer, Department of Public Works, Kansas City, Mo. The Responsibility of Highway Features In Traffic Accidents By WAYNE N. VOLK Traffic Engineer, State Highway Commission of Wisconsin, Madison A few years ago1 statements on the- respectively, while only ,0.5 fatal or injury assignment of responsibility for traffic accidents per million vehicle miles occurred accidents to highway features could be. on two sections of expressways which car made with impunity since few facts were ried comparable traffic. Grntfol- of cross, available. Now, however, the Interstate traffic plus elimination of pedestrians from Highway Accident Study being conducted the express highways accounted for. the jointly by the Public Roads Administration major portion of the.acrident reduction. and the National Safety Council should result in the develojpment of factual rela tionships between highway features and traffic accidents. You have no doubt noted that these acci dent reductions have been accomplished by improvements produced by building a very high type of highway ranging in cost from This study'is based upon accidents rec $60,000 per mile in favorable terrain to ords rather than opinion, and from now on, $1,000,000 per mile or more in urban areas. an$-one who makes statements on the sub * The Public Roads Administration has esti- ject takes the risk of haring at least some * mated that from 95 to 97 per cent of state of his opinions contradicted by th^ findings highway mileage may never progress be of his survey. . * yond a 2-lane highway amply, because funds There have been, in the past, a few .would not be available and traffic volumes reliable studies winds indicate very definite would not justify a higher, type of road relationships between highway features and way; It is necessary, therefore, to study the accidents. Engineers have, worked with characteristics of 2-lane highways and traf these Incomplete data in rebnilding high fic behavior on -them to eliminate features ways in states and communities, especially which cause or contribute to accidents. in the 'case of divided highways with grade separations and the use of the freeway principle. Some of the highway features contribut ing to accidents are specific flaws in the roadway itself such as a hole, stock pile of The generally accepted definition of a material, loose' surface material, etc. Driv freeway is that it is a highway upon which ers rarely blame the accident on such direct access to abutting property and all factors as lack of proper signs, the sharp possible conflicting or interfering traffic ness of a curve, restricted sight, distance, flows .are eliminated.. In California, for etc When a representative of a highway example^- accidents on regular major city department makes a personal investigation arteries were compared with accidents on of any location haring an accident record, two express highways to which access was the first thing that he hears from residents controlled and all cross traffic removed by and other interested parties is that there grade separation structures. On two regu aren't enough signs,, and secondly, that the lar city streets, there were 4.4 and 25 fatal curve is too sharp or that some other high or injury accidents per million vehicle miles way feature is not right. 214 34tk National Safety Congress, 1946 Qassifying holes in the road, etc., as "defects" has enabled some students of this problem to use the term "fault" to describe such factors as inadequate lane "width, re stricted sight distance, narrow shoulders, sharp curves, etc. Using the more inclusive term "fault" it is possible to blame the highway for 15 to 40 per cent or more of the accidents. But modem superhighways from which these "faults" have been elimi nated do not necessarily result in a reduc tion of the accident rate. In building die Pennsylvania Turnpike all available knowl edge was utilized to make it foolproof and eliminate accidents. Yet accidents occurred. Instead of driving too fast for the roadway as is usually the case, motorists on die Turnpike were driving too fast for their own physical limitations or die condition of their cars. Accidents still occur oh some of the na tion's most modem highways, yet, we all know of many roads having poor physical features which do not have a high accident rater-This incongruity leads one to believe that newspapers may be correct in speaking of the "scene" or the "location" of an accident . Rarely do they dte the highway as'the'tause of the accident. Defects such as a hole in the roadway, rocks on the road, narrow' shoulders where emergency parking is often necessary, and so forth are "causes" of accidents, but lack of proper and reason able care, skill and judgment on the part of drivers furnish by far the greatest "cause" of accidents. Because we cannot hope to build many miles of foolproof superhigh ways, we .will have to have increasing co operation from the average motorist if we are to achieve any substantial reduction in accidents. *- One element of the highway involves curves and turns. In South Carolina a study showed tiiat the accident rate was 1.6 per mile on curves and 1.0 per mile on straight stretches, both sections carrying similar traffic. Ohio found that curves of greater than 4 degrees made up 6 per cent of the total rural. state highway mileage, but contributed 15 per cent of the accidents. We hope to have data sometime to tell us what is the critical curvature above which accidents will increase disproportionately, so that new highways can be properly de- signed. Until that time, we will have to be content to eliminate or ease some curves, and to mark those remaining so that they will not be the scene of accidents. _ Hills may also, contribute to accidents. Obio found that hills with a grade exceed ing 7 per cent constituted 2 per cent of the total rural state trunk highway mileage but accounted for 8 per cent of the accidents. Excessive grades are rarely reduced except in large-scale reconstruction projects, but if one of the factors involves hazardous over taking and passing of slow-moving trucks as they grind up the hill, one remedy is to add a special lane up the hill for such vehicles, thus freeing the rest of the road way for faster traffic. Intersections are the scene of a consider able proportion of accidents. Many familiar things can be done to hdp drivers negotiate. intersections. safely (warning signs, speed control, stop signs, traffic signals, channel ization, lighting, and finally separation of grades). Most of these remedies can be applied to Existing highways. The subject of signs is controversial. Many persons believe ah tiiat is needed is to provide bigger and better signs. It is becoming increasingly apparent to anyone who has occasion to travel unfamiliar high ways, that bigger and better signs are jnst what we need. Many highways are woe fully in need of improved signing. I do not mean that they should be lined with billboards, but the signs that are used should <be satisfactory for both day and night*driving and they should be fitted to the job. For instance, take warning sigik for curves, narrow bridges, etc. The present standard, reflecting symbol sign is, in my opinion, satisfactory for the great majority of curves. Its value can be greatly increased at night by the addition of a small sign stating the so-called "safe" speed for that curve. We do need larger symbol signs for the tmsual hazard. In general 24" signs for "One Way Bridge" or other hazards re quiring the use of words are not large enough to permit the wording to be read at night, at present-day speeds, under un favorable conditions of visibility. These signs need to be larger. Accidents at intersections are frequently caused by the driver being in the wrong lane' to make the desired turn or because he was not informed of the intersection soon enough. This means that advance in Traffic Section 215 formation signs for intersections' of num bered routes must be made readable at greater, distances and must be placed suf ficiently far in advance of the intersection to permit the motorist to slow down to make his turn. Because driver faults cause the largest proportion of accidents, and because drivers tend to out-drive the range of their vision and to rely on the highway being free from obstructions or faults, the highway engineer must be careful not to introduce an un usual hazard without providing extraordi nary protection. We had an instance of this in northern Wisconsin recently when a Sash flood washed out a bridge .on an im portant highway and a temporary Bailey bridge was set up a few feet to one side of the rite of the former structure. The high way at this point was absolutely Sat and it was possible to see approaching vehicles for a half mile in either direction. The stand ard reflecting wanting signs were erected well in advance at either end of the tem porary bridge and a barricade backed with a low mound of earth was placed across the pavement to prevent cars from bring driven, into the gap left by the missing bridge. In quick succession three accidents occurred, and in each case the driver ap parently kept driving past all of the "Slow," "Bridge* Out," "Turn," etc, signs until he suddenly saw the barricade and then it was too late to stop. All of these accidents occurred at night It was apparent that the solution was to build up the mound of earth high enough to prevent drivers from seeing the headlights of approaching traffic across the gap. To be on the safe side we also reduced the number, and increased the size of the advance signs. Although most of this discussion has been on the rural highway problem with which I am most familiar, we all know that city roadways contribute to accidents. About two-thirds of all fatal accidents and nearly half of all injury accidents in cities inyolve pedestrians. Yet little has been done in most cities to protect them--indeed the emphasis is on speeding up the flow of vehicular traffic There are several ways in which pedes trians and vehicular traflic can be aided simultaneously. One is by providing chan nelization at excessively wide or confusing intersections. This facilitates traffic yet provides, pedestrians, with a refuge, en abling them to cross the street in two or more stages, through .one-way instead of two-way traffic streams. Medial safety islands and loading islands can also be provided for pedestrians espe cially on broad thoroughfares where pedes trians are unprotected. These islands, as well as all channelization, should be of a type which will not be a hazard to motor vehicles, else the danger will merely be transferred from one type of traffic to the other. They must be well marked and lighted or they will become in themselves a hazard. The motorist is entitled to reason able indication of the presence of an ob struction in his path. Restricted vision at intersections, seem ingly inherent in the development of streets in most cases, is a factor in many accidents. This can rarely be eliminated. It usually necessitates the use of restrictive measures such as stop signs, traffic signals, etc. Re stricted vision is important to pedestrians at mher locations. It has been found ad visable to eliminate parking in front of schools during hours of attendance. The recent elimination of parking in the down town section of Philadelphia resulted , in a 40 per cent reduction in pedestrian mid block accidents. Inability, of drivers to see pedestrians and objects in front of their vehicles, under older types of street lighting has been an important contributing factor. in accidents. This factor is often aggravated in cities which have a higher percentage of dark surfaced pavements than rural highways. The important remedy for this is, of course, adequate street lighting. There is a new edition of the Recommended Practices of Street and Highway Lighting developed jointly by the- Illuminating Engineering Society and the Institute of Traffic Engi neers, which contains revised standards for the lighting of various classes of streets and highways. In conclusion, it may be pointed out that we can reduce the contributions made by the highway to accidents ,t>y eliminating such items as intersections, excessive curva ture, narrow shoulders, limited sight dis tance, pedestrians, excessive grades, rail road grade crossings, defective surfaces, narrow, bridges, and so forth, and by add ing good , marking and signing, speed zon ing, . .lighting, signalization, guard rail, 216 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 flatter ditch slopes, channelization, side* walks, and so forth. Of major importance is protection of the highway from unre stricted and unreasonable access which has in the past done so much to nullify high way improvements. There is obviously much that "can be done to increase the safety of travel on highways which do not justify superhighway status. It is to be hoped that the .results of the. Interstate Highway Accident Study will give us some of the answers in numerical form so that we can continue this work on the basis of factual data. Pres Results of Houghton lake Skidding and Traction Tests By RALPH A. MOYER Research Professor of Highway Engineering, Iowa State College, Ames; Chairman, Committee on Winter Driving Hazards; N.S.C. Winter is a salient factor in the traffic accident problem. Studies by the Commit tee on Winter Driving Hazards show that the mileage death rate increases shaply during the winter and reaches its peak in December. Studies by this Committee show that accident death Tates increase' from 24 to 53 per cent in the snowbelt states during the winter months and that reduced visibil ity and inadequate traction are die primary hazards of winter driving. Tests have con sistently demonstrated the need for im proved winter road maintenance, especially on city streets. In January of this year, the Committee on Winter Driving Hazards conducted a series of skidding and traction tests for commercial vehicles at Houghton lake, near Roscommon, Midi. The purpose of die tests was two-fold: to make a limited investigation of the sledding characteristics of heavy vehicles on ice and to develop testing techniques for a more comprehensive study later. The tests were hampered by adverse weather which prevented complete investigation with the largest vehicles and full loads, but more than 700 stopping, circle and acceleration tests were ran. While incomplete in some cases, the tests revealed new facts and corroborated others. Some of the more important findings are: (1) Temperatures near freezing are more dangerous than zero temperatures when .driving on ice.' Wet ice greatiy in creases braking distance, and accelera tion time of bare tires. (2) Glare ice requires nearly nine times as much distance to stop as dry concrete. On drive wheels only, standard chains reduce this to three times as much dis tance and premium chains to twice as much. (3) Pumping brakes' and gearing down is better than locking the brakes on ice. (4) Sanders are effective only if the right kind of grit is used. (5) Chains aid acceleration on ice, but in this respect premium chains do not show marked advantage over standard. (6) Automatic locking differentials help . acceleration when only one drive wheel has traction. (7) Chains permit some increase in speed without side skidding on curves. (8) ' Natural rubber tires are superior to synthetics in stopping and accelerating on ice. However, the difference is not great enough to. justify the claim that synthetic tires are responsible for all skidding accidents. R. const shop state muni anno for' scho acctc recei need local port Ci Com local need pliec data acd< of i tain* fact* grat Li Itna an the i mad Hov the lean CJ Mar gran case Traffic Section 217 TUESDAY MORNING SESSION \ October 8, 1946 Joint Session--Public SafetyEducation Association and TrafficSafety Education Association Presiding: Donald Slvtz, Managing Dir., Traffic Safely Assn, of Detroit What Cities and Stcries Can Do to Help Each Other ' (Summary of Panel Discussion R. C. Salisbury (Dir., Safety Div., Wis- consin, can play an important part in mak consin Motor Vehicle Dept): The state ing it available. This material can be used should provide accident summaries on a for the press, radio, schools, meetings, etc state-wide basis for use in the.local com munities of the state. In Wisconsin an annual accident facts booklet is published for' this purpose. It is used by police^ schools, counties, etc. The state has a driver accident reporting law. If the state is to receive necessary information, this is needed. Otherwise it must depend upon local enforcement agencies to forward' re . Leo /. -Welch (Dir, Safety Education, Div.. of Safety Education, New Jersey Dept, of Motor. Vehicles) : .Theatres are one of the best mediums -for presenting traffic safety to both drivers and pedes trians. The state can help in doing this in several ways. If possible^ it can produce its own film, which should be of theatrical calibre. It can help in the distribution of ports to the state. films made for general distribution by ar Charles W. Goodson (Exec. Secy-, Fresno ranging previews for local officials and ar County [Calif.]. Chapter, N. S. C.): The ranging block bookings. In the latter case local community to do an education job the local community should be advised of needs accident facts. These can be sup booking dates. Li addition, the state can plied by the state in respect to state-wide suggest supplementary programs to accom data, but there is need for much additional pany. the showing of die film. The state aeddent reporting arid analysis on the part can also maintain a loan library of 16 mm. of small. communities.' Until this is ob subjects and sound slide films. ' tained, aeddent records cannot be satis factorily used in- planning education pro A. P. Gorman (Pres, Kingsport [Tom.] grams. Lieutenant George E. Hurteau (So. Caro lina State Hwy. Patrol): The state has 'an important part to play in supplying the communities within the state with tailormade traffic safety education programs. Safety Council): In small communities without a paid director of safety education it is necessary to'depend much more upon oufside help than in larger places. The state should furnish plans for programs such as the brake check program from time to time. However, it should , avoid putting itself in the position where the local communities lean on the state to do their job for them. - W. A. Huggins (Chief, Accident. Pre vent Bur, Calif. Dept of Motor Vehicles): In California it*is planned to work with . Chief James J. Kupic (Chief of Police, local communities and offer them a month Manitowoc, Wis,): The dty needs pro* by month program of education so that all gram materials . and, particularly in the cities in the state will be carrying on the case of small cities, the states as in Wis*. same type of activity at the same time. ,\ i \ i 218 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 TUESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION October 8, 1946 General Session Presiding: Caw. Paul JT. Pbice, Traffic Div., Dayton (O.) Police Dept Reducing Highway-Railroad Crossing Accidents By COL. C. R. BRADLEY Commissioner, Mississippi Dept of Public Safely Dir,, PnMic Relations Bur* lEsrisriroi Dept of Public Safety Paper presented, by A. S. Windham One of the oldest of all traffic problems-- Mississippi had die worst record for high grade crossing accidents--is still one of the way-railroad grade crossing; accidents in die most serious, despite all the traffic safety United State. That fact motivated the' advances which have been made in recent Department of Public Safety to plan a; years. It is serious, not from the stand- program. to reduce the toll. Several con point of the number of* persons killed, ferences by die staff of the Department, whidractually is a small part of the yearly officials of die National Safety Goundl and traffic toll, but from the standpoint of the officials of. the several railroads operating certainty with which persons involved in in MissiSsippi shaped the campaign. grade crossing accidents die. A formal conference in the Governor's In traffic accidents generally, one person office shortly before the .holidays that year in 35 who are injured, dies. In grade cross formally opened the campaign. Representa ing accidents, one in three dies. Even with tives of die- railroads, of: die National out that comparison, it should be obvious Safety Council and of the state government that chances of survival are slim when you discussed the problem at length with the . are involved in an accident with a ttain Governor and representatives of the . press. , weighing thousands of tons. Right here and radio who were present were given a lies die seriousness of die whole grade good picture of the situation in Mississippi. crossing situation. As a result of this conference, the first . action of Governor Briley was to issue a For die first- time, however, the problem proclamation on the highway-railroad grade . has been tackled actively o'n'a nationwide 'crossing problem which was given wide' basis by the NationaPSafety Council, of-' circulation throughout the state. ficials in the various states and die coun try's railroads. The Grade Crossing Pro gram, begun actively only the first of this year, is still far too young, to show any sweeping results. One fact, however, seems to indicate that the Program is exerting a ! helpful influence on the problem.-That is the fact that statistics for the first six months of this year, 1946, show that .grade crossing fatalities rose only 6 per cent over the same period of 1945 while traffic fatali ties skyrocketed 40 per cent above the toll of the first half of 1945. Although the press and radio cooperated excellently ? in the jab of educating the ' public on the hazards ofcarelessness at grade crossings, the program in Mississippi. was essentially, one of personal.. contact through speaking engagements, which reached over- 3OQO0O persons.in 73. of the state's 82 counties. Mr. Sid Law -.of the Illinois: Gmtral. Railroad worked with Capt A. S.Windhaip, Public Relations Officer of. the Dept, of Public Safety and the two of thou visited over 650 schools, both., white and colored, and .some: 250 adult My own state of Mississippi provides an groups' and' civic organizations during the excellent example of the manner in which first 12 months of the program. The re- the cooperation of all agencies concerned sults'bf tiie program speak for themselves with grade crossing- accidents can achieve --grade crossing accidents in Mississippi a marked reduction in the toll. In late 1944, were reduced 50 per cent Disi ;d Par C Sf L- C C J! the die. It priu ' enfo out due* rule TI can. tnen qtie acco sciho - tion way, roon that or* scho Ti Som print the" . thbsi for cbiM : 'So depa som then and,' the . right Sp of ti Traffic Section . 219 Traffic Schools .. (A: Pane! Discussion) Discussion Leader: Judge Edward C. Fish er. Municipal Court, Lincoln, Neb., and vicechairman. Traffic Court Div., N. S. C. Participants: rience in Lincoln, we started traffic schools Caft. Gesald C Kopp, Supt.of Educa tion, Div. of Police, Louisville,' Ky.' Sgt. Ted R. Smith, Chief Collision In vestigator, Police Dept, Pasadena, Calif. Lt. Olives Meister, Public Relations Unit Police Department Cleveland, O. Cait. FBE BosSMAN, PoliceDept, Sagi- naw, Mkh. some years ago jointly by the court, police and local safety council. At first, they are attended quite heavily by volunteers, just a sprinkling of violators,, but as it progressed along; that portion was reversed, and we had only a sprinkling of volunteers, and during the war it was attended only by a .few. : Caft. John A. Richardson, Commanding Recently , oar school has- been full of Traffic Div.,. Police Dept, Portland, juveniles, who are successful in making the On.; officer conducting the class prariaturely. ; JUDGE . FISHER-: It seems to me that gray. Properly staffed and conducted, - they thelceynote car central' theme inthis con are a very valuable aid in carrying on the gress has to be to get tiie cooperation of traffic law enforcement We-found it much the public. We can do that by education. more successful in the case of those.who It is now .quite generally realized that the attended voluntarily, for their own educaprime function and purpose of . traffic law . tion, self protection, or civic pride, what enforcement is to educate motorists, point ever made them come; rather than for those, out the dangers in. unsafe driving, and in who attended simply in order to get out of duce them to comply voluntarily with the paying a fine! : roles laid down for their own good. . Those latter were very apt to . fee! re There are several opinions as to how.this sentful about it as.simply another form of can be achieved, whether by strict .enforce penalty.. After thatftraifEc school dwindled ment. campaigns, or .by .other.,means.. Many, .out,,I. set tip what I called, an extension cities .have, decided that the best means to .course. That is an alternative to every accomplish this, is by setting up . traffic traffic violator. The/e are certain excep schools of. different types, giving educa-. tions, as in the case of serious offenses, turn along traffic1 safety.lines, and by tire such as . suspension of sentence, during way, one of the speakers in our session this which the. party gives up Ms driver's li morning had . a good suggestion on -that, cense or. driving and studies traffic rules. that rather than call them violators' schools He has to pass a test^ arid writes a paper or. traffic schools, call them traffic safety on traffic'safety. That might be called a schools. .. traffic school. conducted as part of:, the The significance is great, it seems to me. Some: of these schools are in the nature of petal , institutions, where the. judge sends the'violators. Others, are used chiefly for thosewho volunteer to come in. Some are course. All the work was homework, and none of the shenanigans in the classroom. or anything of that land could get'in to it A fellow had to work on it or he couldn't get his driver's license back. . for juveniles, in order, to avoidpenalizing Li offering it as an. alternative we made cbiMravOthers are open to alii . it purely optional ori their part. : 'Some of these are. conducted by police departments, and some by safety councils, some in the schools, and some by the courts themselves.. Many contend driver education and traffic education should be a part of Then, . there is the; question, can any of these types, of traffic sqhodsr be worthwhile? Some are- better than. others, .ami we are hoping, the discussion today witt develop the advantages of these different types., the schools. Others say they should be CAPTAIN KOPP : I' suppose all of us . right In the enforcementdeparthient recognize the fact that in most-.'places . Speakingon, behalf of the judicial side throughout''these United. States, you are of the picture, and citing .thy own expe- . experiencing an increase in. traffic. Accidents and facilities. While we have had an in fine, or; in lieu of that fine, may attend the crease in accidents, we do have a decrease traffic school and then the case, at the .com in the fatalities in Louisville. pletion of the school's course, is dismissed. One of the things that I think is of the They, of course; also have the oppor I i greatest help in reducing traffic accidents tunity to go before a court in order to be is a sound educational program. heard in a traffic citation case. . 1 realize that the three must go hand in Probably the best way that I can explain ! hand, education .engineering and enforce the working conditions of a traffic school ment Lack of one of diem will cause jour wonld be to describe our traffic school in entire program to collapse. But every city Louisville. It was inaugurated September or town must furnish some means for its 4, 1946; and at that time we called it a citizens to become more familiar with the Traffic Violators' School. We wanted to traffic laws that govern the individuals. get as many volunteers in to the school as You can not hope to get across to your we could, so we dropped the word "vio citizens the fact that they must obey traffic lator" and then had a noticeable increase in laws only through a group of police officers the number attending the school. controlling the streets. A traffic school is something to the greatest advantage as far as the citizens are concerned, helping them to gain a better and broader understanding of the traffic laws. The most essential beginning, I believe, in having a good traffic school, besides having a good sound program in your school, is to have the cooperation of your judges. We are most blessed in Louisville with having a traffic judge who realizes the importance of good education. Guy Shearer is our traf Persons given citation tickets can come in and elect to go to the traffic school, if they so desire. If they do so, they must attend the. traffic school for three nights. They are given a notice telling them what will be required of them at the time they elect to go to the traffic school, telling them what nights to appear in the school. At die end of the school coarse; they are required to take an examination, on which they must malm seventy per cent or better. If they so complete it; the case pending against diem will be dismissed. fic court judge in Louisville, and is helping us to a great extent seeing to it that our traffic school is filled up every meeting night If one of the persons fails to comply with the rules of the school, if he fails to . attend one of the three nights or does not attend at all, then a warrant is issued, and Our traffic bureau should also have some means of sending persons to traffic schools. It may be that' you have in your city or town something' similar to conditions such as we have in Louisville. We can not sentence a person to traffic schools for violation of traffic laws, but we can do. this. If the person is arrested, the judge can fine that person and suspend the fine if this person goes to traffic school. If he fails to attend that traffic school, the fine is reimposed on the individual, or he may give a.particular fine of say.forty dollars, and this person may then enter a motion that he would like to go to traffic school, and the fine may -be cut to ten or fifteen dollars if he successfully completes the traffic school. We have found that works to a great advantage. he is brought in before the court If it is a traffic bureau case; the indi vidual then comes in to the court and he explains that he was unable to attend the traffic school for such and .such reasons, and usually then the judge will pass a fine on the individual for the driving violation. We only send persons to die local court for driving violations. Those, driving vio lations do not include hit and run, assault. and battery, manslaughter, or operating under alcoholic beverages. It only includes such violations as failing to stop for a stop sign, the running violations, you might say. One of the tilings we try to do is not only tell an individual in the traffic school that he'must do certain ^things or must not do certain things. I don't think you get far with individuals by saying this is the law, A person who is given a citation cannot' you must stop for a stop sign and let it go be sent to traffic school through our traffic for that bureau. They can come in with that cita ' The idea is to point'out to the individual tion and enter a plea of guilty, and pay the why it is so necessary for him to. -do-a" certs our of c A cann sonn com and edut mak W and to a rolli requ mus cleat Bt mon thin] tam wan' thin! You subc wall legs. If if i Loo! stori youi S< alon. be. drivi sign whe hear a se Tl in t they out: for the imp< rule vy schc the sepa thre men Traffic Section 221 certain thing while driving or walking on second is rules of driving procedure. We oar streets. To give you a sample of one break down. the rules .or laws, so the of oar lectures, it goes something like this.. citizens have a much better understanding A little simple stop sign--this is not ^a of them. The third is on the seriousness of canned lector^ bat the usual lecture runs' the accident problem. In that particular something like this--many of our citizens lecture we start out with a few statistics. come up to the stop sign and read S-T-O-P, Then we show them pictures of accidents and even though they ought be the most which have actually occurred on Louisville educated type of person, sometimes they streets. We tell them the violations, and make "slow down" out of S-T-O-P. the accident's' location is Sashed 'on the We all realize S-T-O-P does spell stop, and that to comply exactly, they must come to a complete stop. Our wheels must stop rolling. But that is only half of what is required when we come to a stop sign. You must sit there and wait until traffic is cleared before you pull onto that boulevard. But let's forget about the; law for a moment Look at the human side of the thing--we are all human. We can do cer tain things according to habit When you want to walk down the street, you don't think I want this leg to go in front how. You move them automatically. With your subconscious mind, you form the habit of screen. We made a. thorough study of the background, the history and the said things connected with these particular accufents. It may be called an emotional approach, but we have found it is a. very effective approach. That emotional approach gets the-people to thinking. "After all, that can ' happen to me." Here in the traffic school, we have a chance to, build up the law enforcement agency ly showing them what yon are try ing to do. We are not trying to hinder them in any way, but actually we are trying . to help them. I do feel this is one of the grandest things walking down the street, of moving the legs. If you will pull up to a stop sign, even if it's a traffic light, don't roll across. Look both ways and make sure you are not that can be used for an educational feature to get across to your citizens the impor tance of obeying traffic laws and at the same time, being the good-will ambassador to build up the law enforcement agency. storing the wrong kind of materials in 'SGT. SMITH: Pasadena, as you know, your , sub-conscious mind. is the home of the famous California Some day you will be out there driving along, and traffic will be heavy.. You will be. thinking about something other than driving, and yon won't pnll up at the stop Institute of Technology, the place where the atomic bomb was developed. You no doubt are familiar with the vast destruc tion created by that weapon. sign because yon got in the habit of going Inversely, I wish I could have come here when' traffic is light, and yhen you go in to with a report saying We had interested some heavy traffic; then yon will be involved in ofganization'in devoting as 'much'time and a serious accident ~ effort to the expansion. of.. traffic safety That is a sample of part of bur program in the traffic school. We don't tell them they must stop for a stop , sign, we point out the reason why it is necessary to stop for a stop sign or anything else as far as programs, that would save, as many lives as that weapon is attributed to taking. I am sorry I can not do so. I am here merely to explain the organization and operation of our local traffic schooL the laws are concerned. What we are try The school is created for the purpose of ing to do is. get across to the citizens an taking rare of the juvenile violator. State idea of our entire traffic, program and the law prohibits the taking of any person into importance .of obeying these few simple regular court under the age of eighteen rules that govern their conduct. years. They must be before a court of We are trying to do that in our traffic school. To give you a little bit. more about the mechanics of the school, we have three separate lectures, and they must attend all three. The first is known, as the funda-, hearing, not a court of trial. Therefore the traffic school is organized to fill that gap, to carry on a constructive program whereby the .violator may be taught the rides to. cooperate with the community organization. mentals of driving safety practices. The Three types of violation are handled 222 34tk National Safety Congress, 1946 there: The juvenile violator who drives defective equipment is required to submit a certificate from an official inspection station, thereby clearing that charge; the second type is the violator of the laws of registration, possibly parking or some of the more minor violations. He is required to report with one of his parents and is admonished as to the seriousness of that law, sent home, and the parents are in structed to give him a little aid along the lines of studying the vehide code. The third is the one we are most interested in--the juvenile involved in a moving violation. That is where the traffic school fits in. The captain in charge of the juvenile division acts as a mediator between the violator and the juvenile court, and is abje to more or less instruct this individual violator to. attend this traffic school, and thereby keep him from having to appear in court after passing satisfac torily an examination in this course. In that school we don't have a standard text book. We use a short summary of the California Vehide Code supplemented by a pamphlet called "Acddents Don't Happen" --a brief summary of the more important driving rules designed originally to be used by the police officer when he issues a citation: The bade of that pamphlet has the vari ous violations listed. Officers check the particular violations for which the person was stopped, and while issuing- the ticket, the violator looks over the section, which is written in* very plain language, with a little diagram depicting the violation. We found it desirable for use in the school for reference work. We make use of visual aids. The visual education department of the dty schools has put at our disposal a 16 mm. sound film and projector and 35 mm. sound slides which are used as fill-in to show the different violations. We have made enlargements 18 by 12 inches, of acddent photographs, which are typical of certain violations. The class instructor uses them to depict the results of certain violations. We find them very beneficial for that pur pose. We have , a sand table model consist ing of a board about the size of this table, on which is laid out a typical intersection with the control devices of the guide lines, turning buttons and traffic control devices of all types. We use the very elementary method of using model cars. The instructor moves the cars to-depict vertain violations. We fed that that visual lesson is one much more lasting than a verbal explanation of the violation itsdf. One thing a little different about our par ticular set-up which might be found in other communities is a school carried on by the department'of motor vehides in our community known as the driver instruction course, with volunteer attendance, by which an instructor from that organization in the evening session conducts a dass designed to prepare an individual for obtaining his license for operating a motor vehide. In addition to that, we have compulsorycourses in the local high schools for driver training. We do not have bebind-the-whed training. You win notice that I have not mentioned the fact that a police officer carries- on the school. We find it is"yery undesirable to have an officer in uniform trying to teach this class, when an officer in uniform was the one responsible for that student having to sit in there those five days an hour and a quarter each, listening to the more or less dry subject of traffic law enforcement We find the chip on the shoulder attitude is not desirable, and we restrict that phase to be carried in to the end of the course, after which the regular sdiool instructor has laid the foundation work. We then have *the police, officer, one of our traffic investigators, come in to the dass possibly, for ten minutes at the end of the course, and give a demonstration or an explanation of the operation of the drunkometer--a subject new to most of the students. It attracts thdr interest right away. ' That then, works over ipto a few minutes of public relations on the topic of why police officers issue ddeets and the matter of selective enforcement.' We find in that way we create a very desirable impression. Our end product is a young person growing up to be a member of our community cognizant of his re sponsibility as a driver and user of the highway. LT. MEISTER: Our school in Cleve land,starts off with answering a few of the why's and devotes a considerable part of the time to the attitude of the drivers appearing in the school. 