Traffic Tickets
![handle is hein.journals/jclc30 and id is 488 raw text is: TRAFFIC TICKETS
NwmAN F. BAXERt
The Matter of Policy
How to secure safety on the highway is a national problem of
importance to all of us. Of course, we could slow down traffic to
the point where most of the dangers of motoring would become non-
existent. But we demand speed and hence the experts in the traffic
safety field are seeking to reduce accidents, while at the same time
allowing the maximum safe speed in motor transportation.
Traffic safety is more difficult to attain than safety in a factory,
ship, refinery, or public utility. A factory, for example, may adopt
stringent rules backed by the threat of loss of employment; danger-
ous machines may be fenced off; Keep out signs may be posted,
and the irresponsible public excluded. Close control is the secret
of industrial safety. In the use of the streets, however, we deal
with the general public-the great human average. And so far we
have followed the usual policy of attempting to secure the kind of
human conduct which we desire by passing quasi-criminal laws
regulating that conduct. Has this been effective? At this time no
one has found the answer.
In the traffic safety movement the three E's play the most
important part: engineering, education, and enforcement. Traffic
experts agree that all three must be employed, but there is a deep-
seated difference of opinion concerning the usefulness of educa-
tion as against enforcement. Of course, it is an education to be
arrested-strict enforcement may deter some wrongdoers-and a
thoroughly educated community may become one where laws are
easily enforced. Still, some would say, Dangerous drivers ought
to be apprehended, tried, and imprisoned; the only way to achieve
safety is to make them obey our traffic laws to the letter. Heavy
fines and long jail terms will reduce accidents. But others would
reply, There is no need to take traffic offenders to the station,
require them to give bail, stand trial, and be punished. Perhaps
they are careless, but all that is necessary is to warn them to be
t Professor of Law, Northwestern University; Counsel, Northwestern Uni-
versity Traffic Institute.
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