Institute Director Albert Coates
? ? ?
Discusses Traffic Laws, Problems
By Albert Coats
(Ed. Not* ? This is the first of
a series of articles by Mr. Coat
es, director of the Institute of
Government on traffic laws, traf
fic law enforcement, and traffic
law observance.)
Horse and buggy days in rural
North Carolina generated few 11
any traffic problems. Little tra
vel, on alowly moving vehicles,
over country roads, carried lit
tle danger of collision, less dam
, age to property, no loss of life,
and a killing only of time. Into
this small town and open coun
try setting at the turn of the
century came the automobile,
moved by the internal combust-'
ion engine, forerunning the traf
fic problems of today.
Growing Traffic Problems
These traffic problems grew
with the growing population:
from two million in 1900, to four
million in 1930. They grew with
the State's expanding highways:
from 5500 miles in 1921 to 60,000
in 1951. They grew with multi
plying automobiles: from a few
hundred In the early 1900's to
1,000,000 or more in 1950; with a
speeding power Increasing from
fifty miles an hour to seventy
live, to a hundred, and beyond;
driven by a million six hundred
thousand licensed drivers, exhi
biting degrees of care and care,
lessness, speed and recklessness,
sobriety and intoxication. They
grew with the mushrooming vol
ume of travel: from a few thous
and miles a YEAR in the early
1900's to twenty-Jour million
miles on an average DAY In
1949. They grew with multiply
ing accidents: killing seven hun
dred a year by 1930, and a thou
sand and sixty-nine by 1951; in
juring forty-four hundred a year
?by 1930, and fifteen thousand by
1951; with property losses run
ing from the tens of thousands
of dollars, to the hundreds of
thousands, to the millions.
The Motor Vehicles Depart-'
ment tells us that people in Nor
th Carolina traveled an average
of a million and a half miles in
motor vehicles on the streets and
highways of North Carolina ev
?eiy hour of every day and night
in 1951 ? with a resulting death
every eight and a half hours, a
personal injury every thirty-five
minutes, and an accident every
fourteen minutes.
In the last fifty years the peo
ple of North Carolina have kill
ew twenty-two thousand five
? Jiundred of their friends, neigh
bors, and fellow Citizens with
automobiles, and injured a hun
dred and forty-three thousand
more. In the fifty-two years since
the fir9t recorded killing, of a
person by an automobile in 1899,
the people of the United States
have killed over one million of
their friends, neighbors, and fel
low citizens with automobiles,
and injured nearly forty million
more.
Multiplying Traffic Lows
Horse and buggy days called
lor a few simple traffic lawn. The
coming of the automobile to the
streets and highways of North
Carolina marked the beginning
of city-wide traffic laws In 1900,
county-wide traffic laws in 1905.
state-wide traffic laws In 1909,
and nation-wide recognition of
the traffic problem in 1925, fol
lowed toy national standards of
uniformity in state and city traf
fic codes.
From these beginnings the
story of traffic laws In North
Carolina has been the story of
belated and sometimes frantic
efforts to keep abreast of grow
ing traffic problems. Speed lim
its have , steadily Increased in
business, residential, and rural
areas. Kules of the road have
expanded until they regulate:
(1) the place on the highway
where one may drive and the dis
tance he must stay behind the
car in front; (2) the speed at
which one may drive In approa
ching railway crossings and
street intersections, going a
round curves, over hills, along
winding roads, and under other
traffic hazards; (3) stopping,
parking, backing, and passing
on the highways; (4) -the driv
er's conduct in the face of pedes
trians, frightened animals,
school 'buses, railways, street
cars, safety zones; and nearly
every move a driver makes.
Traffic laws grow out of traf
fic problems and outline ways to
safety on the streets and high
ways. Suppose one driver could
not count on another to drive on
the right, or turn to the right on
meeting, or not to pass on hills
and curves. Suppose one driver ,
could not count on another to
stop on red lights at street inter
sections; or at a stop sign where ;
a side road oonnects with a main
highway; or to give the proper
signals before turning right, or
left, or slowing down; or to keep ,
the proper distance behind the
car in front; or to give the right
of Way when It Is due another.
Suppose one driver could not
count on another to keep his
brakes in order or hi?, headlights
and taillights working, or his
load from extending beyond the
fenders of his car. Suppose one
driver could not count on anoth- ,
er to have the mental capacity to
see the right thing to do at the
right time; or the physical ca
pacity to do It; or the will pow
er to keep his eyes on the road,
his hands on the wheel, his mind
on his driving.