9 Traffic Section 223 The first thing that we discuss is the time, visibility, and other physical factors traffic law itself. AU too often, when a man that go in to the traffic picture is arrested, and goes to court, the liet result is that his pocket book is ten or twenty dollars lighter, and he has a feeling of resentment toward the police and the court So we explain why the law is. necessary for the regulation of traffic and for the reduction of accidents. In discussing the cases in the traffic or ders, we do 'not permit the violator to dis cuss his own case. We point out that ques tions are welcome, buh-tbat this is not a court of appeals. We find one wastes a lot of time if you permit the person attend ing the school to discuss their own cases. We explain that the laws are the demand of the people themselves, that the court had no part in it, and that the police have no interest in it except as they are commanded to enforce it At the conclusion of the-second night, the violators take a final examination which is a true and false type. Those tb.at pass, and have attended both of the sessions, receive a card certifying their attendance A good many citizens have a vague feel and that they satisfactorily completed the ing that the laws are a part of a plot to course. obstruct or confuse them, and I think any To sum up, we found that the traffic one who is connected with the enforcement ' school does serve a good purpose. It serves field is familiar with this slightly paranoid to improve public relations for the police, attitude on the part of the public. department and for the court, and we be Another common attitude we have found lieve that it has a real part in the safety prevalent is the thought that every other education program. >. person should be subject to the laws but not they themselves. Any officer that makes an arrest will find-that the man win de nounce all other violators, yet excuse his own violation. CAPT. BOSSMAN: Our first traffic school was organized in 1939. It was ad vertised quite widely to the public and accepted wholeheartedly. The attendance ranged from 80 to 100 persons at each We tty to explain this paradox and point session. A majority of these attended volun out one violation is just as much an acci tarily. Some were young persons who dent maker as the next. Then we explain :wanted instruction in motor vehicle law in the'function of the court. In Geveland the .order to qualify for their license, and some court has as high as five thousand vio were older persons who wanted to review lators appearing before the judge in one the driving laws. The others were juveniles month, and he can't devote.a great deal of and first offenders who were ordered to the time to them. school by the Traffic.Court.^ Most"of these We explain that the violator is selected persons had) a very good attitude towards for the school on the basis of his repeat the school. The course consisted of four violations, or his unsafe attitudes towards sessions of about an hour and a half each. traffic In the school we start off with These were given one night a week. At passing out a digest of the laws, mimeo the end of each session a set of question? graphed. We pass out the reaction cards were handed out. The subject matter cov such as Aetna puts out; and then we ex ered driving laws, courtesy^rules of the plain to the drivers we. made a test study - road, good driving practices, and a short of some twelve hundred drivers who have discussion of skillful driving. All instruc gone through the school, we studied them tion was given in the classroom and was by for two years before, and' the two years the lecture method. after attending the course and found that After a six month period the school fell there was a reduction in the two year off gradually until in 1940 the school was period after attending, the school, of 86 per dosed temporarily. - cent in traffic violations, and 67 per cent in In 1941 the material was revised and accidents. consolidated; It still consisted of four ses We'point out that this is to the violators sions. The first session was devoted en-, self-interest to attend the course and to pay tirdy to a discussion of the importance of attention to what is going on. As we ex the safety problem. Figures were presented plain the various traffic orders, we point comparing traffic to war, fire, and crime. out the physical factors, such as reaction It was shown that traffic is the big problem 224 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 of today. Discussion was invited on this subject Sessions two and three .were de voted to a discussion of traffic laws. Enough materia] was covered in these two sessions to enable the student to pass the written examination given in taking the Operator's License test The fourth session was de voted to Driving with courtesy. Skillful driving, and miscellaneous traffic laws. A film of about 10 minutes' length was shown, usually during the second and third ses sions. These films were of the safety films circulated by auto manufacturers'' and. in surance companies. It was shown after the discussion period and before the examina tion. The sessions began with a lecture period. This lecture covered the material in broad form. After this, the class was opened to a discussion period. In this period students brought up personal ex amples of bad or good driving, traffic prob lems, etc. The instructor also described recent accidents and offered them to the dass for analysis. It was found that dis cussion periods stimulate thinking and in terest in the dass. Lectures over 20 minutes would become tiring and boring. Films without advertising would be preferred to the type used. No funds were available in the budget for the rental of films. They were a very successful form of education. Large charts were also used as visual aids. The material of the school was presented in such a manner that a student might enter his enrollment at any time. Each lesson was complete within itsdf and in dependent of -other sessions. After six months or so this school also fdl off and it was discontinued. After a short period the superintendent of schools was approached with the offer of presenting it in the high schools. He re acted favorably, as did the two high school principals. The course was given one les son each week. It was given 3 periods per day for four days (2 days at each of the schools). It was found that one hour periods were too short to allow adequate instruction. Pupils also objected to an ex amination after each period: If periods are limited to one hour, there should be at least six periods. These should be- followed by examination to cover the six lessons. Most of the pupils hoped to get an operator's license upon completion of the course. It was explained that they would receive suf ficient instruction to pass their test, but the test must be taken separately. This school was stopped when the Instructor entered the armed service.. - - ` It will he no trouble for us to start a traffic session in our schools again as the superintendent of schools is in favor of it It-is only a matter of time when all public schools will.be giving a course in traffic to improve the students' knowledge of traffic laws and their relation to accidents, physical laws of motor, vehicle operation, the rela tion of equipment to safe driving, personal driving limitation and driving techniques, etc. Our big problem at present is how to conduct a traffic school successfully for adults with no let down after a short period. How are we going to get the judges to cooperate; to keep the violator coming to school? That is our problem. The judges find too many excuses for not sending them to school. At the present time we are only conduct ing a traffic school for juveniles and that is against the wishes of our probate judge. CAPTAIN RICHARDSON: The juve nile . violator, when stopped by a . police officer and given a citation, is directed to go to the traffic office on the fourth floor.of the police station at a designated time. He appears before one or two. policefiien, who in an interview, jot down certain informa tion on a card as to his family life, etc, to see if there might be something behind whatever violation he has committed. If it is found there are some home amditions causing the violation, the mother or father, or both of them are requested to come down and appear before the traffic officer. Tn all other cases the boy will other get a suspended license^ or merely be repri manded or put on probation. But in all three, instances, be trill be 'required to at tend- the traffic school.. In this school, we have a primary class held on the first three Saturdays of each month, and an advance session on the fourth Saturday of the month. These schools are held in the- police de partment school room and are conducted by traffic officers. The boys have previously been instructed on what the school consists of, and are sold on it. As a result, we find many of them bring their friends down with them. . The first hour is given up to discussions of different traffic laws, and in that hour 9 Traffic Section 22 5 we have some case histories, with.'some and do a good selling job on preventing blown up pictures of bad accidents,. and pedestrian accidents. we outline the violations. After that; we have a slide film; and then give them an examination. They have They also use a slide film there. "Are your Feet Killing You??' which is shown at the end of the session. to * pass the examination or they wilt' be forced to attend the advance school. When the people go in to the sdiool they sign a register at the door. The citation The advance school takes', up where the , is stamped "Pedestrian School," and sent others .left off. It is for the more serious back to the jiidge of the Mtmiripal Court violators, and those who failed to pass the who, if the man attends school, cancels the primary school, and, .in addition, make use fine or bail, or whatever it might be. If he of psycho-physical tests equipment. does not attend the school, he has to go to They get right down to reaction time and court or post the bail in the regular skid marks, and show the fellow how long manner. it is going to take him to stop his automo bile. In this school are mostly speed vio lators. We had originally another school set up in Portland for violators. That sdiool was abandoned sometime ago, and plans are The juvenile court and the municipal * now in .progress to reinstate the adult vio court both let us handle .die boy without lator's school So next year we will prob an appearance in the court. However, if it ably have three, schools operating in Port . is a serious case, or a serious accident, we land all on' traffic; the pedtrian school, would automatically remand him up to the the juvenile violators schools, and-the adult juvenile court, and not take him through violators school. All will be handled in the school We bave had good cooperation. cooperation with the police department and . .During the war we found that our pedes the traffic safety commission. trian accidents had increased greatly, espe SERGEANT HERBERT GERMAN cially fatal, accidents. So we started a (Detroit Police Digit) : The first school in program of pedestrian enforcement. We Detroit was about 1921. But in August of had had a little experience with that once last year we started something, new in the before, and it didn't work ont This time .precinct stations, strictly on a voluntary we got a lot of publicity and gave out a .basis. lot of written warnings, and started in with We set up three one-hour sessions, that is the pedestrian. In conjunction with that we one hour each week. That worked out all set up a pedestrian safety school When right, because we didn't have very many the officer stops a pedestrian, he writes out come in and we didn't want many because a citation form, the violator may either go we thought it was a proving ground rather to tcourt or post hail In addition, the than a regular set-up. officer hands him a card telling about the pedestrian safety School He also can at tend this sdiool The first session was given over to the problem of accident responsibilities. The responsibility of the police officer, The citi This sdiool is handled by the traffic zens, the meaning of the license, et cetera safety commission held in me city ball The were also considered. notice directs, the recipient to report at - right o'dock, for one hour, in the Council The next two sessions were given over Chambers of the Gty Hall on the Tuesday to the traffic laws and an explanation of following the date of the arrest. them, accompanied by slides. We treat them as if they are -a group of Later in the year we bad additional citizens interested in promoting safety and schools, and we now have a total of eight cutting down accidents. We don't discuss in seven of . the precinct stations, and be cases in any sdiool. They are handled cn- cause the attendance is so great; we have, tirely by the safety commission. had to cut them from the three original In that school, we discuss violations which - one-hoar sessions to one two-hour session. contribute to pedestrian accidents, where We still have a number who cbm&; volun they are occurring, and what can be done tarily, but now every person under 18 must to stop them. We go in to it very deeply ; attend one two-hour session before he is 226 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 permitted to get a license in Detroit They of course, bring a lot of their parents with them on a voluntary basis. able to make- out his examination properly at the license, bureau, shows he has had'the proper instruction at the school. We have quite a number sent from the court and that includes the referees in Detroit and the license bureau, which sends those who are unable to pass the examina tion properly. The slides, about 120 in number, cover all phases of driving and walking. They are pictures taken locally. They are not some* thing across the city, but something that applies in the students' own neighborhood. We insist that the police officer be in uniform to help break down resentment. We have it to start with and we feel that when they leave, it is gone. The purpose of the school is explained. Why have a traffic school, 'what it consists of, and what we hope to do with it. Then the policeman's duty comes next in the order of its importance. I believe how the police officers fits in to the problem, what he does in the protection of life and prop erty, and how it applies to traffic as well as other phases of police work should be brought out. His part in assisting the driver, con trolling traffic, the knowledge of conditions, and how he corrects those conditions is considered. Then, secondly, the citizen's responsibility. What he has to do, not just leaving it to some one else, but what is the part be has to play in that Then last, the value or the meaning of the license itself, how he gets it, hour he may lose it what he must do to get it back, what it amounts to, what the appeal board does under certain conditions. The second and third session are given over to the explanation of the rules. At the conclusion of the school, he is given an identification card which has his name on it, signed by our commissioner of police, and the instructor's name is also placed on the card. On the back of it Is a little pledge, which says, "I pledge myself to obey all traffic laws, and assist others in making Detroit a safer city for drivers and pedestrians." MR. BEN HEINZ (Portland [Ore.] Traffic Safety Commission): I am con nected with two traffic schools, and mil be. with three in another few wedcs, and, I have visited most of the schools which have been discussed here. First, somebody wanted to know the answer about how to get rid of the judges that won't go along. Kick them out; of course. Don't fool around with anybody that won't go along with any program. By the way, be careful of picking your instructor. I am not going to get in an argument with police officers, I still hold a membership In police organizations, but I think you should have an officer in your school. Be sure and pick him carefully. The key factor in teaching is the instructor, and I think an educator, and officer familiar with education, should both be instructors in that school. But the organization of your material and so on, should be by the edu cator. This man said you pass out mateials at the beginning, of the school. Would an educator pass out materials at the be ginning of one or two hour schools, so that the people would read that instead of paying attention to what is-going on? `No, he would not I hold a life certificate as an educator, and 1 know the answer to that one. JUDGE FISHER: Just briefly, I will sum up the discussion. The purpose of traffic schools is to educate and promote voluntary compliance, correct first offenders and start the youthful drivers right and reach the consistent violators. The ap proach must be educational, not punitive. The types for whom it is provided are (1) drivers who need instruction or cor rected attitudes and (2) volunteers. The mine should not be "violators school" or similar title, because this discourages volunteers, leads to resentful attitude on the part of those attending. We ask them to sign that and keep it with them as their own personal property. In case of a juvenile applying for a license, he takes this down with him to show that tic has attended school. The fact that he is The. school should be held forth as an - opportunity to learn. The instructors should be well qualified and enthusiastic Examinations should be given 'and certificates of ' proficiency awarded. 9 Traffic Section 227 Relationship of the Various Agencies In a Traffic Accident Prevention Program (Panel Discussion) Discussion Leader: Col. F. C. Lynch, Secy. Mgr., Greater Los Angeles Safety Council. Participants: Merton E. Ridge, Traffic Eng., City of Wichita (Kans.). Inspector James M. Lofton, Dir. of Traffic; Detroit Police Dept. Judge J. J. Quillin, Portland (Ore.) Municipal Court. Walter D. Ladd, Secy.-Mgr., St Joseph ,,(Mo.) Safety Council. Harry E. Neal, State Traffic Engineer, Ohio. ----- E. P. Lee, Supvsr., Drivers License Div., Minnesota Hwy. Dept Capt. Emerson H. Westwick, Illinois Dept of Public Safety. Miles Standish, ChnL, Governor's Com mittee on Coordination of Public In formation Media, Rhode Island. COL. LYNCH: This is a vital and im portant question, a question of the relation ship between the different agencies that are attempting to contribute their bit in the community program or the state progrim of accident prevention. The unfor tunate .part about it is that in most communities, and most states, if you talk to the courts, everything is' wrong with, the police; and if you talk to the police; the trouble is with the drivers license, and the drivers license says it is the engineers --we have never been able to find out who is responsible for the inefficiencies today. We hope to find specifically how we might get these agencies to cooperate one with the other. I am going to ask the panel if they will be specific. If (here is ever anything which happened in their states . or their com munity in which the traffic engineer, for example, contributed to the work of the court, of if there is any case where the court has contributed specifically to the work of the police. We would like to have specific things pointed out to you people; rather than philosophies. We are all full of philosophies, and few of us are full of activities. MR. RIDGE: Certainly a Traffic En gineer should be an engineer, but even though I am somewhat of an embryo in city work, I think I can speak with au thority and with well-remembered regrets, when saying that engineering to the City Traffic Engineer must be basic and of far greater import must be "human engineermg. God bless the poor.misunderstood traffic engineer, or perhaps more often con versely--I'll have to stop there; ladies are present I have tried to think of all phases of engineering, and with the ex ception of planning (a dose cousin to traffic engineering) I can find none with so unanimous an objective purpose becom ing in nearly every instance subjective to some of our citizenry. Well, the doctor prescribes some pretty bitter pills and still we go back. You must be wondering what all this builds into--only this--I wanted to work myself into a position to soliquilize for a lew moments. I want to think of the traffic engineer as the doctor--not a divine healer, just the old country type--called to administer to an ever-rising epidemic--the traffic acci dent problem. He cannot do the job by himself and I am not relegating any other agency to an inferior position when 1 appoint him coordinator of the program, for it is a cooperative job. John Q. Public is the patient. He is well aware of his disease but his desin, to recover, still isn't genuine, the mental attitude must be improved. Here the doc tor must depend upon consultants, spe cialists. There is no medicine to prescribe, education, conjolance, subtlety must do the job. There is little past history or prog nosis, still any doctor will agree it is the most important hurdle to recovery. Every available appeal must, be used and new and increasingly alluring methods explored lest the patient return to his lethargy. Often the patient shows signs of psy chiatric unbalance, restraints become' neces sary. But the doctor must assist in explor ing the causes of these outbursts, perhaps some of the medicines have been too 228 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 severe or unreasonable and perhaps physi cal handicaps have aggravated the illness. The doctor mast demand enforcement of his prescriptions, rigidly but reasonably. The patient is improving but an operation is necessary to bring complete recovery. Scars of inadequate planning and care in his youth must be removed and his con tinued health assured with permanent remedies. I could not let the patient die because I couldn't find a part in the story for the undertaker and it would have been em barrassing for the doctor to end up a quack. Returning from the slightly ridiculous to the fundamental let me sum it up this way. The city traffic engineer is faced more and more with selling human en gineering. I was trying to be realistic quite recently when I told a fellow engineer that I thought the public must be given first consideration when traffic changes are contemplated. He retorted that I was cowardly. I wonder. I spoke a moment ago about the objective becoming sub jective. Nearly every* traffic improvement in cities tears down someone's building, takes away someone's favorite parking spot, changes someone's way home--and so on and on. These things may not be as dear to someone's heart as they might claim, but many pebbles have started land slides. Salesmanship and a little horse trading are essential. Public confidence cannot be ignored if a traffic program is to be accepted and-succeed. A little seda tive now and then to ease the pain isn't in my opinion, cowardly if it brings co operation. And last bat not least, we must have complete cooperation within our own family -- our departments and divisions carrying the responsibility for the traffic safety program must work together. A friendly push or pull is very necessary for success. I'm for tmgilding the lily. Traffic en gineering is relatively new and in my opinion we've been too interested in quali fying it technically. Sure it's as basically engineering as any other bnt it requires as no other generous quantities of common sense engineering, human engineering; and I'm going to spice mine up some with a little showmanship. COL. LYNCH: When Hoover called the first national conference on street and highway safety/ one of his philosophies was that traffic regulations should be so appar ently equitable that they are self enforce able. I think it might be well to impress that upon the minds of all traffic engineers; if they have regulations which are not apparently equitable, they should not be put into effect until they did become apparent by means of other agencies' edu cational work. INSPECTOR LUPTON: Last May the President of the United States said, in discussing automobile accidents, and I quote; "The nation cannot afford, and will not tolerate this tragic waste of human resources.'' During the same conference the able Congresswoman from Connecticut, Claire Booth Luce, said: "It is not unreasonable to say that any locality can attain almost any safety goaljt sets." The responsibility for curtailing these tremendous losses in urban areas, lies squarely in the lap of the municipal police administrator directing traffic safety pro grams. Because the most important part of any traffic safety program which has been, is now being, or ever will be carried on, is the administrator. Unless there is an able administrator who has vision, perspective, initiative, intelligence and im agination, coupled with the ability to run the program so that it properly controls and reduces accidents, tire program will in effect faff. That, Mr. Municipal Police Administrator is ' indicative of your im portance to traffic control generally and to traffic control programs specifically. My part in today's program is relatively simple. I have been asked to discuss broadly and briefly, and incidentally in ten minutes,, the responsibility of tire municipal police administrator in developing and administering a long-range effective traffic control program. Since the responsibilities of the municipal police administrator are nothing more nor less than his troubles, my job resolves itself in telling you about my troubles, and who can't talk long and loud about his own troubles? I shall discuss these responsibilties as L see them, and in the order of their impor tance in my opinion to die mundpial police administrator. His first ''responsibility is sincerity. Unless he as an administrator 9 Traffic Section 229 believes in the importance of traffic control Five---He must know at what levels all to himself and his community life, its phases of the traffic control program , pro fundamental' necessity to society's welfare, duces best results and he must keep such then be will , fait The very nature of the activities at those desirable levels. activities incident to good traffic control Six--He must have courage; be con require a. sincere belief in their importance. stantly on the offensive and discourage Tms is true because these activities will the granting of special favors. be interpreted by- the public as restrictions on. what, they will call their rights, but winch actually are only privileges accorded them by law. .. Therefore, unless there is a sincere be lief on your part, you as an administrator will be unable to sell these important issues to the public, and as you know your individual traffic control programs can .be only as good as residents of your com munity want them to be. I mentioned Seven--He must recognize, encourage and support good legislative measures and he must just as energetically discourage, disapprove and criticize proposed legisla tion not consistent with safe driving and walking practices. -And last, but not least, he must measure his activities by results obtained; in other words he must be ready to discard and throw out programs which do not produce results, no matter how good they may appear theoretically. . sincerity as a responsibility of the administrator only to stress its overall impor tance; there is no inference intended; your presence here today is indicative of your sincerity. The second responsibility of the admin istrator is loyalty, aid and cooperation with other allied safety groups.'It is im portant that the administrator recognize that he cannot do the entire job alone. In most cases he is not a Traffic Engineer, and he is not a public educator as such, he must therefore depend upon these or ganizations to aid him in carrying on a balanced program of traffic control. This ' All of these things the administrator will be required to do; in some instances without adequate compensation and pos sibly with political interference. However, I am sure that .in the field of policing, accident prevention can be expected to pay the greatest return. If daring your career as a municipal police administrator you can by diligent effort save oily one life; yon will have on society's books, ful filled your responsibility and in addition thereto have the. self-satisfaction that -comes only from, knowing that your job has been well doSeix will include specifically the furnishing of It has been a pleasure to meet with information pertinent to the accident ex you and take part'in the 34th National perience in his locality. Safey Congress. It has been a pleasure Third, in order dot he be able to fur because I am sure that it is from tins nish authentic information regarding the type of meeting where the representatives accident experience, the administrator must of the several agencies responsible for set up within his organization a bureau traffic control can meet, discuss problems, comprised of a sufficient number of care and exchange ideas, that activities will fully selected and teamed accident investi develop which will be beneficial, not only gators to cany on the careful investiga to the individuals present, but to the com tion and reporting of all accidents occurring munities which they represent as well. within the area under his jurisdiction. It' These activities will be in the main the is a further responsibility of the admin development of more effective traffic con istrator to present, through his accident trol programs which will in. turn produce investigators, such evidence of .traffic law desirable reductions in traffic accidents, and violations, if any, as well satisfy the that is you will appreciate; the objective court beyond a reasonable doubt that the of the Congress. . violation alleged was committed. COL. LYNCH: Thank yon very much. Four--In addition tosupplying informa That is typical with a policeman, you can't tion -necessary to :tbe carrying bn of a argue with them.. When he is. overpowered good traffic engineering program and a by numbers, he leaves. T satisfactory educational program, he must I thought maybe we were going to get develop.and direct oh a highly selective a beef out of him like they do in Los basisran enforcement program. Angeles, about lade of. cooperation with 230 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 the traffic engineer and police--they go out and slap up a few traffic signs without inquiring whether there is personnel to enforce them, and certainly signs put up Avoid all "star-chamber sessions" and every other court practice which tends to reduce the formality of the traffic hearings as well as every practice which might which are not enforced, are bad for the lead' anyone to believe that different or community probably in its entirety. _ other consideration is given to influential I might say our engineer uses that persons or friends than is accorded to the -inability as an excuse for not putting them average citizen. Tins is more important up, too. in my opinion in traffic court than in any other place in the halls of justice. To live We have had pedestrian control for up to this ideal mil require a very great twenty years, and up to the 27th of Sep deal of patience and perseverance, but it tember, we still found it necessary this year will also pay dividends and make our traffic ( As . to issue 13,308 citations for violators of courts the most potent agency for good in pedestrian regulations, so we are still hav prevention of traffic accidents and traffic ing trouble with pedestrian control, but we law violation. are still making arrests. In the matter of penalties, our Court JUDGE QUILLIN: Wherever possible should give studied consideration to the, traffic cases should, be tried apart from duty of recommending suspension of the any other Court and in surroundings which driving privilege in every case where a would inspire respect and deference not defendant is shown to be dangerous, reck only for the traffic regulations but also less or carelesswith the public safety and with ample consideration given to the welfare and should study the possibility of safety features. curing some*of the most vicious and per The Court should always convene on sistent practices by judicious use of this time at regular stated intervals and be privilege of suspending drivers' licenses. conducted on standards equal to those ad hered to in the Courts of general jurisdic tion in the area. The judges who sif in Courts dealing with traffic offenses should always bear in mind that their function is mainly a cor rective one, only to a small degree puni tive, and with this in mind the traffic courtroom should impress defendants as a classroom as well as a courtroom. It is my opinion that 'even in the most simple matters ample time should be taken by the Court to explain the reasons for a con viction, if one must be had, and also point out an object lesson with brief statistics or any other available method so that the defendant may leave the courtroom with a feeling that he or she has gained something from the experience apart from the penalty which must be inflicted under the law. These are just a few of the ways of which it occurs to me to be possible for the Court to improve its service to the public and its relationship to other agen cies working on the problem. There are many ramifications to every one of the above numbered suggestions,' and I am of the opinion that these will offer plenty of points from which to begin our discus sion of this most important problem. WALTER D. LADD: The primary function of the community safety council in a traffic safety program is that of education and coordination. Even its co ordination work has an end result that is educational. A properly organized and con ducted safety council also represents and speaks , for the people of the community in all matters having to do with traffic safety. Notwithstanding the fact that the aver age person who is tried for a traffic offense does not think of himself as a criminal, it is my opinion that Court should not be backward about advising them that their offenses are of a criminal nature and that they are being tried as a criminal, dis tinguishing, of course, between the offenses which are of a felonious nature and those Traffic safety education generally fol lows three lines: First, mass education of the public in correct driving and walking practices and in acceptance of necessary controls; second, specific education of indi viduals, as in the conduct of driver and pedestrian training in groups and classes; and third, the education 'or "selling" of those who, by their official positions, have which are misdemeanors only. a responsibility for traffic safety such as pbli< neer T catii in d zatii job be < proj surl imp wh<: alox spet seel it new radi of * the lets, fort gun P< Stil tear it ing rest blac can of i F ped is I and con imp idg sue Kttl Mo fieli effc sch con per are an sue geo I job mix rati Traffic Section 231 police officials, judges, prosecutors, engi neers and school officials and teachers. The first and second phases of the edu cational program are continuous and vary in different communities only as to speciali zation and effectiveness. This constitutes a job which is never ended, and will'not be ended in the forseeable future. It is a program which has scarcely scratched the surface thus far. I daresay it would be impossible to find a safety council executive who is satisfied with what he has done along the lines of mass education or specific education of the people whom he seeks to educate. Mass education is .carried on through the newspapers, other printed publications, the radio stations and theatres, at meetings of citizens, with billboards and posters, by the wide distribution of folders and book lets, blotters, calendars and every other form of printed material. This is "shot gun" education. We never know how many people read it or see it or-listen to it Still less can we judge how many people learn something they need to know from it We can only repeat and repeat know ing that repetition eventually gets some results. We buy certain soaps and razor blades and automobiles and beverages be cause of this ceaseless repetitive advertising of those products. Formal instruction in driver training and pedestrian classes is the "rifle" method. It is the most effective method of education, and if it could be universally applied, we could reduce the traffic problem to minor importance. Our. difficulty there is apply ing the method. Where it is applied it succeeds. Comparatively speaking, very little of this kind of work is being done. Most safety councils have an almost virgin field to devdop in this kind of education. Every safety council should use every effort to get driver training into the high schools of its community, and to get commercial vehicle owners to train or permit the training of their drivers. These are the two groups that can be reached in an organized way. From this beginning, such training can be spread out to the general public. If a safety council is doing a successful job, public officials, including school ad ministrators, will ask the council for help, rather than resent the council's efforts to get them to.de their part in the program. All the council's efforts, to educate such individuals should be.given in a spirt of helping them. The third phase of the educational pro gram is vitally important It is one of the safety counril's most important jobs, and one. for which the council receives little or no credit This is because it cannot claim credit As a rule, none but the officers and directors and committee members of a safety council know what is done along this line. The scope and nature of this educational work varies from city to city. Where a school system is accepting its responsi bility for safety education and carrying on a first class program, the safety council can forget that part of the community program. But the traffic engineering de partment may be weak or even non existent A mayor and city council may have to be sold on providing a capable engineer and work crew and furnishing the money for the program. Or the police department may need edu cating in its responsibility for traffic safety, and even taught to organize and operate an efficient traffic division. Or the traffic court may be weak-and judges and prose cutors, may have to be educated to their, duties and how to perform them properly in line with their responsibilities. Changes in administration of Sny of the agencies or departments having to do with traffic are usually headaches for the safety council, because it is often , necessary to do the job all over again. I believe all of us here are familiar With this problem. While my remarks have to do chiefly, with what die safety council should do and can do, a word about how it should be done may not be out of place. I think it is fundamental that the person in official position should be approached tactfully, and persuaded to accept his responsibility, learn what he should know, and perform his duties on the basis that it is. good polity for him, that it' will gain prestige for him, or make him votes when he needs them, or otherwise benefit him per sonally by doing a good job. Second, he should be allowed to take all the credit for what he or his department does. The safety council's efforts should be persua sive and strictly under-cover. Only the 232 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 most unusual or hopeless situation calls for operation for the traffic regulations which using a dub. Sometimes this may be nec he designs and installs, otherwise they will essary as a last resort not operate. In order to get that coopera The safety council should obtain- the cooperation of every other organization in the city that can be woven into the pro tion, the traffic engineer most be careful that he installs reasonably enforceable reg ulations. gram. This can be done in many ways. For example, our problem in the State They can be enlisted in joint projects-- of Ohio, as a traffic engineer, is different specific things for which ^ they can take from the city traffic engineer's problem, and credit They can give financial help. They many times he is called upon to install may desire to undertake projects by them traffic lights at intersections on the state* selves, and in such cases the council can highway system.