"EDUCATIONAL CAR."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 230, 28 September 1936, Page 6

"EDUCATIONAL CAR."

CHECKING MOTOR ACCIDENTS. EMBARRASSING THE CARELESS. (By DONALD B. WILLARD.) The first great development in the art of handling automobile traffic was the introduction of the red light, and the second one, still new, is the red face. The red face cornea to the careless pedestrian who ste|>s off a kerbstone between intersections. Out of nowhere comes to the ears of all within sight some such speech as the following, from a magnified, restrained voice: "The gentleman in the brown suit! He is jaywalking! He should cross only at the intersection of the street! He is jeopardising: his own life!" The gentleman in the brown suit gets the interested attention of all beholders. He colours up to the ears. It is probably the first- time in hie life he has attracted so much unfavourable public notice. It is a lesson to him to be more careful in his walking on city streets. Polite Comment on Errors. The magnified voice comes from a loudspeaker in the Boston Police Department's "educational car." It cruisrs the streets seventeen or eighteen hours of each day, with the officers i/iside it acting as the voice of safety conscience—wired for sound. They just talk as they ride along, commenting politely on errors being committed under their very eyes by both motorists and pedestrians. They keep talking most of the time, thanks to the almost unbelievable carelessness and heedlessness of the human race.

They hail motorists by their registration numbers, like this: "Car 234,507! You are parked in a double line! Single parking only is allowed here! You are blocking the street and impeding traffic! Park in single line near the kerb, please!" The occupant of the machine, if he is in it, puts it in gear and moves along sheepishly. His face is red, too. The idea behind the safety car, however, is not embarrassment or humiliation for traffic offenders, and the red face occurs only incidentally. Its real purpose is to preach safety to life and limb in the very places where life and limb are in danger, in crowded city streets and at schools, beaches and playgrounds. It is spectacular, but it has to be, to get attention.

Forming Correct Habits. In direct charge of its operations is the captain of the traffic division. To the question, "What about it?" he replies: "A while ago there was a meeting of police chiefs to discuss highway safety. It was all right for a conference, but nobody had any ideas what to do to cut down accidents, except maybe to put on an 'intensive campaign' for a month. Now that's all right, but after the month was over the campaign was over, and nothing permanent had been accomplished. After that, the Police Commissioner had the idea of putting in the 'educational car.' Boston was the first city in the East to have one, although neighbouring cities have installed them since. And they will become a permanent institution, I am sure. "The purpose of the educational car is to try to stop accidents before they happen, by forming correct habits in pedestrians and drivers. We think it is more effective to point out mistakes as they occur than to prosecute after accidents have occurred. And one of the main points is to enlist public sympathy and co-operation by using extreme courtesy." The car itself is a four-door sedan, dark blue with conspicuous silver letters on it. On the top is a sign. "Boston Police Department," which can be illuminated at night. On the right front running board is a loud-speaker half ns big as a washtub, and over the radiator cap is a big siren. The only unusual fixture insyle the machine is a microphone 011 the end of a flexible metal tube extending from the dash. The driver just drives. The man beside him 011 the front seat does the talking. A third man sits on the back seat and relieves one or the other of the men in front. The talking, it seems, gets tiresome. — (Copyright, N.A.N . A.)