GUARDING ’FRISCO'S BRIDGE

Evening Star, Issue 23325, 22 July 1939, Page 20

GUARDING ’FRISCO'S BRIDGE

TRAFFIC KEPT MOVING SPECIALLY TRAINED PATROLMEN Collecting a daily average of £2,G00 in tolls paid by 24,G00 motor vehicles, tne San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge—owned and operated by the people of California —ranks first in toll revenue and third in amount of motor traffic borne by tbo toll bridges of the United States (writes Will Wilde in the ‘ Christian Science Monitor ’). To keep that traffic moving steadily along the bridge highway without stoppages or congestions is the work of 3G young members of the California Highway Patrol, Bridge Detail. A motorist driving over the bridge between Oakland and San Francisco may not see more than one or two of the seven patrolmen on duty, but he will notice the orderliness of the automobiles as they roll along at 40 or 45 miles an hour. What the motorists cannot see is the behind-the-scenes activities of the patrolmen that made it possible for 20,560,971 motor vehicles to cross the bridge during the first 28 months of its operation with the low total of 129 traffic accidents INTENSIVE TRAINING. Men under 35 who aspire to be motor cycle patrolmen on the Bridge Detail are selected by civil service examination. When a successful candidate is called up he reports for a month of schooling, during which he is familiarised with the laws governing automobile ownership and operation, theories of road engineering, criminal detection and the requirements of court evidence. He becomes expert with camera and firearms. There follows a month of training on duty as partner of an experienced officer. After these two months of training are successfully concluded he is ready to receive full authority and responsibility. Because there are no seasonal traffic peaks on the California highways, the number of motor vehicles crossing the Bay Bridge is fairly constant the year round. The lightest traffic month recorded the daily average of 18,551 vehicles and the heaviest month averaged 28,904. . At about every I,oooft across the bridge a public service call box is maintained. As the motorist is warned by signs on each bridge approach. that turning and stopping are prohibited, he has but one duty to perform should motor or tire trouble cause him to stop He has only to open the door of the call box, break the little pane of glass' marked “ Tow ” and then await the arrival of assistance. The breaking of the glass sends in the call automatically. One italf of the call box is for ordinary mechanical service while the second half is a fire alarm. In from one to three minutes after a service call is made, a motor cycle patrolman and one of the three service trucks arrive at the stalled automobile. Most of the usual 19 service calls made every 24 hours are caused by empty gasoline tanks. Hurrying motorists sometimes forget that the bridge and its approaches form an Si-mile-loug gasoline desert in the middle of a metropolitan area If the automobile is stalled because of some mechanical fault which cannot be corrected quickly, the service truck tows the car from the bridge. The motorist is charged Is 4d a gallon for gasoline supplied by the bridge maintenance service and 5s 4d for towing, which is a reasonable expense in the eyes of the embarrassed drivei;. Fire calls average about three a month Over-tight brakes cause most of the trouble. Greasy rags left under the car’s bonnet are the second usual cause. Of the more than 20,000,000 motor vehicles which have passed over the bridge, only one car has been destroyed by fire. The patrol’s quick response to calls is facilitated by a system of light signals operated from the administration building. A motor cycle officer, seeing his code-call flashed by the lights, immediately reports by one of the special police telephones installed at 1,000-foot intervals. on the bridge. He is given the location of the public call'box from which the service call originated. Thus, the danger of traffic congestion due to a disabled car is avoided by the prompt arrival of assistance. An electric map reports automatically to. the electrical maintenance crew any irregularity at one or more of the. 1,000 electrical connections on tile bridge.