- We try to install those often suggest and aid them in these proj signals on the basis of factual studies ects. But fundamentally, this is all educa rather than opinions and demands. Obvi tion. ously it is foolish to install a traffic signal The safety council can and often does in a rural intersection, where traffic will influence public opinion in favor of some be stopped unnecessarily time after .time, project or action.. While the result my be with nothing demanding passage 'oh the decidedly one of action, such as enforce intersecting road. "I mention thai as a ment of pedestrian regulations, a stiffer specific example of bow the traffic engi schedule of fines for violators, the elimi neer can be in cooperation with our state nation of "fixing," legislation for motor highway patrol. vehicle inspection, driver training in the In Ohio we have enlarged in a program schools, or a better traffic signal system, of speed zoning on the highways, trying the safety council's responsibility and work to install these speed zones strictly on the is still essentially education. basis of engineering investigations and We have an example of coordination in St Joseph. The safety council prepared and obtained enactment of an ordinance creating a city traffic commission. This commission is advisory in its functions, but it gets' together around a table once or make them reasonable, because if they are not reasonable^ the public will not observe those altered speed limits, and naturally the police, the state highway patrol, is going to have a great deal of difficulty enforcing those regulations. twice a month the chief of police, the We feel cooperation with a Safety head cf board of public works, which has Council is highly essential. We have an sole control of the streets, the head of Ohio Traffic Safety Council, an organiza the city legal department, the city traffic tion composed of representatives of 75 engineer, a member of the city council, leading organizations throughout the- state the safety supervisor of the public schools, of Ohio, which have an interest directly and three or four private citizens to dis or indirectly in the traffic safety problem, cuss traffic matters. Thus, when action is and we depend a great deal on that or recommended, every agency concerned ganization which is purely voluntary. It knows about it and has accepted .such has no funds, other than when they pass action. In the final analysis, this set-up the hat and need funds 'for some par has a high educational value, as well as ticular occasion. ironing out differences privately. It' has been very helpful in that it en MR. NEAL: I understand this discus ables us, or is assisting us to get needed sion involves relationships of the various traffic regulations in Ohio. I hate to admit agencies involved in conducting a traffic it, but our' traffic laws in Ohio in some accident prevention program, and involves respects are very much in need of change. the matter of the relationship of the police courts, engineers, safety council, drivers license departments, et cetera. As a traffic engineer, I want to say that the engineer is fully cognizant of the need for the cooperation with the various other agencies. For example^ we are one of three states which does not have a law requiring the reporting of motor ..vehicle accidents, and .our work in traffic engineering work is more 'or less handicapped in that respect Our Traffic Safety Council has helped us The traffic engineer must have the co get the uniform traffic law passed in Ohio, 9 Traffic Section 233 and we are very hopeful we will get the ing much more information concerning the report at the next session of legislation. circumstances surrounding any person's MR. LEE: I can't speak for all admin convictions, are. in much better position to istrators .of driver license laws. Probably determine whether or not the suspension the best I can do is tell you something of a driver's license might he beneficial in we are. doing in Minnesota. There' we producing a better quality of driving by coordinate these various agencies because that individual. we have come to understand that we are Therefore, when the court recommends engaged in a cooperative movement, the a license be suspended for thirty, sixty, or sole design of which is to improve the ninety days, or up to a year, we do that quality of driving on our public streets And of course we get the heat, we get ss and highways. the pressure, but in every case we tell them In order to accomplish that, we'have to go home and make their peace with the al brought together for conferences on many local court'If they can convince the court ill % occasions, representatives of the courts, that they are entitled to a different kind prosecuting attorneys, police officers, .of treatment, and if the court is willing to '1*4 le sheriffs, highway patrol, and driver li change its recommendation, we will even a cense departments, and in Minnesota we . follow that change recommended, and this |i l ;i- do act hand in hand in trying to create a happens occasionally. I le better condition of .drivers. So far as the police are concerned, we i! I The way we accomplish this in some follow the recommendations of the police, m respects at least, is by die various agencies particularly as to reexamination of drivers. >e assisting each other by doing the part that Very oftm after a person has been issued n je they are required to do. under the law,' by a driver's license, something happens to id doing the part they are required to per the individual, and, sitting in a little office re form in order to accomplish the ultimate in St Paul, we don't know anything about ! ) ye end so far as drivers licenses are con it, but whenever any individual has had the ly cerned. We fed that the law must be. finger pointed at him by a police officer, is administered, that the courts and the police yon can be sure that the individual is ty and the prosecution will know what we going to have an examination. And the are going to da police officer i$ going to be advised of the ty They know that we will refuse to issue outcome of that reexamination. in a driver's license to a person that is incom If' it is found that the person is not a- petent to drive, regardless. of who the entitled to further driver's privileges, those 75 person might be. They know that further privileges are taken away from him, and tc more, if it is necessary that the person the police officer is advise! If it is found y n. liave restrictions on his driver's license, he should have a restricted driver's license he will have those restrictions on there, he gets that kind of a license, and the r- so any police officer, any enforcement offi officer Is advised. It cer, or court, will know what diving privi Besides this, the Department in Minne ss leges the individual might be limited to. sota, is the chief center of record keeping r- We- also revoke licenses in every case for all traffic violations, all drivers con where the law provides for revocation of duct There is no other place in the state l- license. In Minnesota the court has a. right where they keep a record of drivers. ii to recommend the suspension of a driver's In Minnesota, we had what ; we call a it license in any case where there has been cash register system in the police court le a conviction for violation of traffic laws. That system operates by virtue of an order e. All the courts in Minnesota know that of the Municipal Court In the Police !S ie id is t is drivers license administration will follow the recommendations made by the court, and we do that because of the .fact that we don't like bureaucracies, and we are not a bureau in the common understanding of that term.* . Department they have ` a place where a person can come in for speeding or going through a stop sign or minor violation, and deposit an amount of bail determined by the court, and we used to do that in accordance with that plan. If a person We fed' that traffic enforcement is pri was picked up for speeding, he would de marily a local, matter, and the courts hav- r posit $5 or $10, determined by the court. : -I?) 1 have run into cases where men were nois State Police is the division most di getting speed tickets, and going down and rectly concerned with the problem. This is paying fines every few days, and that was ' true because of its position as an enforce all that was happening to them.'" They. ment agency charged with the responsibility didn't have any respect at all for the of protecting the lives, and .property- of traffic laws, because all it meant was send those citizens who travel upon the. .high ing the office boy down with five or ten ways of the State. . . dollars, and then he was all through with it Their duties, of necessity, range from I called this matter to the attention of _ the courts, and immediately a new order was issued! where, if a person comes in to deposit a bail, before the cashier or the police sergeant can accept that bail, he must call our office, and determine the funeral escorts to the apprehension of dangerous criminals, but, their primary objective and that which claims the .major part of their-attention is tire prevention of motor vehicle accidents and tire subsequent saving of life and property. individual's record, and if he is found to It was not so many years ago that tire be a repeater, bail is not accepted. He is*. policeman obtained and held his job by given a warrant and ordered into court. virtue' of his ability to knock someone We are very happy with that arrange ment in Minneapolis and St Paul. We use it every day, every day and every night We have people on all the tune to give information to the courts and to the police. Our record system is also used by the squad cars. If they find some person in volved in a traffic accident, or involved in f:a'violation of traffic laws, they hold the man there for the purpose of determining whether or not he should have an arrest down and drag him off to jail. His em ployers were chiefly concerned with the removal of the offender from tire view of the public, for a matter of hours, days, or longer, and-"tire matter of education or correction was scarcely considered. This system might have continued, and with the required degree of^satisfaction, had it not been for the advent of the motor vebticle and the subsequent character and number of violations. - ticket or merely a warning, and before Police administrators came tothe realiza giving that man an arrest ticket or winn tion that motor vehicle violations were^ ing, they receive through the radio, and not only increasing at such a rate as to' by telephone to our office the individual's make enforcement bodies subject to ridi record. cule, but ifn so doing were causing acci Thus the police officer on the job knows the type of person he is talking to. He knows whether or not he is entitled , to some consideration because of the fact that he has not had a bad previous driving record. `- dents which were killing and injuring use ful citizens in numbers never before equalled m the history of our civilization. Corrective measures had to be taken and it was then that police administrators found the need for revised police techniques and the cooperation of all agencies interested CAPT. WESTWICK: In discussing the in the general welfare of the public: "Relationship of the various agencies which are involved in conducting a traffic accident prevention program," it is my purpose to Before the police officer can commence his activities in accident prevention, it is necessary for him to-be provided with `St- approach the subject at the level of state government and point out such observa tions as viewed by a state police admin information on the cause, of accidents based on a study of past experience. .This in formation , is obtainable only from' a com istrator. plete and properly administered records In Illinois, as in many states, the various system. . departments of state government concerned- In Illinois, we obtain this information with the problem are so closely interwoven through the cooperation of the division of" as to aim and purpose, that the efficient highways, under whose supervision reports functioning of any one division would be are recorded arid analyzed. Also, through' seriously curtailed without active coopera the cooperation of city and county police tion of the others. and. administrators who investigate the ac It is reasonable to assume that the Illi cidents and forward the reports. Ha; ihfon when are' c prepa His of an condo than. the $ or, it tion ' moos instai reali* made If failec case coop* the f bears Th in ja or.pi leave purjH of ct his r To coopc ' of ai . be tr. in th this 5 Ed fined but age 1 a co In this of f polic drive Ini is th bqy phyts tion Tl and cond traffi Fc 8 Haying been provided with the necessary information as to who, where; what and when the* violations causing the accidents are' occurring, the enforcement officer is. prepared to make his attack on theproblem. His' efforts, may result in the stopping of an offender in which the degree of. mis conduct is such as to warrant no more than , the pointing out of bis failure and the soggestion as to corrective measures, or, it may result in a more'serious viola tion where an . arrest is made and a sum mons to appear in court is issued.' In both instances, the offender must be made- to realize his mistake and a definite effort made to prevent a reoccurrence. . If the officer neglects to do this, he has failed in his purpose. However, in the. case of the Summons to court another cooperative agency enters the picture in the form of the judge or magistrate who hears the offender's, case. The mere paying of a fine or time spent in jail will in no. way correct the condition or. prevent its re-occurrence if the offender leaves the courtrooijj feeling that the only purpose in his was to deprive him of certain liberties extract money from his resources. To this aid, the court must work in cooperation with .the officer in the process of adequate education.The offender must be brought to realize the danger involved in the violation and the inevitable result of this type of misbehavior. Education in traffic safety is not con fined to that which is applied to an offender, but most be selective and offered at an age level most applicable to the molding of a correct attitude toward driving. In the Illinois State Police Department, this responsibility is placed in the hands of the traffic safety section,' a group of police officers who are specially trained in driver education. is the program of driver education in high . schools throughout the State. Every high . school in the state is visited at least once a year by a member of this section at which time valuable assistance is given the school's course in driver education. Guidance and counsel in the furtherance of this school. program Is. given by. the State Department of. Public Instruction, whose active cooperation is of extreme value in the continuation and improvement of this very important educational pro gram. Many -other state divisions, including public health, crime prevention and correc tion cooperate and assist the state police in their never-ceasing war on motor ve hicle accidents. The battle has just begun. Cooperatioa,. coordination, and ' a neverceasing determination of effort most and will result in the decrease and elimination. of this National disgrace--OUR HIGH WAY TRAFFIC TOLL. MR. STANDISH: I know that the. problem which faces the Safety Council through living through it in my own state is one of such magnitude that it far ex ceeds the funds available to that body to carry out its legal function, and-1 know that it .must have.help. I also know from good- training dining the . war in. war activities , and advertising that that . help is available and can be had, and where we haven't money to use, we have to substitute something else for money, and get. the job don& ' I have worked with our state safety commission now. for the past six months, since die inauguration of the' police check program, at which time I found the' State Safety Commission talking to itself. It didn't know the techniques of how to secure the support, and the.publicity neces sary to enlist the public support behind their program to achieve their objectives. Included in the duties of this Section We know those techniques, because we is the organization and training of school have lived through, them, as I said, during bpy patrols; the operation of psyebo- . the war. So I simply.went to the chair phyiscal testing, devices and the organiza man, Judge Pat Curren, a very determined . tion and supervision of bicycle contests. and enthusiastic State Safety Commission They also appear before industrial, civic Chairman, and said, "Can I help you?" and service groups at which .time they And they not only met me with open arms, conduct training programs, and lecture on but conferred a title on me. traffic safety. The first thing I did was to lode at the Foremost in the duties of this Section* forces we had at our command. We have i: T ? 1: Mr i-ris 236 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 great public groups -who have very deep newspapers; and radios; and outdoor adjand sincere convictions and interest on this ' vertising, car cards, moving picture opera subject We have in existence avenues of tors, and gave them. four or five drinks, information to the public which also are because this is making, die lion lie down centralized in various scope, if you pick the right spot and die right person touches the spot; you get a reaction. We also have a large group of advertisers whose customers are the people who want this job done. Our problem was how to coordinate these groups, and how to get some, real action, bow to get what my friend on die right calls, "bird shot publicity," of which he is not sure of the value. But I want to tell you that Mr. Copell is sure of it and Chief Lee and the others are sure of die value of it, and I am sure of it I know exactly what it will do. Now all we have to do is get it That means we have to do a lot of things that are impossible. We have to do a lot of things that have never been ddne before, and I am just dope enough to try it with the lamb. We had the chairmen of. the Safety Commission present and told them the story and told them that right in that room that, die job-would be done or would not be done. No one else had the paiwer and the facilities which those men commanded to do this pob, and it got later and later and later, and they were shouting.at each other and had littie grievances which they aired among themselves, and each had to get out and meet his wife, but we finally said, "Gentlemen, before anybody goes, out to meet , his wife, let us tell'you this, if you don't do this job,- men, women and children are going to be killed in this state next year which you could have pre vented. Anywone that has to get up to go and meet his wife can go." We have tried it in onr little state. Here is what we did. The first thing we did was to call in a group of women represent ing the Congress of Parents and Teachers, and the Federation of Women's Clubs, the Women's Advertising Club, and the Vol unteer Women of America, et cetera..We sold them on the idea that if they didn't care enough about the'program to take die lead, and themselves ask the public for support and assistance, then nobody would Not a soul moved. Those men .can not resist the appeals.of large public support bodies. Their very- existence in the com munity in which they operate is an obliga tion. They are men of flesh and blood. They have families, wives; and children. They themselves are not indestructible, and they owe a debt and obligation to the city which gives them their business and profits and their existence, and they know it care, and nobody would do anything about it They rose loyally to the occasion, and at the present moment, the Congress of Par ents and Teachers is the public support body in that state for a three months pro gram. They are today holding the first state meeting with the superintendent- of Business today understands that its fa- ,. dlities are no longer sufficiently employed when employed only for private profit of \ private individuals. The time has come when all. business and all advertising most accept that social obligation of hang a part of its facilities for the social im provement and the meeting of problems of state police, the chairman of the Safety their own communities, and I think they Commission, and the chairman of die are ready to accept that obligation at this State's Safely Conference, and a number of other state officials, all present at the first statewide meeting, and traffic safely is number one on the program for the next year. They are wildly enthusiastic, and we time. So in order, as I said, to stimulate the interest of the dubs, we informed these media that it was essentia! and necessary that they make a contribution themselves, of starting now on a three year basis, and are giving them support Now, in order to get their organization enthusiastic about it we tad to show public evidence of their that this was just the beginning of some thing else. If in three years we can lick tins campaign, then we will have a media interest and their enthusiasm. Therefore, committee, a state-wide public information we next went to the* media and called committee which is an' enoraously power- ' together all the owners and managers of ful and effective group whidi can turn its atte the f stai is ' ban vid trol 1 wit Tb to the; list one kin and ten "'2 be the So tfar the not P up out the am g of - wa j gw /* am nol in ....... P cm `J me sal ha ers fill in* to tin t en act an' ve ini 9 Traffic Section 237 attention to any social problem, and with period, there has been more support by the power it has at its command, lid: it more media, at the same time, of public Business, gputh-min, needs the under- safety than has ever been achieved in the standing and support of the public. This history of our state, is the last nation on earth, in which weAnd what is more; never before in the have business operated by private indi- history of our state, did the owners and viduaIs without over-all totalitarian am- managers of the advertising media ever sit trols and business knows it down with their feet under the .same table. That is why advertising will cooperate I am delighted to hear that the American with you, because they want to be liked Association of Newspaper Publishers is They want the people in their communities joining as a participating body in our to understand what advertising is. When National Committee for Traffic Safety. I they see newspaper ads and posters, and also understood that the National Assoda- listen to commercials they want them to tion of Radio Broadcasters are coming in. understand that is part and pared of the When those organizations become partici- kind of life we elect to lead in this comtry, paring groups and form national commit- and essential to its continuance and main- -tees with a state fjiaiman fn every state, tcnancc. we can then put those media chairmen So.right off the bat, the Outdoor Adver- together in every state in the United States, tiring Association said. "Oar donation can and we will have in existence; by that mere be most effectivdy made if it is made over action, a powerful group which can inte- the signature of the public support body." grate a continuous, flow of publicity on So we offered a showing of posters safety to the public, and that-is invaluable, throughout the state to the signature of These men own the media. They don't-go the Parents and Teachers; which cost them begging for it They tell the boys to do it, not one penny. The operators pushed the and that is the sort of people that we need, posters and donated the space and put it We; in onr own industry are using the up and it is effective. work that has been done as a pilot opera- We had to do that if we were going tion in Rhode Island, as a pattern for a - out; and ask advertisers to do the same national program of three years. We thing.* Now the butchers and the bakers, have as I said already in operation, a and the candlestick makers sell to the Con- program under the sponsorship of the gress of Parents and Teachers in the forms Congress of Parents and Teachers, which of fathers and mothers and families. They will be run through September, October, want their patronage. They want their and November, starting Septanber 1st; ; goodwill. Very few are the tradesmen in for a three-months' period. The General J any community who will say, "Well, I will Federation of Women's Clubs in our not convert some part of my advertising state.will pick up the hall at the.end of in the medium that I normally use; to the that three months, and another large group purpose of helping to save the lives of my whose identity I am not sure of, hut which customers and their children." might be our combined service dubs. In this way we can again greatly aug- Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, and others, all co ntent the flow of public information on operatingtogether on the same program, safety to the people who need It We now . Later another'group will take over. So have the promise of a motion picture op- as time -advances; in widening circles, we erator's full support in running trailer bring in greater and greater .groups of films.. Our radio stations already are turn- people,- arouse their interest; secure their ing out safety programs and offering time cooperation, and support their activities in to public support bodies for short talks on tins campaign. And as .time goes on, those their programs. groups will grow and grow, so that more The newspapers have been highly coop- and more people are doing the same thing erative m giving news - stories on . these for different reasons, activities of these. public support bodies. That is the job of the Safety Council, to and in taking photographs of them un- get a lot of people to do that same-thing veiling their posters, and otherwise further- for different reasons. Gentlemen, it can be ing the campaign. In this last three month* done. It is my hope that onr own industry 238 34ih National Safety Congress, 1946 alone will contribute at least three quarters of a million dollars to this program, in fifteen thousand dries and towns in the United States. I know that the other media will coop erate, and I know when intelligent adver tisers integrate the use of media, and .when we intelligently integrate all interests in this campaign, you will have a growing force of publidty so constantly before the public they can never be wholly free from the consdousness of safety. We will get chit information from our accident records, and from the National. Safety Council, and we will push con sistently month after month on the hazards greatest at that particular time,- and hit them from every side. Don't be impatient It takes us a little time to organize so large an activity. We ourselves are faced with the problem of selling this program to one thousand mem bers who have got to withhold saleable space to advertisers crying for it in order to give it to the safety campaign. But we still think it is the most intelli gent thing we can do, because while adver tising can not hold a course on economics to teach the American people the meaning of advertising, it can make some dramatic demonstration of its power, that they trill accept it as necessary without any economic demonstration. I feel absolutely confident that in the next three years, if.we can secure the co operation that it looks as if we now can secure, we can build behind you a coordi nated force through your official Safety Councils in every state and tity, which will drop tins accident record down fifty per cent or more: I hope down to twenty-five per cent of where it stands now, and then it is a controllable situation. We are fall of confidence as to the power of the great media of publidty to do this job. If it isn't happening right away in your dty, get hold of your outdoor oper ator, of your newspaper owner, get hold of your radio stations, and ask them to get together. They have been instructed in ex-eiy case to contact the safety director. We have a state chairman in every state, and he has. already been instructed to con tact the official safety director of his state'" and community, and offer his services. We will build an integrated campaign, taking care of all the details ourseh'es. We ask your support We ask your assistance, and your full cooperation at every turn. I think between-us, wecan- do this job; WEDNESDAY MORNING SESSION October 9, 1946 General Session Presiding: Col. Light B. Yost, General Motors Corp. Present State Programs Compared with President's Conference Recommendations By A. W. BOHLEN Executive Director, American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators As an outgrowth of the Action Program adopted May 10th, by delegates of the President's Highway Safety' Conference, fifteen states have already held conferences in the names of their respective governors. These states are Virginia, California, Ohio, Alabama, Montana, Indiana, South Caro lina, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, Utah, South Dakota, and Michigan. In addition some 14 states will have their meetings in the near future. First of all, in order to clarify my re marks about these conferences, it seems to me, to be desirable to give you a very brief outline of what was called for by the President's Conference.^ The Conference Action Program suggested the setting up in each state of one committee composed of 9 Traffic Section 239 state officials to act as a co-ordinating body and a public suppor$ group on the other and another committee of leaders in civic, hand without giving full force and effect service, business, fraternal,' professional, to the conference recommendation that a labor, farm, and similar men's, women's, and full appraisal or'existing conditions within youths' organizations to act as a public sup a state be made. port group. In the four months following the con The co-ordinating or official committee ference, less than a third of the states was charged with appraising existing condi have held meetings. Thirty-four meetings tions within the states and utilizing, recom remain to be held. A strong blow >01 the mendations of the conference as a "measur interest of highway traffic safety can be ing stick" to determine exactly what was struck if the states in which conferences needed to develop an effective highway safety' are still to be held will undertake a realistic program. This committee was also charged appraisal of existing conditions. Certainly with co-ordinating highway safety activi to dp so will require more than a little ties; moreover, it was charged with ac effort--more than a little planning. It will quainting the public with the results of its also require more than a little patience analysis and comparisons to the end that to do a thorough going job. organizations and citizens might know ex If the President's Highway Safety Con- actly what dements constituted the official ' fercnce is to be something.more than just highway program. another scries of meetings in which lip The non-offidal organization, on the other service to safety is freely given, a com Iiand, was charged with serving as a clear prehensive study of all elements affecting ing house and co-ordinating agency for the the highway traffic safety problem must be respective agencies from which it derived made. Officials comprising the state co its membership. Its purpose was to advise, ordinating committee should insist on and stimulate and otherwise assist in the de aid in putting into effect a system of eval velopment of the traffic safety programs' of uating what is now being done so that their its participating organizations, without, of own state's program can be brought into course, giving directions to individual or line with the national effort. ganizations' programs. Likewise, this group was charged with working closely with the official co-ordinating committee. The Action Program published by the conference sets forth seven elements con stituting a balanced program. These are The states for the most part have fol ' laws and ordinances, accident records, edu lowed through in excdlent shape in the cation enforcement, engineering, motor ve mechanics of the Action Program. Seven hicle administration and pnblic- information. teen states have established official co Each one of these should be thoroughly ordinating committees and 10 have created analyzed and broken down so that it may non-official public support groups. be compared with its counterpart in con The ultimate success of the recommenda ference. recommendations. tions of the President's Highway Safety At the state level, it is necessary not Conference depends entirely on the follow- tdy to consider the broad principles with through by the official and non-official wrhich the President's Conference dealt, but groups. it is also necessary to consider in detail In reviewing the work that has been done minor matters, in order that the state pro by the Governors' Conference thus far, gram may be brought into proper relation however, the need for a more critical ap ship with conference principles. praisal of conditions existing within the It seems elementary to me that any Gov stafes is indicated. Moreover, the need for ernor's Committee on Laws and Ordinances fuller utilization of the technical recom should take appropriate steps to bring about mendations of the President's Highway a critical appraisal and comparison of a Safety Conference to determine exactly state's laws with the uniform vehicle code what is- needed to develop an effective offi and to actively support a program designed cial highway safety program is also pro to. effectuate any needed revision. Such a nounced. committee should also establish means of It is-not enough simply to set up an evaluating what is being accomplished in official state committee on the one hand the way of obtaining uniformity of adminis- 240 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 nation, interpretation and enforcement of existing laws, and should make an accurate appraisal of the extent to which punish ment was certain and the degree to .which like offenses are similarly punished. The Committee on Accident Records should design and carry out a . plan to im prove the collection of accident reports and at the same time should undertake a pro gram to improve the quality of reporting. Moreover, the challenge to improve the use fulness of such records in the interest of the engineer, the enforcement official and the vehicle administrator should be squarely met In the held of education, a comprehen sive continuing program is indicated. The committee charged with this assignment must concern itself with allphases of the educational problem. It must make large plans to teach the necessary skills in walk ing and driving and must make equally large plans to develop proper attitudes in the performance of these skills, at the same time integrating them into the existing levels of instruction. The Committee on Enforcement should in its field survey current policies and prac tices in light of conference recommenda tions and should prepare a schedule ofrimprovements to be made. Such a schedule should in effect be a time table designed to secure early correction of existing short comings in all areas of operation. The range of activities of this committee should be designed to improve respect for the police, the prosecutor and the court, and to marshall the forces of these agencies into a more uniform, hard striking contingent The Committee on' Motor., Vehicle Ad ministration should consider its duties and functions in the light of the words of Major General Philip B. Fleming's address on "Budgeting for Safety." In this ad dress the General said: "A thing that has always puzzled me is the contrast between what we are willing to do to promote fast highway travel and what we seem willing to do to make travel safe." This committee should not only under take to carry' out the general suggestions and recommendations of the President's Highway Conference Committee report on motor vehicle administration but should also take effective steps to contribute ma terially to the development of a sound driver license program. Deficiencies in a state's program should be spotted and a time table for their correction worked out. Then a program to accomplish these objectives should be vigorously prosecuted. The Committee on Public Information has a problem of organizing the several media of information, the .public officials con cerned and die various interested organiza tions into an effective force. This assign ment is no small one. It is, however, one that will require ingenuity, perseverance and a great deal of effort tt> get mass acceptance of the concept of individual responsibility. ' All phases of the report of the Confer ence Committee on Engineering should be carefully considered and a means for weighing the state's activities against it worked out It is also incumbent on this committee to establish continuing activities in those fields where follow-through is nec essary. Since,,much of the engineering pro gram will require support in both money' and public*acceptance, adequate liaison with the public information committee should be developed. These are but a small part of the area of operations of this group. At its 1945 conference, the American As sociation of Motor Vehicle Administrators passed a resolution requesting the Presi dent of the United States "to call together responsible public and civic leaders to mass nation-wide support for our efforts to pro vide safe and efficient highway transporta tion." This resolution resulted in the calling of the President's Highway Safety Confer ence in Washington, D. C, tins year. As evidence of its recognition of the problem and leadership in seeing that President's Conference aims are fulfilled, I quote from AA.M.VA. President Malcolm McEachin's speech at the southern region meeting: "The highway accident problem of all national problems, is one of the most important today. It goes without saying that it is our most important problem since it directly affects every citizen. "The question is: What are we going to do about it? "It seems to me that the delegates of the President's Conference--which was in sub stance a responsible group of representative American citizens, exploring the means by which our highways may be made safer-- have given us, the motor vehicle adminis trators, a charter for our future activities. Traffic Section 241 '`The Conference told us in effect what the American public expects of us. They told tis first of all that they were behind us: that they would give us support in those things that have-been tried and have proved effective in reducing traffic acci dents. That is important Moreover, it was made abundantly dear that federal authori ties had no intention of invading our areas of operation. That also is important. But the conference, in evaluating the techniques and standards in use in the several states, noted many weaknesses that need correc tion. -The public is demanding that we make the desired corrections which are now em bodied in tibe recommendations of the eight conference committee reports. The Presi dent's Conference made 15 specific recom mendations to strengthen apparent weak-' nesses in the fidd of motor vehide adminis tration. Five of these recommendations can be put into effect by us at once. Thor are: 1. Liaison between the several state de partments is essential where overlapping of jurisdictions exists in highway trans portation matters if the general public is to receive maximum benefits. This recommendation is important be cause the public looks to us to put our own house in order to be able to undertake an intensified safety program. Much remains to be done in developing inter-departmental co-operation. 