MOTORING.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17880, 28 September 1923, Page 6

MOTORING.

TO CATCH CRIMINALS,

NEW YORK TOWERS. New York, full of pride in its new traffic control towers, is to attempt to use them for catching motor criminals (says a writer in the London "Pailj Mail' 1 ). , . These tall ana handsome towers, inmi of bronze, with their glass-sided cabins, and their coloured lights .or signalling to pedestrians and drivers, have been a. great success in controlling the traffic of the Fifth avenue, and i' lr ~ ther towers are to be erected in other parts of New York. W hen a. number are in position the police intend to use them for the pursuit of criminals in the following way:—A robbery or attack is carried out in the control tower- area by criminals using a motor-car. Immediately a message i 3 sent to the towers, and red lights are shown on all four sides. In v. moment the triffic controlled by the towers is brought to a standstill. Sirens on tho townrs are also sounded to give a widespread warning that the hunt is up. The motor bandits are faced with a very unpleasant situation. They can proceed onwards and be dreadfully conspicuous through their motor-car being the one moving vehicle in tbo streets full of stationary cars—or they can stop. In either cases tbeir chances of heing captured are very high. The very-object of using a motor-car in a crime is to escape easily. There are obviously many difficulties in the way of the successful operation of the scheme. but it will fx* a very interesting experiment to follow. The originator of the watch towers is a fascinating personality. He is Dr. John A. Harnss, who for six years has controlled the traffic of New York in ihe honorary capacity of Deputy Police Commissioner. I From sheer enthusiasm Dr. Harriss, who is a well-to-do man, has devoted himself to traffic problems and has undertaken the control of the traffic of ] a great city without any pecuniary benefit. He himself is maintaining the traffic towers on Fifth avenue for two years j from his own pocket. i Soft-voiced and bearded, Dr. Harriss is a man with a mission. He dreams ! of a day when all over the world traffic will proceed on the right side of the road—when traffic control equipment *md traffic rules and regulations shall l>e standardised. ANTI-GLARE CAP.

Driving against the sun is an ordeal that every motorist must experience at some time or other, and its attendant dangers are not to be overlooked. A few cars are provided with a specially dipped metal shield extending well out from the front portion of the screen to keep the glare out. The arrangement may not be pretty, but it is very useful and necessary as a safeguard against accident. Another and simpler method is the cap invented before the war by that doyen of motor-journalists and inventors, Mr Henry Sturmey. This c-ap, which was put on the market by Bramco, .Ltd., consisted of a supplementary transparent peak under the usual peak, the material being optically tinted to cut out the dazzling rays of the sun, and also the glare of oncoming headlights. The outbreak of war, and prohibition of headlights, stopped the sale of this -cap, but Mr Sturney states that the caps with these anti-glare peaks can now be purchased through most of the hatters' shops in the country if the name of Walter Cole and Sons, London, is given them as supj pliers.