The law ? making responsibil
ity is vested by the Constitution
in the General Assembly. Within
the framework of state-wide
traffic lavs the General Assem
bly has delegated rule and or
dinance ? making powers within
specific limits: (I) to the State
Highway and Public Works Com
mission, (21 the State Depart
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Bath Therapy at V.N. Polio Center
Fourteen young women from (en nations are receiving specialized
training In the treatment of poliomyelitis at the International'
Children's Center, which b supported by the United Nations Inter
national Children's Emergency Fund (UJfiCEF). The center is in
the Raymond Poincare Hospital, in Garches, France. The trainees,
including nurses, social workers and physical therapists, attend
lecturcs apd take part in the clinics, gymnastic rooms and thera
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hydrotherapeutlc treatment. The French Government has offered
the educational facilities of the hospital to UNICEF without charge.
ment of Motor Vehicles, and (3)
the governing bodies of cities
and towns.
The Institute of Government
is cooperating with these agen
cies in continued studies of traf
fic problems, leading to contin
ued improvement in traffic laws
tailored to the traffic needs of
the cities, the counties, and the
state of North Carolina, which
will go as far as laws can go to
make the streets and highways
safe for the people.
Traffic Law Enforcement
Laws on the books will never
cut down accidents on the streets
and highways until they move
out of printed pages into the
heads of law enforcing officers
and automobile drivers and go
into action on the streets and
highways. "Execution is the life
of the law," and execution of the
motor vehicle laws depends on:
(1) the officer who catches the
violator of the law, (2) the so
licitor who prosecutes him. (3>
the Jury which tries him, (4.) the
judge who sentences him, t5?'
the hearing officer with the po
wer to restore a license suspend
ed or revoked, and (6) the agen
cies of probation, pardon, and
parole.
Inveatigating Officers
Five hundred State Highway
patrolmen are continuously pa
trolling twenty-three thousand
miles of hard-surfaced highways,
*
and giving a lick and a promise
to thirty-seven thousand miles
of dirt roads; supplemented by
sheriffs arid rural police giving
such time to traffic law enforce
ment in rural areas as their gen
eral law enforcing duties and li
mited equipment permit; supt
plemented by two thousand po
liceman, patrolling eight thous
and miles of streets, in three
hundred town and city islands
dotting this statewide traffic sea.
Solicitor*, Jurors, and Judges
Every year three thousand law
enforcing officers bring two hun
drey thousand people into: (1)
justice of the j>eace courts, in
hundreds^of scattered townships,
(2) city courts in around three
hundred cities and towns, (3)
county courts in most of the one
hundred counties, and superior
courts in the twenty-one judici
al districts of the state; charged
with traffic violations ranging
from illegal parking to drunken
driving, manslaughter, and mur
der.
These violators of the traffic
laws are prosecuted by solicitors
with differing policies in throw
ing out cases, changing war
rants, and accepting p'.eas of
guilty to less* : offenses. They
are tried by Juries exercising an
cient prerogatives to dispense
with the law in oredr to admin
ister Justice ? according to jury
if not according to law. They
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are sentenced by Judges with
differing interpretations of "neg-|
ligent" driving, "reckless" driv
ing, "drunken" driving, with
differing policies of punishment i
even when they agree upon the
same interpretation of the law;
with the net result that differ
ences punishment are like
ly to be based on differences In
courts as on differences in crim
inals. ?
To illustrate: one officer may
give a caution where another gi.
ves a ticket and another make$
arrest. One solicitor may "nolle
prosse" a case where another
changes the warrant and anoth
er pushes prosecution to the li
mit of the law. One Judge or
one Jury may convict of driving
undenhe influence of lntoxlca*
ting liquor on proof of alcoholic
odor on the breath, another may
require added proof of slurring
speech and staggering walk and
inability tot" stand alone, and
another on the same evidence
may change the warrant to
speeding. or reckless driving in
order to avoid the revocation of
driver's license. And if the first
case pn the docket brings a jury
conviction in a reckless or drunk
en driving ease, followed by a
five hundred dollar flnP and
twelve months on the road, it Is
easy to see how similar cases
fade off the docket in the hope
of lenient Juries and lighter
judges In later terms of court.
When you buy and hold De
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cost of living. Spend wisely and
save all you can..
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