2. Motor vehide departments should keep the general public fully informed of . their activities for the purpose of gain ing public support If we are to maintain the impetus given to the traffic safety movement by the Presi dent's. Highway Safety Conference, and if we are going to bring into being many of the things for which AAMVA stands, it is extremdy important (that we develop information with , respect to motor vehide administration activities that will be of in terest to the public. 3. Motor vehide administrators should as' sume the responsibility of bringing about the adoption of nationally recommended uniform laws and standards in - their field. It will not be long until the fall dections provide us with a new crop of state legis lators.,. Now is the time to begin laying plans-for necessary amendments in our state laws. It; seems to me that, through our public groups, we should be able to tell our problems to legislative candidates so that regardless of who is elected our story will have had the benefit of pre election consideration. If this can be ac complished, much headway will have been made. 4. The rdationship between motor vehide departments and state legislatures should be one whereby the motor vehide ad ministrator should become a technical advisor to the legislatures in matters that pertain to nationally recommended uniform laws, standards and practices in this fidd. If we take advantage of the situation now in spreading constructive information in regard to motor vehide matters, it will not be difficult for us, as administrators, to assume the role of technical advisers in matters pertaining to uniform laws, stand ards, and practices in the .field of motor vehide administration. 5. Adequate facilities and personnel should be provided for analysis and driver con trol as wdi as devdopment of informa tion and statistical data of a research nature. I realize that there are many departments that are understaffed and there are many difficulties in developing information, not only with-respect to driver licensing, but also with other functions of motor vehide administration, regardless of the difficul ties we are likely to encounter in securing adequate personnel to do this job. It seems to me that we should make an exceptional effort at this time to establish a factual basis for our arguments for better legisla tion. Funds and personnel must be found to do the job of devdoping facts and pro viding more and better public information. With respect to driver licensing the com- mittee on motor vehide administration made the following recommendations to the states: The minimum standards for driver ex aminations recommended by the American Association of Motor Vehide Adminis trators should be adopted by all states whose standards are lower. But where possible, this committee recommends that higher than present minimum standards be adopted. It is urged that everything possible be done to implement research in the fidd of driver examinations. f * 'I 242 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 We will never have a better opportunity the job and on the current level of economic to make a sound, vigorous attempt to put conditions. driver licensing on the high plane it should Adequate funds should be provided for be. If we fat! to do this. I'm sure public the establishment of necessary facilities reaction will result in greater condemna where proper examination of applicant tion of certain practices and that confidence drivers may be conducted. l r in us will be lost If we fail to make the While, in many instances adequate funds public understand that driver licensing is are not presently available to provide facili not just a racket, the fault will be ours. ties for proper examination of applicant The continual loss of qualified personnel to private enterprise is a matter of grave concern. Trained men are leaving state service in large numbers because of at tractive offers from the outside. This is a situation that is not likely to change, so long as private corporations are willing to bid for the sendees of state employees hy paying salaries higher titan state agencies are authorized to pay.=> - drivers, I feel that every effort should be made by us to review our budgets and costs of operation with a view to amending oar operations so that necessary facilities may be provided. Motor vehide administrators should continue with their work in driver educa tion and training and continue to main tain facilities in their respective depart ments to that end. It is entirely possible that a review of our We must come to realize that if we ex operational costs and the proper channeling pect to keep our present high caliber of 1 of the savings will permit ns to undertake personnel we will have to pay them on a a more intensified program of driver edu scale commensurate with the importance of cation and training. Present City Programs Compared With President's Conference Recommendations By CARL J. RUTLAND Chairman, Citizens* Traffic Commission, Dallas, Texas Before drawing a comparison of the status of most American dties with the action program recommended at President Truman's Highway Safety' Conference in May' of this year, I should like to suggest for your consideration an improved medium or agency by which many of these recom mendations could be activated. Such an agency might be called an ad ministrative traffic committee. It is an in ternal committee within the city govern ment, comparable in nature to a committee which, in some states, has been set up on a state level with the governor serving as chairman. The membership of the state committee is composed of the heads of the highway commission, state police, state school department and the attorney general. The chairman of the internal committee-in the municipal government would be the chief operating executive of the city--the city manager or perhaps the mayor, and the members would be the traffic engineer, di rector of safety education, traffic court judges, police chief, public works engineer, public utilities supervisor, city attorney and the city plan engineer. The most active person in the promotion of traffic safety among the members could serve as secre tary of the committee. Meetings should be held monthly. The President's Conference recommendations, as welt as additional traf fic matters, should be taken up one by one, studied, and if advisable put into effect It must be remembered that in the final analysis the responsibility for the achieve ment of practically all of the Conference recommendations tests with, municipal offi cials. -Nearly all departments of the dty government are involved, and share some of this responsibility. In many instances traffic activities overlap between depart ments. It is obvious that a unified front is essential for effective control measures. For example, some of the recommendations are largely responsibilities of the police de partment, but the police hesitate because there is no coordinating agency wherein matters affecting the courts* engineering or legal departments or other departments in Pi <* m Pi m st lit It oi Pi w d. re bs at ti m si w w m ta m n< ot is ti P oi lx fa P< b< ti tii ti< bt at oi ut at f< in bj tr m w ti la 9 Traffic Section "^243 the city government can be clarified .and Eighty-three per cent have traffic engineers agreed upon. in the 250,000 to 500,000 population bracket, The medium of such a committee will but less than erne-third of those under 250,- provide for mutual. understanding of all 000 have traffic engineers. In most of the departments as to the reasons for the recom larger cities which have traffic engineers, mendations and the expected results. It will the engineer reports to the city engineer proride for coordination between depart ing department or the director of public ments and combined action to achieve re safety. There were very few instances where sults. It will deride on bow to achieve pub . the traffic, engineering department was set lic support when that becomes necessary. up on a level with public works or police, It will provide for the most efficient method and reporting directly to the chief operating of carrying out the recommendations. executive. Our traffic engineering depart- In making general inquiries as to what progress cities have made in connection with the recommendations of the Presi dent's Conference, I frankly admit that the report is only slightly encouraging. Per haps therefore a coordinated committee such, as has been suggested is needed and can be the vehicle through which these recom mendations may be put into effect I am sure that in this room there are persons who serve in key municipal positions and who should be members of such a com mittee I challenge them here and now to take the lead when they return and pro mote the formation of such a committee. ' ments are not strong enough. They are in many instances handicapped for manpower and funds. They are not set up with suffi cient prestige and influence in the city gov ernment City councils, in many instances, are not aware of the vital need for traffic engineering, of how it functions, or of its objectives. It is well to remind ourselves that the establishment of physical facilities to move daily millions of motor vehicles in our municipalities with safety and dis- - patdTover an intricate network of streets and under: varying kinds of regulations, be comes more and more a scientific traffic engineering problem. There must of course be dose alliance with the police and other It is obvious that most cities have either departments, but policing is one science, not put into effect these recommendations, and traffic engineering is another. or lave not intensified those which do ex ist,- otherwise the traffic accident record in Of the cities reporting in the National those cities would have been materially im . Contest, 16 per. cent had less than 90 per proved. A comparison of the present status cent of uniformity of signs and signals. of cities with the Action Program would Incidentally, the cities with more than 500,be of great interest, but since no cumulative 000 population are the greatest offenders-- facts have been made based on this year's 70 per cent of them have less than 90 per performance, the only comparison that can cent of #uniformity. Is there any reason be drawn comes from facts submitted by why the adoption of the Uniform Manual, the 400 cities of more than 10,000 popula which is available to every city in the tion which sent in entries in the 1945 Na country, should*not be one of the first tional Traffic Safety Contest steps undertaken by the suggested Adminis Most of the cities reporting have record trative Traffic Committee? bureaus of one kind or another but many are non-standard and are ineffectual because of lack of funds, insufficient equipment and untrained personnel. Thirty-nine per cent are using non-standard accident report forms. The record and spot maps, in many instances, could be more intelligently used by departments concerned with traffic con trol. It is obvious that records and spot maps axe essential before any .kind of worthwhile selective job can be done by the police, engineers or educators. As a. general rule, cities require as a -minimum approximately 4 full time traffic officers, equivalent, .per 10,000 population. With the exception of cities of over 500,000, 70 per cent of those with less popu lation have much less than this general minimum.. Most police departments are woefully undermanned insofar as traffic per sonnel is concerned. Most police depart ments do not have an adequate program for traffic training new recruits or men al ready in service. Fifty per cent of cities All cities laving more than 500,000 popu from 100,000 population up train their new lation, report having traffic engineers. recruits in a range from 31 to 72 hours, 244 34th National Safety Congress, 2946 } and their men already in service from 5 to structive efforts by public officials. Public 20 hours per year. In few instances only interest is becoming more manifest Per would this be called adequate. The Con haps the terrific post-war death and injury ference recommendation urges full courses toll has' had some* measure of effect in for recruits, and refresher courses for men this connection, but' the direct efforts of the in service. It also recommends that traffic press, screen and radios public officials, and officers should receive supplemental train community organizations are slowly but ing in their special fields of activity, special surely paving the way for greater achieve courses for commanding officers and ments in all phases of this movement. selected attendance at suitable regional In closing it might be well to bring to schools. the spotlight the very significant fact that Fifty per cent of the cities over 250,000 most of the recommendations made at the use selective assignment methods in en ' President's Conference require some ex forcement, less than 15 per cent under this penditure of municipal funds. Such funds population bracket have selective enforce are already available or may be made avail ment able without tax increases by the motorists themselves by reason of parking meter Only 61 per cent of the larger cities revenues and traffic fines. Since the mo have full time traffic courts, that is where torists actually contribute these funds, such traffic cases are segregatedfrom other funds should in the first place be returned charges. to them through traffic improvements winch In many cities the enforcement index is make for their safety. Strangely enough, low. There does not exist the conscious nearly every 'Tonstructive measure adopted ness on the part of the public that punish not only means improvement in the accident ment is certain. There is insufficient con record, but also provides a substantial by centration of enforcement on those causes product in the form of revenue received --excessive speeding, driving while intoxi from enforcement of such measures. Such cated, bad pedestrian behavior; and failure revenue not only covers their cost, but pro to yield the right of way--which account duces a net profit! Pointing specifically to for the greatest percentage of deaths .and Dallas, Texas, the revenue in the municipal injuries. Some cities have started enforce court and the fines bureau right years ago ment of pedestrian regulations, but this, step amounted to approximately $7,000 per is progressing all too slowly. month. The traffic control movement be There is a great need for more Gty Council interest in and support of strong and certain enforcement measures. gun during that year has consistently made improvements since. Today, as a result, largely" of .the splendid 'enforcement pro gram backed by public support, the returns Over all there is progress in aH phases from then amount to over $100,000 a month, of enforcement, however it is slow and or well over a million dollars per year! spotted. This is far in excess of the cost of every In the Contest reports, 90 per cent of the cities with more than "250,000 population report that some person in the school sys tem has been assigned by the Board of Education to supervise safety education in the entire system. School progress is en couraging. Many high schools are taking up behind-the-wheel driver training. Class room instruction in automobile driving and traffic safety is bring carried on in well over 50 per cent of the cities in the popu lation bracket from 100,000 to 500,000. traffic control measure which has been asked for and approved during' 1916. These measures include substantial amounts for traffic engineering, more and better trained police manpower, a new court building, three motor -vehicle inspection stations, a com pletely equipped driver training program as a starter in one of- the high schools, and an adequate budget for the- public traffic educational program. The adoption of these measures by the city government is not only reducing deaths and injuries, winch is the primary objective, but is producing an The President's Conference recommended amazing amount of revenue with which to that continued efforts be made to interest carry on the program. The beautiful thing the citizens in the community safety pro about it is the fact that the public heartily gram, and to secure public support of con supports it. one hoc tral tell spa stn Thi of wa; for nev Sta be toll a3 --9 Th ] Sa coi be a1 ba: . we ers St of * tht Co gf me or re< de is to .9 Traffic Section 245 ' Coordination Through Public Support Organization By W. EARL HALL Managing Editor, Mason City (Iowa) and Chairman, National Committee for Traffic Safety Summary My talk win be confined to two subjects: fic Safety we are trying to get the safety one, a book and, two, an organization. The story to every person in the United States! book is known as the New Testament of Our aim is to get those nine out of ten traffic safety. It is just that. The story it persons--and all ten if humanly possible-- tells offers new hope that lives will be to believe in safety and think safety con spared in the rush of travel along America's stantly. streets and highways in the years ahead. However,' there will never be an entirely This all-important book is the compilation satisfactory solution to the traffic safety of the proceedings of the President's High problem until we have a safety organiza way Safety Conference; the Plan of Action tion in every community. Where one al for traffic safety. This book, can be the ready exists, we must do our part to assist new route to traffic safety in the United . it in every way possible; Where there are States. If all foe recommendations- could - none; we most do our part in helping to set be put into effect over night, our traffic up such a safety organization. These are toll would drop to 8,000 or 10,000 fatalities broad steps, certainly, but they are the a year. basic steps necessary for saving the lives When nine out of ten people want safety of our families, our friends and neighbors --and not before--we will achieve,our aims. in the slaughter that is calmly called Through the National Committee for Traf "America's traffic toll." The Function oi the Coordinating Committee for Federal Departments By ROBIE DUNMAN Staff, Federal Committee for Highway Safety Five months ago the President's Highway Safety Conference recommended that three committees of independent and equal status be formed for the purpose of coordinating a highway safety program on a nation-wide basis. The three committees recommended were, a Coordinating Committee for Fed eral Departments; a National Committee of State Officials and a National Committee of Non-Official Organizations. Coordinat ing committees were also recommended for the States, counties and municipalities. Executive Order 9775, giving effect to the Conference recommendation, is one of the great documents of the highway safety movement When the President signed this order ihe Federal Government formally recognized the prevention of-traffic acci dents as a national problem. The document is a charter for the Federal Departments to stimulate and coordinate their own high way safety activities. It authorizes the Federal Departments to cooperate with other agencies, official and non-official, in the field of highway safety, and provides the vehicle for encouraging such coopera tion. The Order provides for continuation of the Federal leadership as exemplified by the President's Highway Safety Conference. It is additional evidence of the sincere in terest of the . President of The United States in the traffic accident problem and meets in every respect the Conference rec ommendation of a coordinating committee for Federal Departments. The Federal Committee win seek to con tinue and strengthen the cordial working relations developed between Federal people and representatives of the non-official or ganizations during the months of prepara tion for The President's Highway Safety Conference. It will formally recognize The iv. 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 National Committee for Traffic Safety as the National Committee of Non-Official Agencies recommended by the President's Conference. The Federal Committee will seek the assistance of the National Com mittee for Traffic Safety and will assist and cooperate with them in every possible way to effect the Action Program. The National Committee of State Officials will be recognized by the Federal Commit tee as the keystone of the coordinating structure. It is this group that will have-to be out in front and perform the direct effective work. The Federal Committee will recognize the basic principle that to be effective, highway safety operations must be carried on locally. It will cooperate with and encourage and assist the National Committee of State Officials to thr fullest extent The Federal Committee on Highway Safety will stimulate desirable action through established groups within its mem ber departments. It is expected that the committee mem bers will be top ranking officers from the Federal Agencies represented on the com mittee and that each committee member will have a qualified alternate who will function much the same as the technical advisors to the Director and Coordinating Committee of The President's Highway Safety Conference. There will be a small staff located in the former headquarters of the President's Conference, Room . 7009, Federal Works Building, - Washington, D. C The telephone number is extension 3151 on Executive 4950. A large staff would be required to carry out full-scale operational functions in a field as broad as that of highway safety. However, a small staff will be adequate to carry on the coordination function of the Federal Committee. A summary of the activities of the staff, following the Presi dent's Conference, should give some idea of the type of activity in which the' staff of the Federal Committee on Highway Safety may be expected to engage. Fore most in these activities is the handling of correspondence. Every announcement from the White House or from the office of General Fleming concerning highway safety brings an avalanche of letters. These let ters are referred to the staff for handling. Many letters indicate that the writer has a sincere interest in safety and a desire to be of help, some advance ideas that are not practical, and a lesser number are obviously attempts^ to sell products or to secure jobs. Business firms have subnutted copies of proposed advertising matter carrying safety messajgesfor comment and criticism. Each letter. is given an individual reply based upon the writer's Suggestion or re quest, with the intention of encouraging continued activity in the safety field. Where possible, inventors or those with sugges tions of improvements in equipment or facilities are referred to organizations that may be interested or of assistance in their development The staff has distributed 70,000 copies of the Auction Program and reports of the 8 technical committees. These reports have gone to National organizations. State, county and city officials, safety organizar tions, newspapers, magazines, radio sta tions, schools, colleges, universities, com mittee members and to all those who at tended the Conference. In addition, 12,000 Action Programs and Committee Reports have been furnished upon individual re quests. Orders for these publications con tinue to be received. Because of the demand for boand'copies of the Action Program and Committee Reports, arrangements have been made for the Government Printing Office to print and bind 500 volumes. The major part of this number are covered by orders now in the hands of the U. S. Superintendent of Documents. Assembling, editing and distributing the report of the Conference Proceedings has been another, staff chore. This 191-page report includes in addition to the addresses of -The President, Justice William O. Douglas and 'Representative Clare Boothe Luce, the verbatim report of the general sessions of the Conference, a. brief report on the activities of each Committee, and lists of the Conference organizations and those in attendance. Many requests are received from States, counties, and cities for information and assistance in preparation for State and local safety conferences. These requests are being met to the extent possible with the available personnel and facilities. When ever the Staff has been unable to comply with requests of this nature, they have been referred to some nontoffidal agency known to be interested and willing to assist . e-S'H fl 3 0 2 2.S .C * ft 3 2 S iP S*SW8 M.S 3,S' o iP8', 3, . B f it f S '' C c G G 0 a Traffic Section 247 This summary of activities of the con-, Coordinating Committees and will report t( tinning Staff of The President's Highway assedation safety activities and other mat f Safety Conference, will indicate to some ters of general interest extent the type of activity that may be It is hoped that arrangements can be ; *.5 i expected of the new Federal Committee. made with the Post-Office Department for js -i The number one project of the new Fed stamp cancellations that direct the public eral Committee will undoubtedly be. the attention to the seriousness of the traffic r preparation of a manual on highway safety aeddent problem. based upon the recommendations of The The Committee will become informed of President's Highway Safety Conference^ highway safety research projects, programs, for use by the Federal Departments. The and activities of the participating agendes Army, on July 15th, issued orders endors and will serve to make generally available r ing in principle the recommendations of the . information on this subject 31 t r President's Conference and there should be The Federal Committee on Highway- no opposition by other departments to the Safety will carry on its activities with this "3f i e adoption and use of such a manual. one thought ever in mind--our responsibil Periodic publication, perhaps once each ity to promote highway traffic safety and month, of a bulletin or news letter will be the abatement of highway traffic accidents a major activity. This publication will go" can only be met by concerted action with to the approximately 200 organizations and all others who strive for safer streets and departments making up the three National highways. ill ) National Committee of State Officials 5 By LT. COL. FRANKLIN M. KREML Director, Traffic Division International Assn, of Chiefs of Police 1 Summary .*. ; * > 1 e In line with the President's Highway (5) Further research and development are *.* . . * * Safety Conference, the National Commit ] -necessary. This was not induded in tee of State Officials will have its first the President's Conference, bnt re organizational meeting the first - part of search and development are necessary November. The members of this commit if we want to solve effectivdy our tee are : International Association of Chiefs traffic control and aeddent problems. e s e of Police, American Association of Motor Vehide Administrators, American Assodation of State Highway Officials, Association It must be conducted on a coordinated and 'cooperative basis. 5 of Railroad and Public Utility Commission Objectives of the .National Committee of I. ers, Association of Chief State School State Officials as stated in the Action Pro e Officers, Association of State and Terri gram are: (1) Appraise present conditions; 1 torial Health Officers, Governors Confer (2) Coordinate state programs; (3) Lid- t ence and Association of Attorneys General. son with non-official organization; (4) ] The last two were added to the list appear-' Liaison with Federal Officials . Committee. ] ing in the Action Program of the Presi The Committee will work as a coordinating dent's Conference. agency, through and for official organiza The prindples set up by the National tions. Specifically, the committee will eval i Committee of State Officials are: uate and develop the Action Program. It 1 (1) Traffic control and safety is primarily will endeavor* to coordinate the various 5 a state and local job. Serious thinking offidal organizational activities, resulting in *1 should, be given this prindple. grater efficiency and much faster progress. (2) No new types'of official agendes are Citizens, civic leaders, and public officials ? necessary. should give support to partidpation in the 9 (3) The "Action Program" is endorsed. National Committee of State Offirials, We 9 (4) Coordination is necessary at state and must get away from individual and un national levels. coordinated effort 248 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 The Notional Safety Council's Part in the Over-All Program By SIDNEY J. WILLIAMS Manager, Public Safety Dept, N. S. C. My topic is aptly worded because if we setting up of both the official coordinating in the National Safety Council want the committee and the public support com President's Conference to have any lasting mittee or safety council; help these bodies results the first thing all of us must do-- to get going and to keep going, by giving members and officers as well as staff--4s to them the experience of similar groups in put on our overalls and apply ourselves to other states; all this, I repeat, if and when the tedious, often discouraging job of put requested--not otherwise. ting the recommendations into effect in Second--repeat this word for word, for every state and city. Not that this is the the city or metropolitan area conferences: job of the National Safety Council alone-- help in the setting up, the presentation of far from it. To reiterate an oft-stated vital an appraisal, the formation and operation fact, the Conference itself--the committee of a continuing group or groups. Wher reports, the newspaper headlines, the flash ever we have a strong local safety council, light photographs of celebrities--all these they will naturally assume this task as well add up to little more than nothing unless as helping on the state conferences. all .of us, officials, highway users, public support groups and everyone else, are will-* ing to toil and sweat, to be rebuffed and knocked down and stilt come bade for more, through oil the laborious and unglamourous task of translating words into Third, the National Safety Council will continue to offer technical and statistical information on accident causes and rem edies. Fourth, the Council will continue to offer action. assistance to state accident record bureaus. The things on which the National Safety Council can particularly help are these: Fifth, we mil continue similar help on state public education programs. First, the State Conferences: encourage the calling of them, where this has not already been done; help, where requested, on the program; in particular, urge con formance with the strong recommendation of the President's Conference that these state meetings be not just a series of in spirational speeches, but be based on a Sixth, we will continue to work with the states on programs of technical and other assistance to their cities, especially those of smaller sire. Seventh, we will support to the utmost all the President's Conference recommenda tions, through ali our channels of national publicity, and careful appraisal of the situation and needs Eighth, through our active participation in the particular state. For the latter, un in. the National Committee for Traffic less some other and better appraisal can be Safety. made, our analysis of the state's report in In all this the National Safety Council the National Traffic Safety Contest is seeks no "leadership" except such as is available. Then--if requested--help in the earned by service. Presiding: B. R. Caldwox, Deputy Chief, Director of the Traffic Bureau, Police Depart ment, Los Angeles, Calif., Chairman, Police Division, NSC Uses of Accident Records (A Panel Discussion) Discussion Subjects: (1), Planning fhe Enforcement Program; (2), Checking Enforcement Performance; (3), Guid ing Public Education; (4), Adminis trative Use of Records; (5), Traffic Engineering Use of Accident Records; (6), Driver Licensing Use of Records; (7), Court Use of Accident Records. Participants: Capt. Lestek J. Divine, Traffic Division, Police Department, Oakland Calif. Sgt. Joseph L. Childs, Safety Traffic and Operators License Division, Michi gan State Police. W. Burke Smith, General Manager, Massachusetts Safety Council, Inc, Boston.' Geokge D. Eastman, Chief of Police, Seattle Wash. George J. Fishes, Assistant Traffic En gineer, Ohio Department of Highways, Columbus. Major A. F. Temple, Chief, Driver Li cense Division, Texas Department of Public Safety. F. C Sanford, Traffic Division, Police Department, Salt Lake Gty, Utah. Planning the Enforcement Program By CAPT. LESTER J. DIVINE We, who have made the field of traffic control our particular specialty, all agree that motor vehicle accidents can be pre vented through the use of the three "E's," engineering, education and enforcement. .Itt the development of this idea we have also concluded that before anything intelligent can be done in any of these fields of en deavor there must be a pool of accurate, reliable knowledge about traffic accidents and their causes. Furthermore, this knowl edge must be properly interpreted before it is of value in traffic accident prevention. Some traffic administrators have allowed the idea to develop - that unusually heavy stress upon enforcement alone will solve the problem. This may be a' perfectly natural method of reasoning, since the police offi cers' primary duty is law enforcement, but we know from past experience that it is not a valid line of thought. ^Accident in vestigation and accident record analysis are not only important they are'.absolutely es sential to successful selective enforcement. It is, therefore; important that traffic ad ministrators recognize this and maintain adequate accident investigational and ana lytical services, capable of developing clear, concise and complete reports of the existing accident picture. When this lias been done, the groundwork for good enforcement plan ning has been laid. Adequate enforcement planning requires a complete awareness of the desirability of selective enforcement. The tremendous toll of injury and death seems to indicate that, at this time; many departments choose to completely ignore the principles of selec tivity. It might be well, therefore, to review the definition of the term "selective enforcement" By "selective enforcement" we mean the application of enforcement in terms of patrol strength and violator apprehension in such a manner that enforcement effort is generally proportional to the need for at tention in terms of times, locations and causes of accidents as indicated by accident experience; Naturally, this basic plan may be modified to secure adequate concentra- :i !1 i ( 250 - 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 don on extremely' difficult problems or Under stable conditions, it is possible to problems of a special, character. plan from one to three months ahead. In Among the primary factors affecting en order to. develop a usable picture, it will forcement planning is the type of police .be necessary to 'analyze the experience of organization concerned Differences in or the immediate past, using a one to three ganizational structures will naturally cause month period depending upon the volume of a difference in the methods best used by accidents investigated. It is possible to use municipal departments and those used by the experience of corresponding periods of state forces. In cities, special traffic, patrol time, of preceding years, provided. allowforces are generally used as fame selective . . arides .are made for any changes which may enforcement units, leaving the basic cover have occurred in the intervening time. Thus, age to uniformed patrol forces. Statewide problem arterials of previous years,may. not. policing usually presents a different, picture. warrant attention now because of the closIt is generally necessary to maintain a fitg of war plants,.bouring projects, etc.. fairly uniform distribution of manpower, and reserve forces to detail to the "hot spots" are usually lacking. As. a result, planning in municipal and state forces differ to this degree. Severity'of accidents bears1 little rela tionship to the problem of enforcement programming at tins- stage. Oar primary consideration here involves the. accidents which can be prevented by enforcement. In cities, all accident record analysis and Those accidents whose solution lies in edu planning will be done in Traffic Division cation or engineering should not; concern 'headquarters. In state work, all general us here, for at this point we are dealing study and planning should be done at head with enforcement alone. quarters, leaving detailed assignment of manpower to the districts. Because of the distances involved and other factory local districts will be better acquainted with their own problems and in a better position to effectively detail available men. However, all local planning should conform to the genera! plans and policies of state head quarters. Another important factor in the develop The' first of the three factors in a selec tive enforcement program involves the time element The first step Is the distribution of enforcement manpower to conform to the time of occurrence of accidents, a process duplicating tbe: assignment of accident in vestigation crews. Plotting an hourly fre quency curve will graphically demonstrate the need for men by time. For example if 35 per cent of the accident experience ment of tire enforcement plan is the analyti cal program. We must bear in mind that analysis now offers fewer and less accurate dues to the -future picture than in normal times, due. to the rapid and severe fluctua tions occurring during the war years. We occurs' between 4 pjn. and 6 pm then . ideally 35 per cent of the available person nel- should be on duty or at least assigned .at' that time. It most be appreciated that regular time losses such as court time, meals, special, details, etc., will materially are now in the post-war period, a period which will' continue to present an ever changing picture. Prior to the war, we were able to -plan our next year's enforce ment program on the previous three or four years' experience. Now, it is virtually im possible to do so. However, our current records are already demonstrating the di rections adjustments are taking, and the new trends are apparent. In some cases the administrator will have to rely upon his experience in the field,-perhaps even guess a little, but, whenever possible he will use factual data as developed by the analytical method. As the traffic situation "levels off' affect the orderly distribution of manpower. - A large city will require a 24-hour span of enforcement - coverage, generally with overlapping shifts. Smaller communities will probably require less than a full day span -of such effort for, where traffic vol umes are low, such effort will not be justi. Bed. If the accident experience falls, below. 5 per cent of the total for any given period, for example from 2 am. to 5 aom, that period may be. disregarded in OUr planning, and enforcement at those times left to the accident investigation units and to the patrol divisions.' the repetitious pattern of accidents will Similar studies must be made on a day- again become very apparent of-week and on a monthly basis. These stu< tior fon wat str< oco T. fori *M the. bb 1 1 acri bea dist as app aod it. v tion par A fice he< is < natt toui of giv< tior duri nee* are: flex star - lav Con den T dev pros tide aifi viol witl C met tioo to < are like evet den sob aod neb - Traffic Section . 251 studies will indicate_whea days-off and vaca standing .of- the; yiolatitm. 'factor of selective tions ' can be given without impairing en enforcement cannot be over stressed.' forcement strength. The important thing to watch here is . that men are actually on the street at the times when accidents are occurring. The secpnd factor to be considered in en forcement planning is "where" are the men` towork. In the development of tins factor, 'In the* process of building a selective, enforcement program the traffic division' administrator must have complete assur ance that, first, every accident reported is thoroughly investigated primarily to find the law violations (and I use the plural advisedly)-which caused the accident. Since the. administrator's 'most valuable guide will it is generally accepted that accidents are be his spot maps. caused by a chain of circumstances. it is The first step involved in area control.of important to know that which occurred accidents deals with the establishment of prior to. the violation which allegedly caused beats or patrols. Jurisdiction is divided into the accident: The importance of tins is districts and fine patrols in such a manner apparent when one considers that right-of- as to include In each enforcement beat an way violations are indicated as the cause of approximately equal percentage of the total large numbers of accidents when we know accident experience; In developing the beats that illegal or unsafe approach speeds are it. will be necessary to take into considera really the basic cause of such collisions. tion those natural boundaries' which are a Secondly, the information concerning ac part of every community. cident causes must reach the enforcement Area patrols are those in which, the of personnel. This may be accomplished ficer has a prescribed district within which through bulletins. These should convey to he covers all streets or roads. A line patrol the officer on the street the impression that is one oa which the officer rides a desig they emanate from ah accurate, reliable nated street, or series of streets during his source and that the material is current and tour of duty. There may be a combination factual. If is important that the analyst be of both. area, and fine patrols wherein a familiar with the thinking of the working given officer will cover, a district for a por officer and with conditions as they actually tion of the tour while covering a line patrol exist on the street during the 'remainder. It may also become Thirdly, to be successful, selective en necessary to superimpose a. line patrol on an forcement requires interested, informed, and area patrol. The patrol system should be capable supervision. Sergeants or squad flexible enough to be altered as tircum- . leaders should be conversant with the stances warrant--next inonth a beat may method and function of accident investiga lave to; be extended here or shortened there. tion, accident, .record control, and record Constant checking of the spot maps will . analysis. For example; officers may or may demonstrate where enforcement is needed. not rite violations as instructed. The temp The third principal factor used in the tation to gravitate to places where "easy" development .of the- selective enforcement violations are plentiful is very great Con program involves the violations earning ac versely, in some places violations causing cidents. It is essential that men assigned to aeridatts may be inadvertently overlooked,, enforcement know what the accident-causing deliberately thrust aside as being "petty" or violations are in order to effectively deal otherwise dismissed. Supervisors must as with the problem. sume the burden of training, discussing and Of the three factors involved in enforce generally demonstrating the necessity of ment planning; time; location; and viola adhering to -the plan 'as outlined by the tion^ the last is* perhaps* the most difficult administration. to cope with. Time and . place of accidents There cannot be too much .stress placed are . both routine tallies'in which it is un upon the importance of records coupkd with likely that great errors will occur. How careful* thorough* accident record analysis ever* from initial investigation' of an acci in the enforcement plauning picture. Every dent to the man , an the street arresting stable organization bases its approach to the subsequent violators, the interpretation of future upon its recoris and the police must accident causes may differ considerably. The do likewise; if we are successfully .to cope necessity~of haring uniformity in the under- with increasingly hazardous traffic situations. :: : i fj m 8 252 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 Administrative Uses of Traffic Records By CHIEF GEORGE D. EASTMAN Police records 'systems should, in the maty activities `that are included in the main, perform four major purposes: operations of his division, but in the final 1. Act as an official memory of police analysis, the two objectives mentioned are operations. the primary obligations of any traffic unit 2. Make a public accounting for police operations and monetary expenditures, and by so doing, successfully interpret police methods and objectives. 3. Perform in a disciplinary manner.. 4. Serve as a base for the analysis of emerging situations, and in the antici pation of problems, and assist in.the development of plans. In the complex undertakings performed by many men, precision and certainty in action and control over far-flung operations can be secured in some degree through a requirement that the manner of perform ance shall be recorded and this record be summarized, tabulated, and otherwise adapted to the needs of administrative review. Only by this method may the policies and driving force of the administrator be ex tended throughout all of the ramifications of a metropolitan police department. The administrator must have, in condensed, readable form, an accurate summary of activities to use as a "line of progress" check. It is imperative that the administra The principal administrative use of traffic records is to determine the "where" and "when" and "why" of accidents. This is the very foundation of selective assignment and selective enforcement, which are accepted as the keystones of a proper traffic program. These activities stem from traffic records and their application can only, be checked, adjusted, and guided by traffic records. _ (i). Daily recapitulations of arrests and citations are the administrator's constant check on tire enforcement activities of his entire unit The daily activity report from individual officers and their monthly re capitulation are the similar checks on the activities of the persons in the unit (b) Daily tabulation of reported acci dents, by' type, location, and time of day, keep the administrator up-to-date on the accident problem and indicate necessary changes in assignments and tactics. Uniformity of action and adherence to policies and tolerances established by com petent authority is a prerequisite to progress. tor know what is happening and what* Selective assignment and enforcement effect police service is creating. He must have taken the guesswork and haphazard also be able to locate inadequacies in plan ness' out of traffic programs. Analysts and ning and deviations from policies, at the a clear understanding of the traffic problem time thej' first appear. have resulted in definite plans for solving, An adequate records system is the only or in decreasing this problem. feasible manner of properly evaluating the All of these ..are of no avail, if the efficiency and performance of individuals. activities which are designed to put these Standards of performance and efficiency plans into effective operation are not effi must be created on a basis of known facts. ciently done; by the prescribed methods, in Only by proper recording, classifying, and the prescribed maimer. tabulating incoming complaints, reports, and It .is therefore fundamental that the ad requests from the public will the admin ministrator must have accurate, current, and istrator be able to accurately determine the concise information as .to whether this is extent of the problem posed. being done. Traffic records are the only The traffic administrator has his objec method of acquiring this information. tives clearly defined for him by the nature My department represents an annual in of his assignment Broadly defined, his dual vestment of $2,000,000.00 by the public. The purpose is to: (I) Reduce accidents; (2) Traffic Division accounts for the expendi Expedite the flow of traffic ture of an appreciable portion of this . sum. It is realized, of course, that there are The* public is entitled to know just what many factors that roust be considered and they are receiving for money so invested. I* Wh T rela ope his b>1. 2. 4. 5. en be Traffic Section 253 While the Police Department is not in a position to end a fiscal year with a balance sheet showing an actual cash outlay and pencuniaiy return, dollar for dollar, it ' should be in a position to show that the money spent has been justified by the re* turns from the investment Traffic administrators must also be able to show that the methods and objectives 'established by them-are adequate, effective, and proper. Thor must be able to sub* stantiate these methods and objectives both from the standpoint of solution of the traffic problem mid as reasonable expendi tures of manpower and finances. Accurate, complete traffic records, prop erly tabulated and summarized, are the only practical manner of attaining these ends. - The numerous intangibles that make evalu ation difficult which are present in any police program, are emphasized and exag gerated in a traffic program. By means of accurate records of public relations and activities, drivercohsultations, safety education operations, and traffic en gineering activities, marry features of traffic programs which have been heretofore on an "estimate'' basis can be brought much closer to a factual basis. By including a true presentation of the relative value and desirability of these in tangible factors in an over-all report, to gether with the more concrete items 'already mentioned, traffic records approach the ful fillment of one of their-major purposes. While the function "To act as an official memory of police operations'' is` listed as the first major purpose of a records sys tem, it is actually one of the most passive of uses. It is obvious that the many and varied activities cannot be trusted to human mem ory, but a records system designed merely to record and hold information is scarcely deserving of the designation of a unit of the police department Complete information, properly indexed, is extremely valuable during the investiga tion of a case, but unless this information is used beyond the specific case, the reten tion of it in the files serves only as an accumulation of - doubtful historical value. In conclusion--while there are several basic administrative uses of Traffic Records, it is safe to say that an alert earnest, traffic administrator will find that he is constantly finding new uses for records and each new use will suggest other worthwhile uses and studies which will better equip him to discharge his duties and responsi bilities. Traffic Engineering Use of Accident Records By GEO. J. FISHER The traffic engineer uses the records, relating to traffic accidents in his area of operation, as the backbone and basis for his program of activities. They are used by him to: 1. Select locations most in need of im provement. < 2. Justify the installation of signs, mark ings, traffic signals or channelizing islands. 3. * Warrant a reduction in the statutory speed limits. 4. Establish one-way streets. 5. Justify the enactment of traffic regula tions for safer operation at these loca tions. Perhaps not all of the uses have been enumerated, but a sufficient number, has been given to show that accident records are all important to the engineering phase of traffic safety and facilitation. A few phases of accident recording and filing that have been very useful to us in Ohio maw be helpful to Others'wrho are not employing such methods of analysis at present First: Computing MileageAccident Rates It has been generally recognized that a direct relation exists between the fre quency of accidents and the amount of highway usage, which may*be expressed as a-rate per million vehicle miles. Such a rate may be established for the entire street or highway system by dividing the total number of accidents by the annual travel in terms of millions of vehicle miles. Such a rate, established on an annual basis, may be regarded, fo'r purposes of analysis, as the 2S4 34th National Safety Congress> 1946 existing average rate of the entire street or highway system. In Ohio, for example, the rate for 1945 on oar rural state highway system was 1.9 accidents per million vehicle miles. While this rate does not seem serious, it must be remembered that a mile section of highway with an' average daily traffic volume of 2700 vehicles will aggregate a million ve hicle miles of travel during a year. Accident rates were computed for. all sections of the Ohio rural state highway system, based on reported accidents and highway travel of each section. Sections having an accident rate above the 1.9 index were summarized and the summary revealed much valuable information concerning the prone sections of the system. The summary' was also used to determine the need for a traffic engineering study of the sections and to justify tiie incorporation of improvements and the establishment of spedfic traffic regulations. A study of the day-night ratio of acci dents on each individual prone section was also useful in determining the need for refiectorization of signs and the application of glass bead paint for lane and center markings. In fact, a map showing these prone sections could be the basis of signing and center lining programs. Second: Spot Maps Most state traffic accident record bureaus keep and maintain various kinds of spot maps to show the frequency and locations of accidents. From an engineering stand point, it might be advisable to keep a spot map for. rural areas with a map legend according to roadway character. The map pin colors would then indicate curves, hill' crests, grades and driveways. These kinds of locations usually cannot be identified on the ordinary spot map. By using' colored pins to represent the character of the roadway, it is possible to identify curves, grades and hill crests. This is particularly helpful in spot analysis of spedfic locations since, the reference points are none too accurate on the original acci dent report In Ohio, we also keep a five-year map of aeddents at spedfic points such as intersec tions, bridges and railroad crossings. While this seems like a duplication of work, we have found that such a map Is necessary to identify locations where the accident fre quency for'any one year is not sufficient to justify detailed analysis. Third: Summary Sheet If the aeddent record bureau and traffic engineering division are separated, it is difficult to obtain all of the necessary in formation needed In preparing strip maps or collision diagrams of the original aed dent data without actual reference to each individual report." We have developed a spedal summary* form (8}4*xll") on which the location, date, tune and other customary information on each aeddent are tabulated. However, the form is so made up that sufficient space is available for showing the position of vehicles, direction of travel, point of impact, etc By using a template to. outline the road way and carbon inserts between sheets, it is possible to transcribe all necessary aed dent data plus a diagram of the aeddent on a small size sheet With such a form, detailed analysis of sections of roadway, intersections, etc, can be made without ref erence to the original report Checking Enforcement Performance By S6T. JOSEPH CHILDS Mich. State Police My subject implies that an enforcement program is in operation^ and that we wish to determine its effectiveness. The theory of traffic law enforcement is that it pre vents traffic aeddents. The effectiveness of a T. L. Enforcement Program is therefore determined by the number of aeddents it prevents. Enforcement performance must therefore be checked against aeddent frequency. Traffic Aeddent Frequency can. only be determined by careful analysis of aeddent records. A thorough analysis of traffic aeddent records in order to determine not only the number of such aeddents, but in order to Traffic Section 255 determine WHERE 'they are happening WHEN. they are happening and WHY they are happening is prerequisite to check ing enforcement performance; their accident experience and to furnish to the District Commander information which will show the performance of the Detach ments under his command. A police administrator who plans his. It is the District Commanders responsi enforcement program on the where, when bility to point out to Detachment Com and why of his accidents is on sound manders where there enforcement experi ground. bat his job is not finished when ence is not np to par. he assigns his personnel. Polide adminis trators most apply similar business methods to his business. He must know not only where his men are assigned but what they are doing as well. It is the Detachment Commander's re sponsibility to know what each man under his command is doing or not . doing and to point out to the officers where their en forcement performance needs correction. Traffic Arrest Experience must therefore If our theory that good, well directed be analyzed in muds the same manner as enforcement reduces accidents the police traffic accident experience. It is necessary administrator may reasonably expect a re to know WHERE traffic arrests are being duction in traffic accidents when the made, WHEN they are being made, and WHERE, WHEN AND WHAT FOR of for WHAT OFFENSES they are being, ~ his enforcement-experience checks with the made. WHERE, WHEN.and WHY of his acci When the WHERE, WHEN and dent experience,'provided of course that WHAT FOR of enforcement experience other things such as volume remains con can be compared with the WHERE, WHEN and WHY of accident experience we can begin to check enforcement per formance Checking the Enforcement Performance of any police organization is an admin istrative job which I do not believe can be accomplished in its entirety at Head quarters particularly in a State Organiza tion. The organizational structure of a department most be taken into considera stant. The administrator may find however that even though his., enforcement experience compares favorably with his accident ex perience accidents have not decreased. He must then check further. (a) Perhaps enforcement is not the an swer. Maybe, engineering is necessary. (b) Perhaps the enforcement index is . not high enough to be effective. tion and a complete plan worked out (c) Perhaps a study of accident records which not only takes into consideration for that area will show the need of a the department as a whole but each sub safety education program. division of the department and finally each (d) Perhaps he will find the conviction man. ratio of arrests in that area to be unusually For example, we have right districts in low and .the number of suspended sen our department; cadi under the command tences unusually .high because of an unco of a captain who is directly responsible to operative prosecutor or court. the Superintendent of the Uniform Divi (e) . Perhaps he will find that the mile sion. Within those right districts are 45 age or amount of traffic has increased more detachments each under the command of a non-commissioned officer and under each non-commisioned officer are from 5 to 20 men. The accident record section of the De partment can and does .furnish to the Superintendent comparisons of' accident experience with arrest experience for each district It is an administrative responsibility of our Superintendent to point out to. our than was anticipated. ' When a check of Enforcement Perform ance reveals that the WHERE, WHEN and WHAT FOR of ENFORCEMENT does not compare with the WHERE, WHEN AND WHY of accident experi ence the police administrator may find any one of the following (a) His subordinates are not doing their job in the maimer in which they were'in structed. District Commanders where their enforce-, (b) He does not have sufficient person ment performance does not compare r ith nel assigned to that area. 256 34th National Sajety Congress, 1946 (c) The qualify, of accident reporting is too poor to make accurate comparisons possible. (d) An in service training program is needed to stimulate the manpower of the department (e) There is not proper cooperation be tween the enforcement team consisting of the police, the prosecutor and the court We do not claim to know all the an swers to the problem in Michigan. We do know that the problem is complex. We do know that the better the accident re porting the better you can check your enforcement performance. We have learned that appearances are sometimes deceiving and that the obvious answer is not always the correct one. We are following to a considerable ex tent Public Safety Memo No. 106 entitled "A Method of Using Accidents Records for Enforcement Purposes." It is our be lief however that there are several good bookkeeping systems used in business and that in our business of protecting fife and property each one of us must set up a system in accordance with our organized structure and the staff we have available. - No doubt many of you have many good and practical ideas. The main thing to remember about an idea however is that it won't work unless we do. Guiding Public Education By W. BURKE SMITH General Manager, Massachusetts Safety Council Having heard how to plan your Enforce ment program and bow to check your En forcement performance, now how do we Guide Public Information? I humbly submit, it is very simple--just tell the public the story--the story of the accident situation in your city or state-- but tell them in a professional manner--tell them all of the details on accidents in a manner which will set up the Police De partment as a professional organization within the government which knows what is going on to the minutest detail--and knowing what is going on knows what to do about it provided it has the Three M's so essential to efficient police department operation--Men--Money and Material. Of course, this is all predicated. upon your police department having installed The Standard Accident Reporting System--or its counterpart. Without such a system you cannot tell the public or your city officials the true situation in a professional manner --because you amply do not have the facts. If your department does not have The Standard System or its counterpart in stalled, I suggest you get a copy of the National Safety Council's Public Safety Memo No. 69 before you leave Chicago--it will tell you how to install and operate it But for the purpose of my short dis cussion with you, let's assume eveiy de partment represented fully realizes that no enforcement program is successful without public support--and that .such public sup port is not forthcoming without adequately acquainting the public with the accident picture, and that it is necessary to convince city and state officials of the importance of an adequate traffic accident prevention pro gram in order that sufficient budget will be provided (for all intents and purposes we will consider some such officials as part of the public in this discussion--this is not intended to be derogatory in any sense-- officials have hundreds of things on their minds--any number of departments to con sider--the department with the best public relations is uppermost in their minds be cause they do read the papers and listen to the radio, particularly when it has to do with an official agency). * So on with Public Education--what is it? Simply the judicious use of newspaper space, radio time, house organs, outdoor advertising space, lobby and window dis plays, booths at various expositions and so forth--building displays and creating posters--furnishing data for newspaper ar ticles based entirely and absolutely upon the accident records in your Traffic Bureau as compared with National Records and rec ords of neighboring cities or states as the case may be--and of further importance-- telling the public that it is information based upon the summary compiled by your Records Bureau. Traffic Section 257 Now don't think the space is difficult to get--it isn't if yon have a factual story to tell--and your weekly, monthly, and quar terly summaries tell that story. For example^ if you are planning a pedestrian drive, invite'the reporter cover ing headquarters into the Record Bureau and show him the pedestrian record--show him on your spot map where most of them are bong caused--check the location file with him for causation factors--you have that on the summary, of course, but let him see your system and how it works-- go over special studies you have made on hours of accidents indicating of course when most pedestrian accidents are caused. Even a calloused newspaper man will be impressed (and incidentally, the callousness of newspaper people is only a fallacy--I'm sure- you've determined that--they are human even as you and I) he'll ask you questions and unless I miss my guess, will outline a fine program of press notices for .your Pedestrian Campaign--and might even, if you're cagey in your approach, rewrite several of them for the house organs in your area. You can do the same with the program director of your radio station--you may have several-^invite them all down to the bureau--give them the same treatment They, too, will be impressed with the ef ficiency' of your operation--with the fund of factual data you have on file--and presto!--you tell them what you want--- they assist in working out a schedule and you have splendid radio coverage for your campaign. Then phone the display manager of your leading department store or stores. Invite them down to visit you--take them on the same tour--they will be impressed--they are salesmen selling through displays which are attractive and sensational--if they have the facts or the material to build on--you have the facts, you suggest a window display-- otheyll go to work.. You may' not always get a front window--it may be a side window or even an interior display--but it will be seen and people will be educated and your campaign will be successful. The display men usually have plenty of material on band to build an additional display for downtown office lobby use--you can suggest it, give the store a credit line card--see the building superintendent, and you have another vehicle for Public Edu cation. Talk to your leading outdoor advertiser, give him the same treatment and suggest utilization of the 24 sheet posters produced by National Safety Council and The Out door Ady. Assn.--he might sell the space to local sponsors or he might give you one or two at no cost for a short period. But remember--your, entire story--your whole Public Education Program is based upon fact--upon your police record of actu alities. These people will not assist you, except passively, if you engage in plati tudes--if you say "We are having too many pedestrian accidents." Hit them between the eyes with a state ment such as, "Last month 9 pedestrians were hit by cars between A & B Streets on Downtown Avenue--two of them died-- if they had walked 200 feet in either direc tion to the intersection and had waited for the pedestrian signal, there would have been no accident." That, gentlemen, is im pressive, and you have inestimable material in your accident record files if you get people interested. Concerning Expositions--Better Homes, Food Shows, and others of a local nature. The manager of such an affair, according to my experience, is only too glad to pro vide space at no charge to official agencies '--particularly the police as it adds color to his show. So, when such an affair is an nounced, look up the manager, ask for the space, contact one of the display men in the department stores--and he will assist you in building an exhibit--will no doubt loan you the material and will build it around the records of actualities in your bureau--again not platitudes. Now*, of course, I mentioned a Pedestrian Campaign--merely as an example. But, many others would be developed in accord ance with the local situation such as-- Accidents at intersections where there is some type of traffic .control, speed, me chanical defects, reexamination of drivers, driver education, or publicizing your student patrol. But again I stress, base it--even if it is a general story on the overall accident situation--upon your records--upon actual fact. I assume most of you .or at least repre sentatives of your department appear be- .( 258 34th National Safely Congress, 1946 tore luncheon dubs, dinner dubs, service dubs, church and fraternal societies and so on, delivering talks on police work.and accident prevention. In such instances-- build up your Records Bureau as the foundation for your accident prevention work. Explain how your enforcement pro gram, assignment of patrols, etc are based upon traffic flow and accident experience-- explain how your acrident spot map and your enforcement spot map are utilized in the enforcement program--how collision diagrams and the location file are utilized in traffic engineering--it will be impressive --you will demonstrate the selective and sdentific manner in which the police de partment attacks the accident problem. You will make friends for the department--and when the people to whom you have been speaking read your press notices or hear your radio spots or programs, they will know that it is all based upon fact--that it is sdentific and selective Another smart stunt is to invite the group to hold its next meeting as a tour of in spection of police headquarters. When they accept, you take charge of the tour, if you can, and bring them through the accident records bureau first That is important be cause many of them may have to leave before the tour is completed--and your prime purpose for having them there is to give them a short course in acddent pre vention and traffic control--then bring them to the radio room, detective bureau, and the other glamour spots, as it were, in headquarters. Incidentally* don't sell the school students short in this whole matter of Education through your acddent records bureau-- particularly your senior high school stu dents. Bear in mind, this group will be voters in a few years, they'll be applicants for the police force in a few years--get 'em young, educate them thoroughly during their youth and they'll be in your corner when they reach maturity. Many police administrators don't, like tours of inspection--I can't understand why because, in my opinion, it is one of the best vehicles of public relations the police have--if you are presented with that prob lem--bring the mountain to Mohammed. Build a sample accident spot map--an en forcement spot map--an enlarged location file--a drivers' record file--Inducting colli sion diagrams--and so on--bring all of these props when-you make ytiur speech and explain their workings as you go along bringing in how you,build public educa tional programs as well as engineering, en forcement, etc. You can get a local photostat outfit to blow them up for you if your own machine is not large enough--or a draftsman in.the engineering department will do it in his odd moments. In view of my present position and past experience I naturally fee! that this subject is the 'most Important insofar as police functions as related to acddent prevention are concerned--of course the administrator --the engineers and others dosdy allied with us in this work have their ideas--but, every man to his own fancy said the old. maid as she kissed the cow. I don't have time to go into the many ingenious and promotional ideas which have developed from the use of acrident records in guiding Public Education--there are many, many excellent ones. They are all publicized in detail in Public Safety and in the International Association of Chiefs of Police Bulletin--if you don't find what you want there--write to the National Safety Council or to the IACP Safety Division at Northwestern Univer sity--explain your problem--they will tell you how It has been attacked in various sections of the country--you can apply the one best suited to your locality. Now, of course, you are not going to reach all of the people in your community this way--but you will reach an important cross section of them--you will reach the important influential citizens who will be in your comer whenever anything contro versial develops because they will know you are basing your program upon fact and record--they have seen how your accident records bureau works and of course, re member as you cultivate and gain the con fidence of the. press and radio you will be" reaching most of the people. So, in summation, if you have a standard acrident reporting system or its counter part, use it in guiding Public Education--if you don't have one, get one started as soon as you get back. Invite the newspapermen, the radio people, display managers, government offi- Traffic Section 259 dal's, advertising agencies, dubs and influ your general program, and a good public ential citizens to inject your acddent rec educational program will follow simply by ords bureau--explain how it is utilized in "doing what comes naturally." Driver Licensing Use of Records By MAJOR A. F. TEMPLE The burden of checking the upward trend in traffic acddents lies squarely upon the shoulders of those of us charged with the administration and enforcement of the traffic laws. It is imperative that we assume this responsibility, and without a moment's loss of time, concentrate our efforts on streamlining outmoded procedures and make full use of all available means that have proven effective in traffic control and acd dent prevention. Our position in the traffic picture is much the same as that of a doctor faced with an epidemic of contagious disease; and we will do well to follow his procedure in the treatment. First, we must determine the cause of traffic acddents from our records, and, at the same time that treatment is bang applied to the individual patient, maximum efforts must be directed toward eliminating the gerrfis that cause the disease, by inoculating those who will be exposed and isolating those who. are afflicted. Our most effective and direct approach to the inoculation and isolation of the driver lies in the rigid enforcement and adminis tration of a good Driver License Law. The lifeline of traffic safety lies in the control of the driver as an individual. Rec ords are kept and used by any driver licens ing program for only one- fundamental purpose--to aid in this control. The effectiveness of this aid is dependent first upon the validity and availability of the records themselves. I do not hesitate here to advocate the principle that the least gov erned are the best governed, provided, in so doing, I may insist upon its proper application. Taken literally, the principle is, of course, wholly false, with an imme diate reversion to anarchy. Taken logi cally, in its time concept, it simply elimi nates the "red* tape" of governmental functions. "Too often in tire past we have become lost in a maze of correspondence. files and cross-files, overlapping and irrele vant data in seeking to gain vital informa tion. We must dispense with this dead weight and lost motion, if we are to keep pace with the automotive age. The preservation of human life demands that we keep pace. It cannot, however, be attained in a day, in a week or in a year. We have gained momentum, but we must continue to apply with equal diligence that same interchange of ideas which brought about the modern, motor car, if we are to achieve comparable results in its control. This control, which we are Seeking to place on the driver is, in its simplest anal ogy, nothing more than a case history. Xo doctor would attempt to treat a patient without making full use of such a record. If it is the patient's first contact with the physician and he has no record, pertinent facts are obtained and the case history is "begun. The applicant for an original driver's license is in much the same position. He submits pertinent information and a case history is begun which may-form the basis for prescribing the treatment of future safety ailments. Added to this original record, the re porting of accidents and moving violations often supplies much useful information. And, let me add here, the reporting of seemingly minor accidents and violations is not to be considered as so much dead weight in our files. This accumulation may indeed enable us to spot the accident prone driver and apply preventive measures be fore he becomes involved in serious conse quences. If -we wait for the serious violation or the serious accident 'before establishing a record upon which to apply our action, we are gambling with life and death. It has been -reliably estimated that com mon safety practices . are violated an average of 300 times before the violator suffers airy ill effects as a consequence. . >i > f *?: 260 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 Surely these 300 violations offer us ample time and opportunity to take appropriate action to prevent this first ill-effect. Pre vention is the very essence of safety. If we are to succeed in our purpose of using the records for preventive safety, we must work to effect uniform and consistent accident and violation reporting. In addition to those uses of the records, the cumulative knowledge of cause and effect thus gained provides an invaluable source of information upon which to form ulate selective examining programs offering the utmost in educational value. The ideal goal remains the examining of every driver periodically. A further vital use of the records springs from the inventory of accomplishment which they provide, not alone for our guid ance, but for the guidance of the public in support of our program. The groundwork has already been laid. We have widespread public acceptance of safety as a movement. We must now proceed with facts and fig ures to guide this acceptance into specific phases of our program. We need concrete action to enlarge each phase which we know to be necessary in order to bring about the marked results which will, of themselves, insure the continuation of public support Our aim in this must not be merely the presentation of sufficient evidence to gain a passive acceptance from the citizenry. The time is now right, the psychological moment is here for aggressive action to ward transforming this passive acceptance on the part of the average citizen, and his duly elected representative in government,into a more active considered and intelli gent support for the cause of driver licens ing. In this, as in all other branches of safetywork, we cannot separate the use of the records into a driver licensing function primarily. Their use is rather a safetyfunction. As such the records sections serve as the G-2 or Intelligence Corps of our operations. It is this section which provides the*information for the movement of our safety troops in accord with coordi nated plans. The better the intelligence the less loss of life; and the quicker our ob jective attuned. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION October 9, 1946 Group Session for Traffic Court Judges and Prosecutors Presiding: Lyman M. Tondel, Jr., Nat. Chm, Junior Bar Conf., American Bar Assn. Improving Traffic Courts (Summary of Panel Discussion) Leader: Judc.e Harouj H. Neff, Municipal Court, Charleston, W. Va. Emile O. Bloche, Prosecuting Attorney, Oak Park. III. Persons on trial in traffic court are as a general rule law-abiding citizens and the impression they get will be their genera! impression of courts, judges, prosecutors, attaches and attorneys in general. It is important therefore, that they not only get a fair trial; and realize they are getting one, but also that they take away with them a good impression of the court. From the legal point of view the defend ant has some important rights--even in traffic cases--and he should be made aware of their existence; These' include: (I) to know the charge that he is to be tried upon and in as much detail as is required by statute or ordinance; (2) to have an op portunity to make his plea without intimi dation ; (3} in most jurisdictions, to a juiy trial; (4) to .be represented by counsel; (5) to hear the testimony of the witnesses in person; (6) to cross examine the wit nesses even though not represented by counsel; (7) to be heard in his own de fense - and to present such evidence and testimony- as he or his counsel may deem necessary and proper to his side of the case. & Traffic Section 261 To be treated equally, is also one of the inalienable rights of the 'defendant in traffic cases. "Fixing," of course, abolishes this right. AH defendants should be required to appear in person and it'is only logical to expect that all those charged with the same offense and who are guilty of that offense should have to face approximately the same consequences. Judge Harry E, Chambers, Oklahoma State Advisor; American Bar Association Committee on Improving Traffic Courts, Tulsa, Okla. The Traffic Court differs from the crimi nal bench in such things as the purpose of the laws, the volume of cases, Hie type of evidence, the character of the defendants, and the fact that traffic cases do not lend themselves to legal precedent Traffic cases should be tried separately from the criminal docket because the defendants in traffic courts are usually above the average crimi nal court defendants and because the aim of a traffic court is to impress and educate the defendants with the importance of and need for traffic law observance. Traffic courts should be beautified and modernized to be Hie equal of any court in the land, and the court should be conducted in a manner to inspire respect and deference for the, law. Judge Eldon R. Sloan, Police Court, To peka, Kansas. The tendency of the public to measure the effectiveness of its prosecuting officials by the records of convictions has resulted all too frequently in making "deals" wherein a person charged with one offense is per mitted to plead guilty to a lesser offense and thus the prosecutor avoids the risk of an acquital to mar his record. This is harmftd in two ways: first, it often allows a guilty person to escape the full conse quences; second, innocent persons are often frightened into a plea of guilty to a minor offense in order to avoid a possible convic tion.for a more serious offense. Without doubt fhe offense most often subject to abuse in the matter of reduction is that of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Where the law pro rides for an automatic driver's license forfeiture, it often results in an unequal penalty to different offenders. If the ac cused is dependent on the use of an auto mobile for his livelihood,'taking his license results in a far greater penalty than to a person who uses his car merely for pleas ure. Therefore, there is a strong tendency to reduce the charge for this first type of accused person. The remedy to this situation is to give the power to revoke or suspend drivers licenses to the courts. Severe penalties are not deterrents to traffic violators; it is the certainty of punishment for every violation that creates respect and cooperation. There fore; if judges were given authority to use their own discretion in revoking or sus pending drivers licenses, it would be pos sible to make penalties fall more equally and to abolish much of the pressure to reduce charges. Jack Devoe, City Prosecutor, Lincoln, Ncbr. The use of the word "prosecutor" should be discouraged. It is quickly and commonly twisted to "persecutor." Every good prose cutor appreciates that his job cadis for pro tecting the rights of the accused as well as presenting the state's case. It should be the prosecutor's job to make out the complaints and to otherwise relieve the court of other details permitting him to concentrate on the big job of judging cases. Discussion Embarrassment is caused by requests by attorneys for six month postponements in order to prevent trial of the criminal action prior to the aril suit This is obviated in most cities by local rules barring post ponements for more than ten days or pe riods up to thirty days. The offender and the public still don't consider the traffic violation, no matter how -serious, in the same light as other criminal offenses. Thus everyone is ashamed of shoplifting and tries to hush-up the affair. In drunk driving, everyone raises sand with the court for convicting the violator. The answer is to educate the public that the traffic offender is just as much a criminal as a thief. There should be intensive efforts to arouse public opinion in favor of better traffic law enforcement 262 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION October 9, 1946 Group Session ior Traffic Engineers Presiding: D. Grant Mickle, Traffic Eng., Automotive Safety Foundation. Relation of Parking to Traffic Safety (Present**! for Wilbur S. Smith. Associate Director, Bureau of Highway Traffic. Yale University, New Haven, Conn.) By ELROY L. ERICKSEN Yale Bureau of Highway Traffic The parking problem is bad, as everyone will admit One well-known traffic anthority,asserted: "As parking is now practiced throughout these .United States, there just isn't any such thing as `Relation of Parking to Traffic Safety,' for there is no safety. There isn't enough space at the curb, in downtown districts and use of the available curb space creates many difficulties." Grandiose plans and schemes have been conceived and advocated, yet no city has completely solved its parking problems. Matters of congestion and the insufficiency of storage capacity are most dealt with be cause they are daily realities to every motor ist and street user. The dement of hazard, the influence of curb parking on traffic safety, is less frequently considered because only a small percentage of persons is di rectly involved and because community effects are not as real. Accidents and haz ards involving vehicles parked at the curb should be considered in all studies of park ing; data on them are valuable in determin ing-correctives and, more often, aid in getting needed changes adopted. Parking causes congestion and congestion may cause accidents. Removal of congestion will often reduce accidents. The influences of parking on traffic safety are elusive and it is often not possible to prove all the hazardous conditions created. Many cases and examples, however, prove that improvements can come from parking changes. Facts About Parking Accidents General Involvement of Parked Vehicles in Accidents: In cities and in states, col lisions involving parked cars (including parking and unparking) constitute a sub stantial part of all accidents. The latest information compiled by the National Safety Coundl1 shows 92 per cent of all accidents in urban areas and 45 per cent in ratal areas involving parked cars. Only 1.3 per cent of urban and 2S per cent of rural fatal accidents involve parked cars. To these values, however* can be added several others related to parked vehicles; five per cent of the urban accidents involved cars leaving parked positions--1.1 per cent of the rural; 2.6 per cent of the urban and 3.9 per cent of tiie rural mishaps involved cars stopped in traffic. It is evident, then, that approxi mately 17 per cent of city accidents and 10 per cent of rural accidents involve vehicles which are parked, maneuvering into or out of a parked position, or stopped in traffic. It is farther significant that 5 per cent of the pedestrians killed in cities and 6 per cent of those killed in rural areas, entered the roadway from behind parked cars. Nine per cent of pedestrians injured in each area came from behind parked vehicles. A study made in 1940 in 10 large cities shows that accidents due to parking range from 5 per cent to' 28 per cent of the total accidents reported.* "- A survey of rural accidents in 12 states indicated accidents involving parked or stopped vehicles constitute 12.4 per cent of all rural accidents, with a variance be tween the 12 'states from 6.6 per cent to 16.3 per cent.* 'Accident Facts, 1946. National Safety Council, pp. 65-66. --`L".AEcc.idBenetnsdeDr,ueButoreaPuuokifngHiginhwCaoyngTesratefdficA, reYaasl*e* University,.1940. r`Accidents on Rural Highways Due to Parking" --W. W. Davis, Burean of Highway Traffic, Yale University, 1940. Traffic Section 263' Recent figures from Flint, Michigan4 show , that 12.3 per cent of the accidents in the business district involve parking. Figures for rural accidents on state high Another hazard created by angle parking is that of drivers making U-turns across on-coming traffic to enter curb spaces on the opposite side of roadway. ways in South Carolina* for 1946 show that 7 per cent of all mishaps involve vehicles parked or standing. Vehicles stopped on roadway or in a parking maneuver were noted in 10.7 per cent of the accidents. Eliminating all-day and long-time park ing, parallel parking will often accommo date parking demands except during periods of extreme demand. At these times, even angle parking does not meet the full needs. Some of the best roads experience many A survey on a business street in Chicago* parking accidents. One of the nation's most revealed a 63 per cent reduction in aeddents talked of highways, the Merritt Parkway, when angle parking was changed to parallel. lias many accidents involving parked ve hicles: From June, 1938 to July, 1940--17.7 per cent of all accidents involved parked cars; from May, 1945 to April, 1946--122 per cent of all accidents involved parked cars. During some years of the war period, one-fifth of all accidents on this road in volved parked vehicles. A study in an Oregon dty* reveals more aeddents with angle than with paraltd parking. Two street sections ox the same length and almost identical widths have solid business frontages. Each street has an average daily traffic of 8,000 vehides. With other types of accidents about the same for the two sections, parking collisions A recent study of accidents involving are almost three times greater on the street Army vehicles* shows that 3 per cent are with angle parking than on the one with attributed to unsafe parking, and approxi mately an additional 7 per cent to unsafe backing from parking spaces. About 10 per cent of these accidents, then, are of the parking type. Delay and congestion in traffic, even though they do not produce accidents at the point of trouble, may cause accidents else where. Rushing to make up the lost time, chances induced by irritated minds, and other out growths create hazard. An ex ample from San Antonio' shows that the correction of a bottleneck near an inter section reduced accidents 71 per cent within a one-block radios. Influences of Angle and Parallel-Parking on Accidents. Angle and- parallel parking usually produce different accident rates. In most instances, parking accidents are more numerous where angle'"parkdng.. prevails. The indirect influence of angle" parking on parallel parking. In Miami Beach, Florida1* in 1938,. cars were parked diagonally on Washington Avenue--an 80 foot street. Thirty-six per cent of the dty's accidents and 65 per cent of the transit aeddents occurred on this street; delays were terrific. In 1939 angle parking was changed to parallel and speeds were controlled by. a flexible progressive signal system. A check after one year showed rally 3 per cent of the dty's acci dents and 1 per cent of the transit aeddents on this street. Results were so- good that all diagonal parking is now being eliminated in the dty. An interesting case comes from Kansas City, Missouri." Aeddents were reported for streets on which angle parking was changed to parallel in 1938, and was changed back to angle 18 months later. With angle accidents is also greater than that of paral lel parking. Persons leaving such spaces are inclined to inject their vehicles blindly into the traffic stream, forcing moving cars `Data furnished by Mr. Henry A. Barnes. Traffic Engineer, Flint, Michigan. "Information famished by South Carolina State Highway Department. "Figures supplied by Mr. R. S. Holmes. Safety to swerve, inducing collisions with vehicles Brandi, U. S. War Department. in other lanes. More congestion is created `Information famished through American Transit Association by Mr. H. A. Briggs, Safety Dir., San and congestion breeds accidents. Antonio Transit Company. - ^ To avoid collisions with cars parked at an angle, drivers tend to "steer dear" of A Plan to Relieve Traffic Congestion in the Ashland-nth Shopping Center--,July 1939. Chicago Motor Club, CHy of Chicago and Chicago Surface the rear of. such vehides, usually dealing Lins. them by as much as five or six feet Some will even drive with their left wheds over the center-line to dear parked cars. "Data famished by Mr. F. Bruce Crandall, Acting ' Traffic Engineer, Oregon State Highway Commission. "Data famished by Captain John Hoover. Traffic Inspector, Miami Beach Police Dept. 264 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 parking there was an average of five, acci dents per block per year involving parking; with parallel parking, one accident per block per year, an 80 per cent reduction. A main street in a Minnesota town of 10,000 population reported a bad traffic condition. Signals were requested. Parking was changed from angle to parallel. Acci dents were reduced and movements became so orderly that signals were no longer sought Six months before the change, 27 accidents were reported which involved parking or unparking. During the six months following the change which included heavier traffic and a period of higher accident frequencies, there were only 16 accidents--`a 41 per cent reduction. En forcement and other conditions were un changed. Even though facts on curb parking acci dents may not convince officials that angle should be changed to parallel, they often prevent changing parallel to angle. Such a situation developed recently in Macon, Georgia.*1 A study on a downtown street in 1945 showed that 57 of 182 accidents, 31 per cent of all reported accidents, oc curred on an especially congested 1200 foot section. In these 57 accidents, angle parking was the cause or major contributing factor in 76 per cent On two of six blocks of another important street in Macon, angle parking prevails. Of 68 accidents in the six blocks in 1945, 30, or 47 per cent, occurred on two blocks with .angle parking. The cause of 47 per cent of these 30 accidents was traced directly to parking. With these examples, moves to abolish parallel parking on other streets were defeated. Double-Parking Induces Accidents. In many city areas, sufficient loading and un loading zones are not provided at the curb, or off-street, for commercial vehicles.' In others, the facilities provided are not well used because of lax enforcement As a result many collisions involve, or are caused by, vehicles double parked, stopped in the roadway, or, for that matter, at the curb where general parking is prohibited A study made by a transit company" revealed that double parked vehicles either directly or indirectly contributed to 17 per cent of bus accidents in congested areas. These collisions represent 4 per cent of the company's total for the city. When double parking is allowed to go unregulated, serious conditions can develop. A case was furnished in which double parking had been permitted to such an ex tent that few driven now pull to the curb, fearing entrapment by.double parkers. An other case indicated that this condition had grown so bad in a small town that the highway department was requested to erect signs along main streets saying "No Triple Parking." Parking had moved completely away from the curb. These conditions il lustrate dangers stemming from enforce ment at its worst Stalled and Stopped Vehicles. Because of mechanical failures and for other reasons, many vehicles stall or must be stopped in the traveled portion of the roadway. Often the stop is of an emergency character. A number of collisions take place with these vehicles and driver actions turned at avert ing collisions often result in other types of accidents. These conditions are usually worse in rural areas where speeds are high and transverse maneuvering areas ate re stricted. Short-sight distances obviously contribute greatly to such mishaps. Collisions with vehicles stalled or stopped in the roadway are apt to be more numer ous and more severe during hours of dark ness. Frequently,the vehicles are not lighted and adequate advance warning is not given. In 1945, about two-thirds of the deaths involving vehicles engaged in interstate commerce with mechanical defects, involved vehicles stopped in or along the roadway." One-fourth of the mechanical defect acci dents were due to vehicles colliding with vehicles which were disabled. 2.7 per cent of all interstate motor carrier accidents in volved vehicles stopped because of mechan ical failures. "Runaway" Vehicles. A surprising num ber of accidents involve vehicles which break loose from parking places on grades. Brake failures and carelessness are usually the causes. Not only are such actions likely "Facts submitted by Mr. T. J. Sebum. Traffic Engr., Dept, of Public Works, Kansas City, Mis souri. "Information furnished through American Transit Association by John Gerson, Manager, Transporta tion, Georgia Power Company. '"From study of San Antonio Transit Company by Mr. H. A. Briggs. Safety Engineer; furnished through. American Transit Association. ""Analysis of Mechanical Defect Accidents of Motor Carriers--1945," Interstate Commerce Com mission, August 1944. page 4. 9 Traffic Section 265 to result in severe damage to the "runaway" vehicle, but, also, great dangers are created insofar as collisions with other vehicles, persons, and- property are concerned. An I.CC. study" of mechanical defect accidents of motor carriers for 1945 shows that 24 of 31 accidents involving parking were due to brake failures; some occurred while the vehicles were parked on grades, others when engines failed going up-hill. In both cases, "runaway" conditions were created. Unattended cars left with motors running have also been known to create "runaway" problems. When 'cars are parked with motors running; another hazard develops from the likelihood of carbon monoxide poisoning. Insurance companies report ac cidents resulting from persons becoming affected by carbon monoxide while stopped. Not realizing their "groggy" condition, they become involved in collisions upon starting their cars. Parking Violations and Inadequate Con trol Cause Accidents. Double parking, parking on the wrong side of the street, parking in prohibited zones, parking too far from curb; parking improperly as to space layout, and other such violations add to the hazards created by parked cars. One case is known of a city which legalized double parking on downtown streets--and soon regretted it! Irregular parking.at the curb and on an 34 ft median strip on a highway in Michi gan" cerated a serious accident problem. Strict regulation aided by erection of a fence around the median strip to control exits and entrances, brought an 87 per cent reduction in accidents involving parked cars. Pedestrian Accidents Affected by Park ing. Many pedestrians are struck by motor vehicles as they enter the roadway from behind parked cars. If no parking pre vailed there would not be a visual obstruc tion created to develop this hazard. Most correctives will likely come from control ck the pedestrians, rather than the parking of vehicles. However, there are some cases in which the matter of improving the visi bility between motorists and pedestrians is of sufficient concern to justify drastic pro hibitions, or controls, in curb uses for parking. Pedestrians in the roadway in the process of working on or pushing stalled vehicles cause another problem. Other accidents have been reported in which persons, espe cially children, were seriously injured or killed from being struck by moving vehicles after falling from parked vehicles. Persons getting out of parked cars and cabs on the street side cause other pedestrian mishaps. Involvement of Transit Vehicles in Park ing Accidents. Buses and street cars, because of their size and operating charac teristics, are often involved in collision with stopped vehicles ami with vehicles in the process of parking or unparking. In addi tion, these vehicles are delayed by improper parking and stopping practices; running times of buses and.street cars have been greatly reduced by changing from angle to parallel parking, by prohibiting parking en tirely, or duruig rush-hours, and by other parking correctives. Parking in bus stops, particularly during peak hours, is especially hazardous because of the`congestion developed and because of exposures to traffic of persons using buses. Patrons of mass carriers may be unduly endangered .by situations developing at loading and unloading points by improperly parked vehicles or by inadequate parking regulations. Patrons like to step directly from the curb to the bus, or vice-versa, and will attempt this for distances np to four feet, resulting in mishaps and injuries. During the first 8 months of 1946, 10.4 per cent of all street car accidents, and 18.9 per cent of all bus accidents in New Or leans" involved parked cars. Many more were undoubtedly due to parking maneu vers. Trying to "squeeze in" another parking space near the intersection, especially where meters are used, causes traffic problems. A case from San Antonio, Texas," is typical; buses making a right turn were involved in 5-accidents in a four-month period at an intersection in the business district Delay and congestion were developed by buses in negotiating the turn. One parking meter was eliminated at the intersection and no* *Getting KtinUj. No. 3. National Conservation Bureau. Example submitted by Mr. J.' L Web* meytr. Traffic Engineer, Wayne County. Michigan. "Information furnished through the American Transit Association by`Mr. J. C. Baine. Jr., Gen. Supt. RR Dept., New Orleans Public Service Co.. lac. "Information famished through American Transit Association by Mr. H. A. Briggs, Safety Director. San Antonio Transit Co. 266 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 accidents of the above type have occurred on that ride, of the other blode.- After more . in two years; delays doe to bus turns were than-a year, no collisions were reported on also eliminated. the first block and.only four occurred on Prohibition of parking opposite Street car the other blode. loading zones and on the approaches to When parking is prohibited, care is nec these zones reduces accidents. The sign on essary to see that stopping- juid standing is the end of a loading zone in the District of not allowed. One truck parked on a' street Columbia1* was knocked down 22 times in creates' a bottleneck and reduces the ef a 13-month period. The throat on the right ficiency of tiie street JUany side-swipe side of the platform was opened by remov accidents are caused by cars pulling out ing three parking spaces preceding the and around parked trades, or three lanes approach to the zone. ~ Accidents were all converging, into two or two into one. Any bat eliminated--one was reported in' 9 stopping or standing, even momentarily, months. ' seriously impedes the flow of traffic on During an approximate two-year period, heavily traveled streets, malting a stringent two street car lines operating over narrow ban necessary.' Streets on which parking is streets in the business section of New Or not allowed in Washington, D. G have had leans1* had 708 accidents. Five hundred, 71 their capadty increased 15 per cent by en per cent, occurred on^ a section of the line forcing "No Stopping** regulations during which represents only 25 per cent of the rush honrs. round-trip distance. Of these 500 acci A reservoir for .vehides oh the approach dents, 30 per cent were collisions with to a signalized intersection can be created parked cars; this shows the strong influence by prohibiting parking for- a distance of of illegal parking on transit accidents. 50 to 150. feet from the intersection. Such Prohibition of Parking Often Necessary. action results in effident intersection per Where traffic densities are heavy, conges formance and signal operation, thus reduc tion and accidents may be greatly reduced ing hazards. When street widths change at. by prohibiting- parking at the curb and by intersections, parking prohibition Ontfie far rigidly controlling loading and unloading side, on the narrow street, reduces the operations. Results of such actions are bottleneck effect and diminates collisions, * shown by many experiences. Congestion Prohibiting parking during rash hours is was great and accidents were numerous in becoming a common practice to alleviate mid-town Philadelphia** in 1946 due to one congestion. Such action invariably reduces way streets with center car tracks and accidents. On an important artery in Wash left-side parking. By prohibiting parking on ington, D. C.,** 60 feet wideband occupied practically all streets, permitting loading by a heavily used street car line, parking and unloading, only on the right side; and was prohibited on one side from 7 to 9:30 allowing loading of heavy materials on the am and on the other side from 4 to 6 pm.' left side only with special permits, average A check-back after 3 months revealed a 70 speeds were practically doubled and acd- per cent reduction in accidents, with a dents were reduced 15 to 20 per cent in the marked increase in speeds and traffic vol affected area while city-wide they increased umes. 45 per cent. Prohibition of parking in the congested On a street in Washington," parking at area of Dallas, Tex., daring the afternoon the curb was prohibited for a distance of about 2 miles. The street is 42 feet wide, with a double street car trade in the center. After a year, a 27 per cent reduction in "Information furnished by hup. - A. .E. Miller, Met. A>1. Dept. Washington. D, C "Data obtained from the American Transit Asm.. from |. C. Baine, Jr., Gen. Supt., St. BE. Dept., accidents was noted, with the same volume of traffic. Buses operating on a two-block section of a narrow street, in New Orleans were involved in 27 collisions with parked ve Near. Orleans Public Service, Esc. *Getting Results, No. 76. National Conservation Bureau. Example submitted by Mr. H. A. Mitchell. Chief; Bureau of Traffic Engineering. Philadelphia, Pa., rod from information furnished by (Philadel phia Transportation Company through the 'American intuit Asm.' H hicles in seven months. Parking was elimi nated on one ride of the street in one blode ^Information furnished by Inso. A. E. 'Miller, Met Pol. Dept., Wsshingtoo. D. {C, "10formation famished by "Capital Transit Co., and only commercial loading was allowed through American Transit-Assn. ra a.* a*-*** B -n a i .Traffic Section 267 from .4 30 to 6.pm -lias, given marked relief to park properly, nor may. occupants prop- from accidents and delays.9 Average speeds - erly leave cars because of extreraely high increased 27 per. c$nL A "Before" and curbs preventing opening of doors; lack "After", check, of accidents for 3 months ' of. adequate curbs may, encourage the im showed 15 accidents (6 property damage) proper positioning, of parked vehicles so as before the; change and 11 accidents (all. to obstruct sidewalks. Bottlenecks and in property damage) after the-change; a 216 adequate widths for traffic loads necessitate per cent redaction in. all accidents and changes in space arrangements, expensive elimination of personal injury accidents. widening, and rigid regulations which may Accidents during peak hoars of the after be difficult to enforce. noon (4:30 to 6 pm) were practically Widened streets and special curb cut eliminated over a four-block area in New backs may allow parking and, at the same Haves?' by prohibiting parking. "Before" time, remove interference with moving and "After?! studies reveal an 88 per cent traffic. In some cities the land owners have reduction in all accidents with parking at volunteered to bear the expense of such . the cnrb prohibited. Similar prohibition on treatments rather than risk the enactment two blocks of another street show even, . of parking prohibitions. Control of the better resalts in terms of accidents pre design, construction and use of such special vented. - - curb cut-backs is essential Minimum depths Eliminating parking in congested areas * of, 18-feet or 20 feet; pavement markers need not destroy business. It must be re requiring parking at not greater than 45 membered however, that complete elimina degrees to the line of the roadway, and tion of parking without off-street facilities adequate sight distances at intersections are can destroy the utility of streets. A realistic among the needs suggested. Effect of analysis of the curb capacity available to maneuvering to and from cut-back parking each business establishment on most busi stalls on traffic lanes should- also, be con ness streets will always reveal that few sidered in its adoption. businesses would' ever have as much as one Rural and suburban areas present a num full parking space per place of business-- ber of additional design factors which have it is just impossible to affect business direct relationship to parking hazards. In greatly by curtailing or prohibiting parking adequate shoulders make it difficult, even in such areas) impossible, for vehicles to be stopped off A congested business street in St Paul" was greatly improved by eliminating park* ing, resurfacing, installing new curbs and sidewalks, and eliminating all trolley poles, ornamental lights and advertising signs which extended more than 12 inches from store fronts, limited deliveries are per mitted from 9 to 11 am only. The street has. been so "opened-up," without widening, the traffic portion of the roadway. On some of the newest highways in this country, there are very narrow shoulders which are obviously not capable of being used by vehicles, even in emergencies. Cases are known in which guard rails are constructed so dose to the pavement as. to make it impossible for an automobile to be driven off the concrete. that, traffic is greatly expedited, accidents Getting vchides off the traveled surface are reduced, and business has Increased is further complicated by the construction from 20 to 40 per cent since the improve of curbs along rural highways where park ment ing is not permitted on the roadway surface. Influence of Road-Design on Parting These curbs constitute at least a partial Accidents. There are many phases of de barrier, and discourage motorists from driv sign in both ruraLhnd urban roadways ing over them onto shoulders that might be which have a direct hearing on involve available. The need for property designed ment of parked cars in accidents.. curbs, if they are used at all, is imperative. Cnrb heights, sadden transitions in street widths, and inadequate widths, to accom modate both moving traffic and parking are aFrocn afamaiTOB Applied by Mr. W. C. Braudes, Traffic Engineer, Department of Traffic Control. Dallas. Tms. perhaps the most common design factors inducing parking accidents on city streets. In the firit case, vehicles may not be able "Data procured from Mr. H. P. Clark, Chief of Police, Dept, of Police Service, New Haven, Coon. _"Facts, obtained from Mr. J. B. P. Darrell, Asst. Traffic Engr.. Minn. Dept, of Hwys. 268 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 Bus turnouts created by widening and sur facing shoulders on rural and suburban roads have reduced accidents in many locali ties. The dangers of collisions with school buses, to children using them, and other types of accidents are alleviated by provid ing adequate space on the shoulders for bus stops. The inavailability of parking and emer gency storage spaces on bridges, fills and other, locations on rural roads creates addi tional accident hazards involving parked or stalled cars. Failure of highway designers to provide adequate turn-outs and parkway areas at points of scenic interest, and elsewhere where stops are commonly made by motor ists, can also create a parking hazard which may contribute substantially to accidents. Some highway engineers construct fourlane undivided roadways adjacent to cities and through small towns without allowing sufficient pavement width for parking. Since parking cannot logically be prohibited and since even an occasional parked car reduces the travelway by one lane, such practice becomes short-sighted. Almost invariably, where four-lane undivided roads are justi fied in such areas, curb space is needed for parking. Unless sufficient width is provided for curb parking, the effective street width is reduced to two-lanes and congestion and hazard are created, again bringing the mat ter of parking squarely into road design. Relationship of Access Control to Park- ing. Along many roadways through sub urban areas the problems of access control become especially acute in relation to acci dents. Where promiscuous entrances and exits are permitted, many accidents are likely to occur. A common location of this type for accidents is at the road-side stand or "honky-tonk" where drinking, festive attitudes, and other conditions are apt to contribute to hazards developed by parking and- unparking actions. Other access hazards develop at parking lots and garages. While these may not di rectly involve. parked vehicles, they grow out of terminal actions. Summary and Conclusions Several suggestions have been made in this paper, and examples shown, of utiliza tion of accident facts in dealing with curb parking problems. Delay and congestion, even though they do not produce accidents at the point of trouble, may cause accidents elsewhere. An example has been cited where correction of a bottleneck near an intersection reduced accidents 71 per cent within a one-block radius. Short-sight distances contribute to such accidents and in hours of darkness advance warning and vehicle lighting are extremely important for accident prevention. "Runaway" vehicles frequently break loose from parking places on grades. Brake and up-grade engine failures and careless ness are frequently the cause. Drivers af fected by carbon monoxide while parked with engine running have been known to become involved in collisions upon starting. Space violations and inadequate control such as double parking, parking on wrong side of street, parking in prohibited zones and other such violations' add to hazards created by parked cars. Although pedestrian accidents resulting from wallong from behind parked cars will likely receive most correction by pedes trian control, improved visibility is often of enough concern to justify drastic prohibi tions, or controls of parking at the curb. Parking correctives which can help to improve bus or street car safely and reduce running time, include: changes from angle to parallel parking; rush-hour or entire parting prohibition; and clearing parking from bus stop areas or adjacent to street car loading zones. Complete or rush-hour parking prohibi tion together with rigid control of mer chandise loading and unloading operations, where needed, can greatly speed up traffic movement and reduce accidents.. Signalized intersection performance can often be im proved, and hazards reduced, therefore, by eliminating parking near the intersection. Traffic Section 269 Booking from the Retailers Standpoint By ROY JOHN Managing Director, Associated Retailers of Indiana I would like to emphasize that I am not customers asked for voluntarily out of speaking as a parking expert, not speaking their own recognized needs and without too even on the subject of parking per se. much stimulation or encouragement; con Rather I am attempting to analyze the pro stituted a competent job of retail distribu cesses of thinking and experience that have tion. led the retailer to be interested in parking In those earlier days, operations on the and other problems that lie outside his selling side were largely restricted to hand store; and then I will offer a specific plan ing goods to a customer and recording the for dealing with the parking problem. sale, and these were considered routine The retailer's function, stated simply, is to assemble consumer goods at a conveni ent point and then induce customers to come to that point and purchase them. In the first half of this operation the retailer, is a buyer, and in the second half he is a salesman. Unquestionably, it has been customary in the past for him to pot majority emphasis on the buying ride of his job with its at tending activities of receiving stocking, pricing and arranging the merchandise at the point of sale--all the mass of details involved in moving goods from the hands of the manufacturer to a point within reach of the hauls of the consumer. Now it is apparent that in a baric, logical sense the retailer.as the distributor of con sumer goods, is responsible for covering the entire span between the place where the goods are made and the place where they are consumed in the home. I refer not merely to physical transportation, but rather to all the tangible and intangible factors involved in getting the goods under proper circumstances from point of origin to the -point of consumption. activities of secondary importance. Little thought was given to that large area of selling problems tying between the goods on the retail counter and the consumer at his bom& However, daring recent decades, a quiet; steady, continuous change has occurred in this attitude. With the growth of modern facilities and the attending increase in competition, the selling ride of the retailer's job has been increasingly emphasized. For mal training courses for sales people con ducted on the employer's time is now stand ard practice in larger stores and chains; and community classes for smaller stores are conducted widely under the George Dean Act The careful selection and training of competent store personnel is now a major retail activity. - Another significant change on the selling side in recent years is the growth of the merchandise display movement It no longer is sufficient to have the merchandise on hand or even to have it out where the cus tomer can see and touch it Now it must be so attractively packaged, so well lighted, and so effectively dramatized in its presentation to the eye of the' customer that the article Obviously, it would be of no use to bring is more than half sold before the sales goods to rite store and let them lie there person makes her contact permanently. Half of the job lies on the selling side and it is interesting to note how gradually the retailer has moveg into this area of his responsibility that lies between the arrival of merchandise at the store and its arrival at the customer's home. So, it is clear that retailers have moved on from being merely buyers and stockkeepers to being real salesmen within the waits of their stores. That is, they have added to the span of their responsibility the interval lying between goods-on-the-counter There was a time when retailers were in and customer-entering-store. There still clined to feel that the job of getting goods remains a largely unoccupied selling area from the source to the retail sales counter lying between the front store door and the was practically the whole of their responsi customer's home, and the outstanding prob bility--that merely haring on hand some lem in this area is parking; to which he where around the place; covered up in a must and will give much attention in the dust-proof box or drawer, the things that near future. 270 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 It seems desirable to recognize this de down-town business community--especially velopment in the' views and policies of . in larger cities--and will be an effective retailing in order to properly evaluate its sharp stick for prodding the city fathers present interest in the parking problem and and business leaders into action. other phases of the traffic subject. Clearly, this interest does not represent merely a short-ranged, temporary attempt to get more business. Rather, it is the result of a slow, giader-like underpush of the industry as a whole toward better service for the public under modem competitive conditions --a movement that started long before we had traffic problems and will continue after parking solutions have' been found. As a matter of plain fact, what is it the suburban store has that the. down-town store doesn't have? The answer is parking --just the one single advantage of parking space; and mind you that, is only a tem porary advantage. If the outlying store succeeds in drawing a profitable volume of customers to its isolated location, then other businesses are certain to spring up around it and very soon the same old plaguing There can be no question about the re question of where to park puts in its tailer being an important source of help appearance. and leadership for dealing with parking in On the other hand, what does the down the future. Then it is apparent that the town shopping center have that the sub future well-being of his business (as well urban area doesn't have? Everything, ex as that of every other kind of~ business' in cept ample parking space. It has the big town) is dependent on the possibility of Ins and little stores with their large assortments out-of-town customers and many local ones, and services; a complete assembly of goods to park their cars dose enough to his store and services in all lines that are within to make it practical for them to trade with comfortable walking distances from each him. other; doctors, dentists, lawyers; and other 1 know there is the view that convenient professional services; the best picture thea parking facilities for privately owned cars tres; the best old line, well established might well be discouraged in favor of an institutions of the community--all across expanded use of better public transporta the street from each other. It is a com tion. Economically some defense can be bination that can't be beaten for serving the made of this view. But my guess is that public, and scattered outlying dusters of those who place faith in it are either evad small stores with limited stocks and services ing the issue in wishful thinking, or are never will dislodge the down-town business connected with public transit companies. community. It would not be in the public People prefer to drive their own automo interest to have them do so. biles with the feeling this gives of con But suburban developments will prosper venience, privacy and comfort It is a typical at least until the down-town parking proIk American attitude. They like to be able to Iem is solved and tire best guarantee we carry home-in the spaciousness of their have that adequate solutions will be found, own transportation the things they buy. Of with some speed, will be the existence of course, there always must be the combina prosperous expanding suburban develop tion of public andprivate facilities in larger ments, shaking their threatening finger at centers but the trend unquestionably is in the slow pokes down town. It seems to me the direction of more and more private a quite healthy situation. transportation that damors louder and All this time I have been talking about louder for convenient parking arrangements. parking from the standpoint of retailing, The issue must be faced. in spite of the fact that parking today is the Another situation that insures an expand personal business of every member of the ing interest in parking by merchants and community. Can you think of any person all other down-town interests, is the much who isn't'involved? All business and pro publidzed trend toward suburban business fessional people and the interests they rep developments. It has been well demon resent in a community, arc deeply involved; strated that Mrs. Jones is willing to drive all vehicle owners are painfully involved; several miles out of her way in order to the life and safety of every citizen--man, shop for certain things, where she can park woman and child--is gravely involved In conveniently. This development has sent a the present universal traffic tangle. It does flock of cold shivers along the spine of the not need a prophetic, eye to foresee that Traffic Section 271 the community which persists in failing to provide a proper traffic welcome for its citizens and visitors will suiter a decline that shrinks the value of investments for every member of the community. Therefore, I come at once to the propo sition that parking and its accompanying traffic difficulties ` are a community-wide question that directly concerns every citizen and must be dealt with on a co-operative community-wide basis if adequate and happy solutions are to be achieved. Assuming there are no thin-skinned traf fic engineers present I would like to ask as gently as possible whether you, like most professional technicians, are inclined to feel that the problems in your field are too technical and mysterious to be considered by the patient and are capable of solution, without the understanding and participation of the patient? I venture to ask this in delicate question because of the many in stances where traffic surveys and solution plans have been worked out painstakingly by competent engineers, sometimes at size able expense, bat failed to be accepted or applied in a thorough-going way by the communities concerned. Would h seem to you that it might be worth trying the idea of beginning on the other side--the community side--by first helping the community to .organize in a democratic fashion for the purpose of facing its traffic problems; and then care fully putting the community in the position of having to make its own decisions and live up to them? On this basis we have worked oat a co operative traffic program in Indiana that has been adopted by our State Highway Commission. I'll give the plan to you in exactly the form in which it was presented to the Governor and the Highway Com missioner, as follows:-- CO-OPERATIVE TRAFFIC SERVICE FOR INDIANA COMMUNITIES Co-Operating Agencies: Indiana Highway Department r U. S. Public Roads Adminis tration; Indiana State Police Department; Purdue Safety Institute; Associated Re tailers of Indiana Plan of Procedure I--Organization of Initial Community Meeting to Explain the Service. A--When a request that is considered valid, has been received from a community for traffic assistance, the first step will be the careful setting-up of a representative community meeting to be made up approxi mately as follows: 1. City Officials:--Mayor, Chief of Po lice, Coundlnien, Fire Department Chief. 2. Head of City Planning Board. 3. Officers of Chamber of Commerce. 4. Officers of Merchant Organization. 5. Banking and Manufacturing Repre sentatives. 6. Women's Clubs Representatives. 7. Superintendent of Schools. 8. Head of Ministerial Association. 9. Press and Radio Representatives. B--At this meeting, representatives of the co-operating agencies will explain the traffic solution service and the conditions under which it may be made available. Conditions under which the service may be available to a community are as follows:-- 1. Consent by those present at the initial meeting, together with any other local persons who may be desired, to con stitute themselves the local Traffic Plan Committee. 2. Agreement between representatives of the co-operating agencies and the local Traffic Plan Committee that a sufficient traffic problem exists to justify appli cation of the co-operative service pro gram. 3. Definite assumption by the local Traffic Plan Committee of full responsibility for leadership in carrying out the pro gram, it being clearly understood that the co-operating agencies merely will furnish the necessary traffic facts about the community, together with recom mendations for their solution; and as sist in educating and organizing the community in support of the solution plans that may be adopted by the local committee. 4. Formal invitation from the Traffic Plan Committee to the co-operating agencies for assistance. 5. The traffic assistance service, where given, will be without charge. How ever, it will be furnished only to those communities which evidence a serious and business-like determination to deal adequately with their traffic difficulties. 4 270 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 it seems desirable to recognize this de velopment in the' views and policies of retailing' in order to properly evaluate its present interest in the parking problem and other phases of the traffic subject Clearly, this interest does not represent merely a short-ranged, temporary attempt to get more business. Rather, it is the result of a slow, glacier-like underpush of the industry as a whole toward better service for the public under modem competitive conditions --a movement that started long before we had traffic problems and will continue after parking solutions have been found. There can be no question about the re tailer being an important source of help and leadership for dealing with parking in the future. Then it is apparent that the future well-being of his business (as well as that of every other kind of business in town) is dependent on die possibility of his out-of-town customers and many local ones, to park their cars dose enough to his store to make it practical for them to trade frith him. I know there is the view that convenient parking facilities for privatdy owned cars might well be discouraged in favor of an expanded use of better public .transporta tion. Economically some defense can be made of this view. But my guess is that those who place faith in it are either evad ing die issue in wishful thinking, or are connected with public transit companies. People prefer to drive their own automo biles with the feeling this gives of con venience, privacy and comfort It is a typical American attitude. They like to be able to carry home- in the spaciousness of thdr own transportation the things they buy. Of course, there always must be the combina tion of public and private facilities in larger centers but the trend unquestionably is in the direction of more and more private transportation that clamors loader and louder for convenient parking arrangements. The issue must be fared. Another situation that insures an expand ing interest in parking by merchants and all other down-town interests, is the much publicized trend toward suburban business developments. It has been well demon strated that Mrs. Jones is willing to drive several miles ont of her way in order to shop for certain things, where she can park conveniently. This development has sent a flock of cold shivers along the spine of the - down-town business community--especially in' larger cities--and win be an effective sharp stick for prodding the dty fathers and business leaders into action. As a matter of plain fact, what is it the suburban store has that the, down-town store doesn't have? The answer is parking --just the one single advantage of parking space; and mind you that, is only a tem porary advantage. If the outlying store succeeds in drawing a profitable volume of customers to its isolated location, then other businesses are certain to spring up around it and very soon the same old plaguing question of where to park puts in its appearance. On the other hand, what does the down town shopping center have that the sub urban area doesn't have? Everything, ex cept ample parking space. It las the big and little stores with their large assortments and services; a complete assembly of goods and services in alt lines that are within comfortabje walking distances from each other; doctors; dentists, lawyers, and other professional services; the best picture thea tres; the best old line, well established institutions of the community-all across the street from each other. It is a com bination that can't be beaten for serving the public; and scattered outlying dusters of small stores with limited stocks and sendees never will dislodge the down-town business community. It would not be in the public Interest to have them do so. But suburban developments will prosper at least until the down-town parking prob= lent is solved and the best guarantee we have that adequate solutions will be found, with some speed, trill be the existence of prosperous expanding suburban develop ments, shaking thdr threatening finger at the slaw pokes down town. It seems to me a quite healthy situation. All this time I have been talking about parking from the standpoint of retailing, in spite of tire fact that parking today is the personal business of every member of the community. ' Can you think of any person who isn't" involved? All business and pro fessional people and the interests they rep resent in a community, are deeply involved; all vehicle owners are painfully involved; the life and safety of every dtizen-r-man, woman, and child--is gravely involved in the present universal traffic tangle. It does not need a prophetic eye to foresee that Traffic Section 271 the community which persists in failing to provide a. proper traffic welcome for its citizens and visitors will suffer a decline that shrinks the value of investments for every member of the community. valid, has been received from a community for traffic assistance, the first step will be the careful setting-up of a representative community meeting to be made up approxi mately as follows: Therefore, I come at once to the propo sition that parking and its accompanying traffic difficulties are a community-wide question that directly, concerns every citizen and must be dealt with on a co-operative community-wide basis if adequate and happy solutions are to be achieved. 1. City Officials:--Mayor, Chief of Po lice, Coundlmen, Fire Department Chief. 2. Head of City Planning Board. 3. Officers of Chamber of Commerce. 4. Officers of Merchant Organization. 5. Banking and Manufacturing Repre Assuming there arc no thin-skinned traf sentatives. fic engineers present I would like to ask as 6. Women's Clubs Representatives. gently as possible whether you, like most 7. Superintendent of Schools. i- professional technicians, are inclined to 8. Head of Ministerial Association. - feel that the problems in your field are too 9. Press and Radio Representatives. technical and mysterious to be considered B--At this meeting, representatives of s by. the patient and are capable of solution, the co-operating agencies will explain the s without the understanding and participation traffic solution service and the conditions Is of the patient? I venture to ask this in under which it may be made available. n delicate question because of the many in Conditions under which the service may be h stances where traffic surveys and solution available to a community are as follows:-- :r td s ie plans have been worked out painstakingly by competent engineers, sometimes at size able expense, but failed to be accepted or applied in a thorough-going way by the communities concerned. Would it seem to you that it might be 1. Consent by those present at the initial meeting, together with any other local persons who may be desired, to con stitute themselves the local Traffic Plan Committee. f worth trying the idea of beginning on the 2. Agreement between representatives of s other side--the community side--by first the co-operating agencies and the local 's( helping the community to .organize in a Traffic Plan Committee that a sufficient democratic fashion for the purpose of traffic, problem exists to justify appli facing its traffic problems; and then care cation of the co-operative service pro fully putting the community in the position gram. of having to make its own decisions and 3. Definite assumption by the local Traffic e live up to them? Plan Committee of full responsibility i On this basis we have worked ont a co for leadership in carrying out the pro t operative traffic program in Indiana that gram, it being clearly understood that has been adopted by our State Highway the co-operating agencies merely will t Commission. I'll give the plan to you in furnish the necessary traffic facts about e exactly the form in which it was presented the community, together with recom to the Governor and the Highway Com mendations for their solution; and as missioner, as follows:-- sist in educating and organizing the community in support of the solution CO-OPERATIVE TRAFFIC SERVICE plans that may be adopted by the local FOR INDIANA COMMUNITIES committee. Co-Operating Agencies: Indiana Highway 4. Forma] invitation from the Traffic Department p U. S. Public Roads Adminis Plan Committee to the co-operating tration; Indiana State Police Department; agencies for assistance. Purdue Safety Institute; Associated Re tailers of Indiana 5. The traffic assistance service, where given, will be without charge. How Plan of Procedure ever, it will be furnished only to those I--Organization of Initial Community communities which evidence a serious Meeting to Explain the Service. and business-like determination to deal A--When a request that is considered adequately with their traffic difficulties. ti s. 272 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 II--Simultaneous Surveys and Accu completed reports' can be presented to the mulation of Data to Support Recommen entire local Traffic Plan Committee; or dations. whether sections of certain reports will A--Traffic Surveys. 1. In order to acquire all traffic facts that are essential to the preparation of need to be presented to sub-committees, first, and then presented in whole to the Committee as a whole. an adequate traffic plan for a com When the reports have been presented munity, it is necessary to conduct sep informally and digested'by the local com arate surveys of the following four mittee and a resulting- composite traffic separate but interlocking phases of the plan for the community has been adopted, problem: a special occasion ought to be made of tbe (a) Trading area analysis; (b) Traffic formal presentation event--including a din movement; (c) Curb parking; ner meeting and newrspaper and radio (d) Off-Street parking. publicity'. Initially, the traffic survey crew may V--Visual Education and Organization consist of two engineers--one in the of Community in Support of the Traffic office and one in the fidd--together Plan Adopted. with proper supervisors, all of whom should be permanent employees; and a proper number of interviewers to be employed in each community being surveyed. A--The history of traffic solution pro grams is that they tend to die a natural death at this 'point after having been planned in detail at great labor and ex pense--because of lack of community-wide B--Traffic Enforcement Survey. understanding, interest and support There 1. One enforcement specialist with neces have been unhappy examples in Indiana. sary assistance. To bridge this gap, a slide film with C--Safety Education Survey.0 sound is to be provided to sell the traffic 1. One safety education specialist with solution idea in general; and another local necessary assistance. slide film, made from facts uncovered in III-- Organization and Coordination of Factual Data and Preparation of Specific Recommendations. the specific community where it is being shown, will sell the locally adopted traffic solution plan. These films are to be shown under local chairmanship to all important A--It is apparent that the several types of surveys listed above, will produce a considerable volume of data whose useful groups, including luncheon dubs, a mer chant mass meeting, women's dobs, manu facturing plant employees, schools, etc. ness will depend in large measure on the accuracy with which it is organized and the skill with which solution recommendations are deduced. This work will be partly clerical and It will be important to have a proper resolution of approval passed at each such meeting and a copy of the resolution trans mitted to the chairman of the- local Traffic Plan Committee partly of an exacting engineering nature. The clerical assistance will need to ^be employed for the purpose but it would seem Simultaneously, the best use is to be made of newspaper and radio publidty. desirable for the engineers in charge of Finally, action by the City Cotmdl to conducting the surveys to sit in on the effectuate the plans w'hich have been agreed preparation of recommendations based on on ought to be scheduled in proper time- those surveys, together with whatever ad relatioriship to the impact of the community ditional engineering skill can be arranged educational campaign. for this operation. The recommendation Conclusion of the Plan reports, especially the one for Off-Street Parking, will need to be " worked out in close co-operation with the local Traffic Plan Committee. Qearly this program is designed to assist communities to deal with their traffic prob lems on their own initiative. The offidal public traffic agencies of the State agree IV-- Presentation of Recommendations merely to band up the proper tools--the to Local Traffic Plan Committee. operation must be performed, if at all, by A--Experience will show whether entire the community itself. -It gets well away Traffic Section 273 from the practice of trying to superimpose traffic-arrangements on a community that doesn't understand the purpose or necessity of such arrangements and so doesn't have its heart in the project This plan is a recent development and we do not yet have experience under it hut I am confident that we will apply it in one form or another in our Indiana com munities. Small City Traffic Safety and Parking Problems (Summary of Panel Discussion) Leader: Henby K. Evans, Director Traffic Engineering Division, National Conservation Bureau. Lloyd M. Braff, Staff Engineer, DeLeuw- about its parking and traffic problem, the Cather Co., Chicago. latest plan being to try to move north Smaller cities have proportionately more severe congestion and more parking prob lems than the large metropolitan centers. The reason is that in the small city nearly everyone comes to the business district via passenger car, whereas in the larger cities bound traffic through the business district on one thoroughfare and southbound traffic on a parallel thoroughfare. Up to the pres ent time, this lias 'been" working out satis factorily, with the rate of traffic flow being increased. a greater percentage of persons coming to C. G. Stoneburner, Highway Eng., High the business district use public transporta way Div. of Arlington, Va. tion. In addition, it will be found that in the smaller cities the drivers will not walk as great a distance from their parking point to their destination as will the city driver. The obvious solution is to decrease curb parking and to increase off-street parking. The first off-street parking regulations in Arlington were adopted on June 25, 1938. They provided, in general, that any dwelling, apartment house or multiple family use of a lot must include provisions for garage'or parking space, together with /. -. Johnston, Traffic Eng., Dept of Roads ingress and egress thereto. One space for ( and Irrigation, Lincoln, Neb. each living unit was required. It soon State highway authorities are faced with became apparent that the safely objective the parking problem from the following was being impaired in some of the larger standpoints: apartment developments where off-street 1. Parking on the travelled way of high parking bays were provided immediately speed highways. adjacent to the public thoroughfares and 2. Parking in connection with roadside not separated from the paved roadway. service establishments. One step further .was taken when the Zon 3. Parking on state highways in urban ing Ordinance was amended in May of communities. 1942, to include off-street parking require 4. Parking on state highways which run ments in all commercial and manufacturing through cities. districts. In even* district which was zoned The remedies for each of these prob lems are: 1. Stabilized shoulders, increased pavement widths. 2. Legislation, enforcement, controlled ac cess, purchase of wide right-of-way. 3 & 4. Legislation and enforcement, and off-street parking provisions. William F. Kavanaugh, City Traffic Eng., Syracuse, N. Y. as "commercial" a portion was set aside for off-street parking. Theaters, auditoriums, stadiums and other places of assembly, except churches, must provide one space (200 square feet) together with ingress and egress" thereto for each four seats. This space must be within 400 feet of the main entrance in order to make it useable. Hotels are required to provide one parking space for each three guest rooms. With this plan in effect, all districts in the city Syracuse is now trying to do something are covered. I I i'-ii m .: si ? *! 274 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION October 9, 1946 Group Session on Traffic Safety Education Presiding: Edwaed J. Flanagan, Inspector, Public Relations Bur., Cleveland (O.) Police Dept How Cities Are. Using; Radio (Summary) This program consisted of the playing of try to put a lecture platform in front of the actual transcriptions of traffic safety radio microphone, but employs suspense, drama programs. Each was followed by com tization and the right emphasis. ments by the representative of the city from TRAFFIC TRIBUNAL. Station KFI, which the program came and by Mr. Baylor. Los Angeles, California. Sergeant Frank TRAFFIC SAFETY ON NEWSCAST. Crewe, Traffic Education Unit, Los Angeles Station WMAN,- Mansfield, Ohio. Traffic Police Department, played the 370th weekly Commissioner F. C Boats of die police broadcast of this laminate program which department presented a transcription of the has been on KFI for seven years. It is five-minute traffic safety broadcast which estimated that it reaches a listening audi is included each morning on the 7:30 news ence of 92,000 persons. Thirty to forty cast of Robert Horn. Each morning Mr. letters are 'received each week and these Horn covers one or two phases of-traffic are not deliberately stimulated. The pro safety. His entire program has a wide gram is prepared by the station with the listening audience -within a radius of 25 ' cooperation of the police department For- miles of Mansfield, a city of about 40,000 inerlyT talent was secured from radio schools. population. This is the only station in Now, professional talent is used, The Mansfield at present. Mr. Baylor commented that'this was a good example of tying in with a program which has an already- established listening audience. This is a valuable technique ir respective of the size of the city, and is one which should receive particular considera tion in smaller cities where the station is not in. a position to assist in the preparation of traffic safety programs. format of the program is varied from time to time to sustain interest Music, inter views and dramatizations are used. Some times famous names, such as movie stars appear. Occasionally the program is ad vertised by such means as car cards. This particular program was an interview with the police officer who takes the leading part in the motion picture "Traffic with the Devil." It also included the dramatic pres entation of statistics and music. TRAFFIC SAFETY ON VARIETY Mr. Baylor pointed out that tiffs was a PROGRAM. Station KFH, Wichita, Kan good example of adapting known radio sas. Sergeant Frank O. Bayne, Director of ingredients to making a good traffic safety Safety Education, Wichita Police Depart program. Suspense was maintained through ment presented a record of another pro out the program. To produce a program gram with well established audience from sudi as this probably requires at least 100 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. Sergeant Bayne takes man-hours In advance of the actual broad over after appropriate introduction by the cast This program indicates that the sta master of ceremonies. He presents various tion is well sold on the need for traffic things including music, sound effects, ac accident prevention and' the part which count of the accidents for. the past twenty- radio can play. One important factor in four hours and reading of letters from such a situation is the representative of the listeners. safety council or police department who is Mr. Baylor pointed out that this is an the contact with the station. That should other example of taking advantage of an be one competent person's responsibility. already established audience. This is a 'TEENERS OF MELODY LAND. Sta good example of a program which does not tion WHAS, Louisville, Kentucky. Captain ;i?'S vTraffic Section 275 M h. Mittler o the Louisville Police De the Detroit Uolice Department. It is pointed partment presented this transcription. It and out that a- penalty is sure to follow if a the following transcription are presented by driver fails to stop at the scene of an the police department under the direction accident When an actual hit and run has of the Superintendent of Education, Cap .occurred, dues are broadcast on this pro tain J.'C. Kopp. For this program. Captain gram and as spot announcements on all Kopp introduces the 'teat aged girl who Detroit stations. serves as master of ceremonies on this 15- Mr. Baylor commented upon the fact minute program. She in turn introduces a that the station fdt that the program was girl and a boy who ring. A short drama suffidently valuable to be accorded dass A tization during the program; focuses, atten . time in competition with network programs. tion on traffic safety. This Saturday morn He pointed out that this is another example ing program draws from 15 to 20 letters of adapting a proven technique to traffic per week . safety, in this case, the "who done it" Mr Baylor stated that this was an ex cellent example of using the amateur juve nile show, a popular type of program, to put across a traffic safety message. CRUISING IN TRAFFIC. Station WAVE, Louisville, Kentucky. Each Satur day morning from 8:00 to 8:15 Captain Kopp broadcasts from the WAVE mobile unit driving through the streets of Louis ville. He broadcasts what he sees in the way of unsafe traffic practices, gives the week's accident report, interjects traffic safety rules and gives a final appeal to hold down traffic accidents. The program has been on the air since 1937 with the excep tion of two war years. Mrr Baylor pointed out that this is an other example of the use, of a technique which holds the audience. In some cases, technique. MAN QN THE STREET. Station WGAR, Cleveland, Ohio. In this program, pedestrians are interviewed on the street .Five persons are interviewed in fifteen minutes. For correct answers-to~ questions free theatre tickets are given. Incorrect answers bring driving manuals. Mr. Baylor pointed out that the inter viewer .needs a thorough knowledge of the law as well as good radio presence and ability to handle situations as they devdop. In Geveland a police officer serves as in terviewer. DRIVER OF THE WEEK Station KOIN, Portland, Oregon. Mr. Ben F. Heinz, Director, Portland Traffic Safety Commission presented the transcription. In preparation for-tfti? program, drivers arc followed'"/or a certain distance through this type of program includes stopping and Portland streets until one is found who interviewing drivers. ` makes no errors for this distance, c He is MEN AGAINST CRIME. Station WWJ, invited to appear on the'program as Port Detroit, Michigan. This program is pre land's Driver of the Week. The 15- minute sented by WWJ in cooperation with the program consists of a description of the Detroit Police Department. The transcrip driving errors of those who were followed tion was played by Mr. Ted Hayhow of before the driver of the week was located the Traffic Safety Association of Detroit. and an interview with the driver. He is '`Men Against Crime" is a live 15-minute given a certificate and a record of the public service program of WWJ.. It started broadcast upon which he appears. on Friday afternoon, but is how on Tuesday Mr. Baylor commented upon the way in evening. The station provides professional which suspense was maintained. This pro script writing and dramatic talent.' This gram has listening appeal and one way it is program -is particularly aimed at the hit achieved is by its particular opportunity to and run problem. Each broadcast presents present descriptions and individuals of local a dramatization of a case from the files of' interest. * 276 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 THURSDAY MORNING SESSION October 10, 1946 General Session Presiding: Ij~.si.re J. Sorenson, Traffic Eng., Chicago, and Vice-Pres. for Traffic and Transportation, N. S. C. The Dayton Pedestrian Program (Summary of Symposium) The Safety Council By H. S. NONNEMAN Pres., Dayton Safety Council and Pres., Ohio State Safety Council The safety council's part in the pedes trian program in Dayton, Ohio, was car ried on by the Pedestrian and Traffic Com mittee, one of the five committees in the council. The Pedestrian and Traffic Com mittee has its own budget and is also empowered to call upon the board of direc tors for additional funds when needed. The council's first important step in the pedes trian program consisted of active support for the city's pedestrian ordinance. The program itself consisted of the distribution of 50,000 folders to school children and 10,000 folders to service and civic dubs at the noon meetings and placing a special tabloid newspaper in every home in Dayton. Seventy-five taxi cards and 175 street car cards were used in the aty's public vehicles. Theater trailers were used and additional publicity was sent out to news papers, radio stations and house organs. Newspapers By ALAN PRITCHARD Reporter, The Dayton Daily News The daily newspapers of Daj-ton know a good thing when they sec it. This, is in essence the cooperation given by the news papers to the pedestrian program. It was not a program of cut and dried news releases from the safety coundl but an educational reporting job which was carried on because of the pedestrian program's importance to the citizens of the commu nity. All three newspapers gave generous news space to the pedestrian ordinance project from start to finish. The program started in February with news stories on the first reading of the ordinance at a dtv commission meeting, carried through to educational stories, editorials, and features acquainting the public with the law and wound up with follow-up stories on the way in which the ordinance was working after it became effective on June I. One paper carried a total of 380 indies of copy specifically on this subject and the others gave comparable coverage. The aggregate daily circulation of the three papers was 250,000, covering all of the area within a 50-mile radius of Dayton. In addition to the work of the drily newspapers, the house organs, shopping news, union publi cations and high school papers of the dty cooperated in the program. By STANLEY MOUSE Radio Station WHIO We realized that unless the pedestrian ordinance was accepted by the citizens of the community it would be impossible to enforce. As a result, meetings were held with the safety coundl committee to dis cuss the objectives of the program inform ing the dtizens that they would benefit from the ordinance and idling them how they could obey the law. After the radio stations knew just what was to be" done, we tried to get the message to the people by using all the different radio techniques. These induded spot announcements, lec tures, round table discussions, dramatic presentations and short wave broadcasts directly from the streets of Dayton. Hie radio stations not only made available the time necessary to conduct the campaign but 9 Traffic Section 277 also offered the services of personnel from the production, education and continuity departments to handle writing beyond that done by the safety council. Police By CAPT. PAUL J. PRICE Traffic Div., Police Dept, Dayton, Ohio The enforcement of a pedestrian ordi Schools nance is an example of the use of selec tive enforcement It is applying enforce By LESLIE L. DIEHL Executive Secretary, Dayton (O.) Safety Council ment to the most prevalent type of traffic accident The experience in Dayton clearly shows that lack of police manpower is not a valid excuse for failure to require pedes The folders distributed in the schools trian obedience to traffic laws. In Dayton, were especially effective. They were taken there was no period during which warning home by the pupils, passed on to parents tickets were issued. Violating pedestrians and thus had a family-wide circulation were given citations beginning on the day throughout Dayton. Pointing out, as they the ordinance went into effect On that day did, what might happen if the children there was a radical change in pedestrian failed to obey the new ordinance^ the fold walking habits which proved the effective ers were of great assistance in securing the ` ness of the education prognmtr-b-the 46 cooperation of parents. In addition, twelve months prior to the enforcement of ,the 16 mm. and six 35 mm. trailers were used ordinance there were 36 pedestrian deaths. in the campaign. These were filmed in Day- In the same number of months since the ton and illustrated the main points of the ordinance, there have been 22 pedestrian new ordinance.. deaths. Pedestrian Programs (Summary of Panel Discussion) ( Discussion Leader: Leslie f. Sorexson, Traffic Engineer, Chicago, III. ..... ' Howard F. Jlgner (Supt and Chief En portant officials have been arrested for gineer, Bureau of Electrical Service, Mil pedestrian violations and have paid their waukee, Wis): There are some' objectives fines along with the rank and file of the of a pedestrian program which cannot be citizenry. achieved by either education or enforce- ` H. T. Everett, Chief, South Bend (Ind.) ment It is then necessary to utilize the Police Dept: The South Bend pedestrian third UE" of traffic safety, engineering, to program was begun in 1940 after an ahalymake walking safe for pedestrians. Such sis of pedestrian accidents for the preceding engineering projects as improved street six years had indicated its need. The edu lighting, pedestrian signal lights or safety cation program included stationing Boy zones are sometimes the only means of . Scouts with banners at corners, issuing safeguarding pedestrians in certain areas. warning tickets to pedestrian violators and Harold F. Lillie, Dir.-Secy., Lansing the stunt of stopping pedestrians who (Mich.)-Safety Council: Lansing recently crossed the street in midblock, handing them conducted an extensive pedestrian protec a red flag and inquiring where they would tion program... Enforcement was preceded like the body sent if they were killed. by a six months* program of education, of School children were given maps showing which the issuance of warning tickets for the proper route to school. Theater trailers a short period of time was an integral part m were used, sign boards were placed in The courts and the police department found * theater lobbies, messages were attached to that there is very little criticism of the waste containers, bumper strips were car practice of citing and fining pedestrians for ried on automobiles, signs were placed on violations. We have spared no one and im cars and the press and radio were used mm 278 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 extensively. Educational-activity was also know about the pedestrian laws -were not directed to motorists since-accident , analy given tickets. ses showed that "turning" motorists were Experience has shown that identifying an important factor in pedestrian accidents. pedestrian violators is not too much of a Obedience to traffic signals was 58 per cent problem since most people carry identifica just prior to the pedestrian program in tion. Id Dayton it was found in approxi 1940. Eight months later, it was 79 per mately two per'edit of the cases where cent In 1946, it was 98 per cent South there was no identification that the police Bend now has' walk-wait signals in the officer conld usually tell whether die vio centra] business district From 1934 to 1939, lator was teUing the truth or lying. If the 1#*,;' 53 per cent of the traffic fatalities were violator was found to be lying, he was pedestrians. From 1940 to 1945, they were taken in by the officer. 39 per cent Portland, Oregon, is attacking its pedes Discussion: The following facts were trian problem with a new type of louvre brought out in discussion from die floor. for the traffic signals. This louvre makes Courts should be deeply concerned about it impossible for pedestrians to see the the pedestrian problem and should give full traffic signals intended for motorists and cooperation to a pedestrian accident pre consequently they have to obejrthe walk- vention program! wait signals. " i *> The Dayton ordinance was enforced in In order Ur encourage non-traffic officers residential areas as well as in the down to enforce pedestrian laws, a record can be town area. It was felt that better results kept in the traffic division of their enforce would be obtained by enforcement in out ment activity'and when it is apparent that lying areas. In order to obtain die, most they are not holding up their end of the efficient enforcement of any traffic law, it program, the police official to whom they is obvious that all police officers should are responsible can be notified. It is most enforce it Pedestrian violators who re helpful if the necessity for enforcing traffic sided in a place sufficiently far away from. Jaws is stressed in die training programs Dayton that they could not be expected to of non-traffic officers. :i~ r l . . . v THURSDAY AFTERNOON SESSION October 10, 1946 General Session Presiding: W. Ghaham Cole, Asst Secy., Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., and Gen. Chm., Traffic Section, N. S. C. Where Do We Go from Here? (Forecasts of Activities of Various Groups Based on Points Developed at Congress Sessions) Police By COL. CHARLES H. SCHOEFFEL Supt, New Jersey State Police, and Vice-Chairman, Police Div., N. S. C. During the past four days we have heard many fine addresses and discussions on: Traffic safety and the public attitude. The city's stake and the state's stake in traffic safety. How city and state winners of the Na tional Traffic Safety Contest managed to win these coveted awards. Why we should investigate traffic acci dents and the use of accident records. How one state reduced highway-railroad gradi year acrid V out. AS tC W ities volvi void const past able co-oi TI ccnfi need port expr thoo] of tl 1. 1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. & 9. 10. 11. 12. Traffic Section 279 grade`crossing accidents 50 per cent in one year while the national average for such accidents increased 38,pec cent The need for..traffic schools was brought out. New and novel ideas were advanced as to the value of such institutions.. . We discussed co-ordination of the activ ities of the various agencies which, are in volved, in conducting traffic actident pre vention programs. It was disclosed that considerable-progress had been made these past few .years in tins direction. Consider able time was given to present trends in co-ordinating traffic safety programs. The President's "Action Program" or conference recommendations stressed the need for co-ordination through public sup port organizations. Many, many ideas were expressed; we frequently heard the same thought three or four tunes. Here are some of them. 1. We need good safety programs to enlist sound and complete public par ticipation. 2. With public opinion anything can be accomplished, without it nothing can be accomplished. 3. We must have, co-operation, all pulling together. 4. Have the states establish official pro grams, accept their responsibility, show a good example so the municipalities will follow their leadership. 5. The states must set their own houses in order, eliminate overlapping and du plication of effort. 6. Establish proper and adequate legisla tive support without political considera tion as to highway, construction and motor vehicle regulation; 7. Have'the. states take the initative in seeking public support for highway traffic safety programs. Hold highway safety conferences in conformity with the President's action programs. 8. Use the Chamber of Commerce for active participation in your safety pro grams. * 9. Use . every civic organization -- the churches, the hoy scouts, the girl scouts, the schools.:; 10. Use the theaters for showing safety shorts, every everting. 11. Use . public address systems ' on the streets and-public highways. 12. Use traffic posters on intersections in down town districts. 13. Hold public monthly meetings .-- and meetings of city officials to map plans for continuation of the public interests. 14. Teach better walking habits - to the public. 15. Use junior safety patrols to get the interest- of children. 16. Use your police for traffic safety talks. 17. Strange are the ways of public opinion. 18. Traffic safety programs must consider the public attitude. 19. We need solidarity of public opinion to accomplish results. 20. We need a united public will. 21. By enforcement we have attempted a job that should have been done ini tially by or through public education. 22. With a complete understanding of what is wanted and - what is expected of them, the people will ultimately support any program for the common good. ' 23. Hie present programs for traffic safety are excellent if public support is rallied. 24. Mention was made of personal con tact with hatless men to find out why they did not wear hats. This thought was developed purely to point out that the way to reach the answer to any question is to establish personal con tact with the fellow who has the an- ' swer--the public. 25. We most admit there is no organized opposition to a good traffic safety pro gram, however we have failed to get public support because we have failed to enlist the services of those who we know are needed to do the job properly. In summing up .these suggestions, we find one predominating factor--one word which stands out above ail others--that is the public, public participation. Public aid, public support. We come to one conclu sion--to do a job, efficiently, adequately, we must obtain the public confidence, their good will, their complete support, that the job we have set out to do is the. concern of every man, woman and child in the nation. We need uniformity of ideas, uni formity of action, uniformity of purpose. I am not advocating. regimentation which is all to prevalent today, but I do see the need of a uniform policy readily under standable by all. the people so they will definitely. understand, .what is expected of them when driving an automobile or-when 280 34th A attonal Safety Congress, 1946 as a pedestrian they are subject to death snc-cssfully sell the products of industry and injury by the automobiles on our pub and commerce. lic streets and highways. \\e have hundreds of thousands of in We are informed that interstate-traffic terested people who are willing and anxious of automobiles is a national problem. to help. That we need better enforcement plan This job is a tremendous one, too big ning, particularly in the small police de- for you and I alone, too big for any single partment state agency to tackle. We must enlist at Developments in the nation should be watched--there is no "magic formula" for this problem of ours. To reach all of the people, we must reach into the home, the school, the church, reach industry and commerce. We must teach fundamental principles first and keep hammering home the need for traffic safety, for personal safety, for proper driving habits, for proper walking habits, for the state level motor .vehicle departments, state police, highway departments, the de partment of education, the public utility commission, which is concerned with ve hicles in intrastate traffic, and many others concerned in the project In the cities, .the safae ideas of organiz ing a program must &c_f.oIlowed, agencies with comparable duties to those mentioned previously must be urged to participate., proper attitude, and proper consideration The next step is the support of all avail and courtesy toward everyone. able civil agencies, as mentioned before, the Just recently while attending a confercnce in the city of Washington, I heard home, the church, the civic dubs, industry and commerce. one of the conference speakers state that There .must be developed a sound public we must redesign all of our highways be cause they are outmoded--we must rebuild new ones to take care of modern day traffic education formula utilizing every instru ment at our command, the press, the radio, the billboard, and so forth. trends. He stressed the fact that highways Mr. Darr stated and truly: `The public built to carry 30,000 cars a day now must can be made to change, if properly ap carry peak traffic loads of 00,000 or more proached through an adequate and effective cars daily. He also mentioned that our system of education." investment in good automobile roads the past twenty-five years has reached billions of dollars. All we need is an enthusiastic and capable leadership on an overall basis, that we have right here in the National SafetyCoundl. L cannot agree with him that an ex In-the 35 years they have been operating penditure at this time of billions of dollars they have. made, enormous advances in the is feasible or within our capacity to pay interest of safety, they have gone further for many years to come. The answer, par than any other organization in tins matter tially at least, to the entire problem before of bringing home to ns and forcing on us us is a new approach, a realistic one on the tiie need for national safety, not only on part of everyone, a real desire to meet the . the streets and highways but in the home, challenge that confronts us, a real desire to on the farm, in the factory and elsewhere. greater coordination of effort in promoting traffic safety and allied progress which will materially aid in the reduction of accidents, deaths and injuries on our highways. Many speakers have directly or indirectly given you their thoughts on this subject They sum up to the following; The National Safety Council has offered their services, offered to guide us in our work in promoting safe and sane driving and walking habits. We accept their offer. It is really a challenge to their initiative, to their ability and virtually to their exist ence. To do the job we must all pull to Officials of the nation, of the states, the gether and follow the advice of bur good counties and the cities must develop a . friend. Sidney Williams who has stated: co-ordinated plan of action in uniformity of . "We must get on our overalls and get out purpose, in planning and carrying out safety in tiie field; we must work and sweat and ideas. We have at our disposal millions of endeavor to swing public opinion to help dollars, the best talent obtainable, ideas themselves. If we aH do just tills, it is im of large advertising corporations who so possible to fail." Traffic Section 281 Traffic Court "Judges and Prosecutors By JUDGE JOSEPH M. WYATT Chief Justice, Baltimore City Traffic Court, and Vice-Chrnt, Traffic Court, Div., NSC The sessions just concluded-were, the best represented and most informative in recent years with 28 states and many of the larger cities of the nation represented. The vari ous sessions and discussions brought out some of die following important facts which it would be well to carry away with us. Judges and prosecutors should strive to educate the public to accept good strict judicial action.. The support of newspapers and radio and all other channels of public information should definitely be sought. The public support program is highly important, but to obtain maximum effectiveness, it should be worked out carefully with all the factors weighed and tested to make certain that it is a sound program. One of the things the court should strongly approve is a traffic school for juvenile traffic violators. In addition, they should lend- their support to the driver training classes and courses which are con ducted for high school students. Such schools should not only give the students a knowledge of traffic laws and the prin ciples of safe driving but should also pro vide an opportunity for them to acquire "behind the wheel*' driving experience. The support of the courts is essential to the success of a pedestrian control pro gram. Such a project as a program to con trol pedestrians at signal lights would end in failure without the wholehearted support of the courts of the city involved. How ever, it is well to remember that a cam paign of public education to solicit the hearty cooperation of the citizens them selves must be a forerunner to the pedes trian program. Traffic Engineering By EARL J. REEDER City Traffic Eng.,'Miami, Fla To attempt to summarize several hours qf discussion into a few minutes--ten min utes to be exact--is perhaps a very large assignment With the Traffic Engineering field in mind, my function as. I see it here is to bring together, bring out a few, some four or five of die rather outstanding things which I visualize as important developments and important lessons which, we can take home from this Congress. I think perhaps I should like to take the liberty of supplementing the deliberations in the Traffic Engineering field in this Congress by some of the things that were brought out last week in the Institute of Traffic Engineer's annual meeting at Co lumbus. ^ow, the outstanding, the -number one headache in the.traffic field at both conven tions was brought out to be parking. Streets are filled with cars that are attempt ing to move at the same time that they are filled with cars that are attempting to be parked. The problem is one which seems to have two general approaches so far as cities are concerned. The number one approach is the providing of some* of the parking ter minals around the fringe of the central bus iness districts of dries and having those terminals serviced by shuttle buses that are going to and from the different parts of the' downtown area, the purpose being to get ont of the downtown area as many of the vehicles that we can that are seeking parking space, and substituting for them buses. Another thing that has been brought out and one winch I am happy to say we are attempting at the present tone to put into effect in the City of Miami, is the require ment that all new buildings shall have adequate off-street parking and loading facilities to take care of the increased demands which they are producing or gen- 282 34th National: Safety. Congress, 1946 erating for parking ,and loading space, in -..tit deems .we-must; rapidly get. away from proportion to thewneedsT' ................ the ^day wtoT it"'is" possible for. die de That has beat before the Gty Cominis-' sion of thoGtyof Miami and is now being studied from the standpoint of attempting to bring together some conflicting thoughts concerning it having to do mainly with the central business districts, but it is highly important that such a remedy be extended to the entire city, especially with the pres ent amount of additional building m resi dential and outside business areas and industrial areas that seems definitely to be ahead. Those two things, the fringe parking veloper .of: a subdivision to. say, "We will not .'have, sidewalks. We. will sell die idea of green grass from yonr front door to the curb." That is a thing which, of course, is a very serious menace to pedestrians.. We must get away.'from.-the-day. when the subdivider can say, ^We won't worry about how we are going to light our. streets. We'd like to dunk, of this as an area tbat .is very dose tonature,.yon know, and where we. are not going to worry about street lighting." But again, pedestrians and traffic must have their places. around the central business district, and the ' Provisions for off-street parking in those off-street parking requirements imposed areas are very important;, because other uporf new buildings seem to be the two wise, as we lave seen from the years of 'outstanding things that are brought out in experience with pedestrians and drivers, connection with the parking problems. streets parked full of cars and curbs Kned Mass transportation has been in for its share of discussion at these two meetings-- and very properly. The outstanding thought concerning mass transportation is that we with cars, will be"tbe, hiding places'for persons why inadvertently get out .into the street and get seriously injured if not killed in traffic. must have a 'much larger percentage of the - people who are coming into the central bus iness districts coming by mass transporta tion. The building of view obstructions as a part of die scenic beauty of the subdivi sions is something that cannot pe permitted. On the. contrary, we must do away with One thing that needs to be pointed out ' existing obstructions that are creating real in connection with that is that we are not - hazards to drivers approaching intersec going to legislate the public into greater tions. use of mass.transportation. We could do that during the war--we could have ordered it; but now with the war over, we can't legislate it It has to be produced by im proved sendee which will make mass trans portation a more acceptable means of. getting to . the downtown business districts than ffte private automobile Is. * The penalty if that, is not done is that the private, automobile can take people to some other section of die city or to even another city if it is necessary to do that to find ease of access to business places. One thing that was brought out -at die Congress which seems to be of great sig nificance, and one that h^s a great deal to do with looking forward into much - im proved conditions in the bunding of cities, is die . control of die development of sub divisions to require that in new subdivisions there should be incorporated those things which we have found so necessary for. Then there was a subject on which some very excellent information was presented in this convention, and I- refer to die winter hazard problem--which I fed unqualified to discuss. It seemed to me that the information brought out *as a result of research last winter and in other research that has been' carried on during die-years by die National Safety Council concerning winter driving hazards has been of great value. 1 One important thing that was brought out very emphatically, not perhaps directiy inthe ; way that I should present it, but it seemed to me to .be die background .of a. considerable part of oiir discussion in sev eral of the talks, was that.jwe in'.. the traffic engineering fidd, as wdl as yon. hi= some of the other fields of traffic admin istration and.promotion, must sell the things that we have developed for public ise. safety and for efficiency in the use of the I:-am strongly sympathetic with, that streets. viewpoint because it-seems that regardless ofil goo* trail b 1 tivd rega sigp fadl are tee not It choc cent Is''a that unit * is U geth sale that you thin mot! D ings grai of j Rigi Con to t the. edui of < pro* ofl ask* and It that com and grai T the cdoi dud loca 1 Traffic Section 283 of- tiow effective we may be in developing as well have done something else as to good measures for the''improvement of design the inethod& traffic conditions, unless those things can Another point that was brought out be put into effect and' can be used effec-. which seemed to be extremely effective and lively by the people who must use them important was that-we need in our design regardless of what they may be, signals, or to take into account and toconfer with the sigps, or markings, or off-street parking people who are going to be die main benefadlities, or what else it may be; if they fidaries from those things if they are put are not sold to John Q. Public who must into effect, otherwise we have not sold the use them as pedestrians or drivers, they are thing we are striving to put across, and not going to be used effectively. We might consequently they'are not effectively used. Tinffic Safety Edacatwn By EDWIN & SMITH Die, Hamfftoa (O.) Safety Council In every concoction, whether it is a chocolate cake yon are going to'bake or a cement sidewalk you are going to lay, there is''always sotne; ingredient that holds the thing together, that makes it a cohesive unit It seems to me that public .education is the thing that coordinates aiid folds to- into effect if they are going to tie any good, We also had.some very foe city programs presented,' and. die one I want, to' mention is Dayton, Ohio, which has initiated a pedestrian program, Every city in the country today is worricd `S^Ttoat/. pedestria? problem, and gether the -whole- traffic program. I think safety council managers will go along on that idea, but before 1 finish here I hope you will agree that public education is toe thmg upon which we can all meet on common ground and work together. Dayton has done a marvelous job in putting together a pedestrian program that has secured results. Captain Price told us this tnoraiog ^ pedestrian deaths despite toe raise in traffic, have declined since this coordioated attack on pedestrian accidents. Daring toe time we have had these meettogs, some very fine public education programs were presented. We had two types of^programs primarily -- stole atxl lwal. A pedestrian ordinance was enacted after a yca7of wrk. Prior to the enactment of thj ordinance* a public educational cam- p^ tSTcraducted to which toe news- Right after the President's Highway Safety paper* the radio, leaflets, and posters by Conference last May. a few states;began STtoousands ptoyed ailtotporbSTpart so to work on this problem of coordinating that every citizen of Dayton was exposed the whole state program so far as public to the fact that there was going to be a eduration was eonetned. In my own state pedestrian ordinance to effect, and it related* of Ohio, a fine job was done. A. complete what everyone should do personally to come program was, drafted by the Department in line with that program, of Highways, and cities all over Ohio were - Every agency to the community needs to asked and. urged to come into the picture work 'together to put .over a public educa-1 and cooperate. . tional program. I- wonder if that's hap- It is all very well . for the. state to do pemng in-your community. It could be a that for that's their job, but unless the' -great deal better- to mine. However, just communities, themselves get into the picture think of the other forces to your com- and put tome programs into effect the pro- munity which are interested to traffic safety grams are apt to be just that much paper, and bring them into line, work with them. The tiring that cane out of the meeting ' cooperate with them, offer your cooperation, the other day when we were talking about It is only then that we can secure the c^ordtoation . of', these, state programs was . effectiveness that we want that we must all. get into toe picture as Safety organization to be effective ac- local communities and put tome programs cording to the -concenriis of opinion must 284 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 conduct a vigorous program in safety edu cation, a vigorous program that goes on all the time; not spasmodic campaigns. Also, the Safety Council must work with officials, support the officials, and try to be the link between the officials and the com munity at large. Radio has been shown to be one of the most effective means of public education, but there is another caution. There was another sounded at the meeting on radio. You are competing when you go on the radio with some of the highest paid advertising men in the coantry. So, when yon go on with safety it better be good or it won't be listened to; and the suggestion was made by the radio men that yon tie your program in with an established pro gram that has a listening audience. - It was suggested that your news program is a natural to tie in safety messages. There are other instances in local programs, I am sure you can develop to tie in perhaps a five minute safety spot There you have a ready-made audience. You don't have to develop your own. The second point on radio is if you are going to develop a pro gram, go to your station people, radio people, and ask for their help. They are professionals, they know what you want, they know how to develop it, and with their help you can put over a much more ef fective public education program on the radio than if you tried to develop h yourself. I have been asked to say a word of the future--what does the future hold in pnblic education? Let's make our program move fast, and then let us plan it so carefully that it goes smoothly with no hitches, so that once you -start your program it goes right through to its finish without a hitch. Then make sure that your program is widely adver tised. Get it out before the public, and then you are going to get results. Col. Lynch of Los Angeles brought in such a program. It was a program that was developed for nation-wide use. This program had a dif ferent safety traffic subject for every month of tiie year with the idea that every com munity in the country would be working on that subject during that particular month. The advantages of that approach were, simple to receive. No. 1, yon get national wide publicity, for your program. No. 2, you get a tremendous amount of respect for your program locally because it is-go ing on all over the country at the same time. No. 3, you can tie in local units of national groups in your community because those national groups have notified their load units about the program, hi this connection I am thinking of PTA groups, and I am thinking also of such civic groups as Rotary Gabs and others who want a part in your traffic and safety program if yon give them a chance. I believe that the program presented by Col. Lynch was the most forward looking one that has ever been presented in recent years an safety and education. I hope that program is made available to every com munity in this country on a national scale and that we can have this national co ordination which is so important So,* to sum it up, I would say that the whole structure of our effort lies in how well we can get together and work to gether, coordinate our efforts in traffic education, and then let us get going fast, let's be sure it is 'a smooth program, and Jet's advertise it widely. Driver Licensing By GLENN V. CARMICHAEL Staff Rep., American Assn, of Motor Vehicle Administrators The licensing of drivers on a state-wide basis goes back to 1904. Now, 42 years later, driver licensing has readied that stage in most states where it is said that life begins at forty. This year there is greater public support and demand for good administration of driver license laws because there Is more interest on the part of the officials to ad minister the law as it should be adminis tered. I have seen proof of this state of development in our own local communi ties, and I am gratified to report for motor vehicle administrators that our members in & Traffic Section 285 a number of instances bave improved pro* When we consider that examinations in cedures and have strengthened the stand most localities are conducted in rooms not ards of licensing; designed for testing purposes, often ga Pot instance; the standard of passing on the road rules or law tests has been raised from 70 to SO per cent in Utah. It seems to this observer that the value of driver licensing is a weapon in the war on acci dents as stated most ably in this Congress by Major A. F. Temple of Texas. Said Major Temple:. "The most effective and direct approach to the control of the driver lies in the rigid enforcement and administration of a good driver license law." Driver licensing as you know is made effective in reducing traffic accidents through two major activities of the division. One, the examination of drivers, and two, rages, drugstores, fire stations, courtrooms on the third floor of the court house, halls, and other equally unsatisfactory places, is it any wonder that the public often is led to believe examinations are not important? Do you remember the surroundings in which you took your license test? Were you favorably impressed? I think the future holds in store the construction of a series of locations for driver examinations expressly designed for that purpose. I look.for the raising of standards and all phases of examination comparable to the example set by Utah as previously mentioned. the improvement of drivers through sus pensions, re-examination, interviews, and other like procedures. Mr. Ted R. Smith of Pasadena was one of several who reported during this Con gress that drivers applying for a license In the first instance we expect to see in the very near future in every state the ex amination of all original applicants for a license. That examination will consist of a vision test, a sign test; a road rules test, and a driving test. It is reliably reported that Minnesota, Montana, and North Da kota will adopt this procedure We hope are helped in regular training courses con ducted by motor, vehicle personnel so as to be able to qualify for a license. We hope to see adopted by more states as a require ment for licensing the successful comple tion of a course in driver training. The more training the higher the standards for qualifying and the better the driver. that five or six other states not measuring op to par will do likewise The Presi dent's Highway Safety Conference and the association which I represent are on record advocating the conduct of these examina tions by hill time state examiners properly selected and trained. The public support for driver licensing is so evident that the legislature; the administrator, the safety organization should take immediate steps to place the examiners in that class. `Turning to the second phase of licensing, driver improvement, we see a field that will yield big dividends in safety if the state will oily cultivate it Already, techniques of plowing, so to speak, harvesting, and so on are known. We have yet to persuade many states to turn to this crop. The field is as fertile as examinations. You as administrators, judges, police; prosecutors, safety engineers, and civic-minded citizens should demand adoption .of a driver im Check the status of examining in your proving program now when conditions are own state to see if your state can measure so favorable for you would reap a good up to recommendations. If it does not; ' harvest of safe drivers. you know what to do. Certainly there is a target at which to aim your sights in the future. Our association advocates the policy of utilizing driver records, accident reports, arrests, conviction reports, warning tickets, There is another. The traffic court divi complaints, and so on. If 90. per cent; let sion has as one of its objectives better us say, of suspensions .and revocations are court rooms in which to conduct traffic for driving while under the influence of cases.. Judge Porter of Evanston pointed intoxicating liquors, it is an indication that out in session on Monday.the most favor the state is not making full use of its able attitude of the public because-of the driver license law as recommended. If new Evanston courtroom--the Cathedral drivers with had records are not given they call it The driver licensing official has immediate attention by the driver licensing a pronounced parallel in examination rooms. division in an effort to change them into 286 34th National Safety Congress, 1946 good drivers, then now is the time to go about remedying this deplorable- situation. The concept of driver control through suspension or revocation has been offered almost imperceptibly within the past .five years. The next five years will see a com plete metamorphosis. More. examinations of drivers will be given on the basis of their records. More interviews and investi gations to determine attitude will be ac cepted as part of the driver license division function. More effort will be expended by the division in every known way to change bad drivers into good ones. E. P. Lee of Minnesota in a panel dis cussion an Tuesday stated most accurately how the driver license law should be ad ministered. We hope that before long we can-point-with pride to every state as being in an exclusive .class as described by Mr. Lee. He said that the driver license law should be administered so that the courts, the police, the prosecutor, and the public will know what the division will do and does do. If these groups and persons actively cooperate with and support the driver license division, there is no limit to the goo.d that can be accomplished with a good driver license law. Paraphrasing Mr. Earl Hall, a state either has a driver license law or .it doesn't have one. If a state has a law it is either administered as it should be. or it isn't. You personally know the score at home. If you, and you, and yon will do your utmost to bring about (1) a standard examination given by properly selected and trained per sonnel in the proper atmosphere to all original applicants, and (2) a driver im provement program that effectively con trols drivers with bad records, driver licens ing will bring fruition to the desires and hopes of all of us for safety, for you; and yourself, and me. CHAIRMAN COLE: I was particularly glad that you emphasized the growing thought concerning the development of schools for drivers. It is my hnmble opin ion that we^should come to the point some day where no applicant for a driver's license will be considered until he can produce certification that he has had some instruction in tins vital problem of how to drive an automobile properly.