City in Sound; Traffic Bureau

This is Jim Herbert, who along with you cocks a reflective ear to catch the kaleidoscopic voice of the city and sound. Some sounds that we hear all day long, we never really hear, like this one. Without the sound of that whistle and what it represents, the city of ours would wind up at utter chaos in a matter of days, perhaps even hours or minutes. Behind the whistle of the traffic policeman on the corner, there is a large and well -knit organization working day and night to keep the hundreds of thousands of vehicles moving on Chicago's streets to keep Chicago's citizens from killing and maiming each other in wholesale quantities. That the traffic safety program of the Chicago Police Department is effective is attested to by the marked drop in traffic fatalities

in the 10 years the program has been in effect. It's a story of men and machines. Your captain and Phillip Bay McGuire, chief of the traffic division of the Chicago Police Department. That is correct. Chief, we're over here to talk about a very important phase of our law enforcement in Chicago, the traffic law enforcement. I want to go back to the start of the inception of Mayor Daily's Traffic Safety Program in Chicago. I'd like to talk to you first or about the situation in Chicago and on our streets before this program went into effect. Well, before the program went into effect, we were supping a high fatality right here in Chicago in the year of 1947 with a registration of only 582 ,000 vehicles. We had 505 deaths in Chicago for an average of eight and seven tenths point deaths per 10 ,000 vehicles registered. However, in the year of 1957 with our traffic program

here in Chicago and with a registration of almost 1 million vehicles about twice as many as what we had in 1947, we reduced the fatal traffic accidents to 318 for an average of three and three tenths points deaths per 10 ,000 vehicles registered. It certainly demonstrates the effectiveness of our current traffic safety program and I think that figure for 1947 indicates what it was like before the program went into effect. But even that wasn't the high point in the number of fatals per 10 ,000 registered vehicles wasn't in the years before World War II. In the year of 1934 with a registration of 419 ,000 vehicles, we had 986 fatals here in Chicago for an average of 23 and 5 tenths deaths per 10 ,000 vehicles registered, which is

about seven times greater than what it is today. Going back to 1947, the year that we quoted with that high post war death rate, I understand that certain specific steps were taken to survey the traffic situation in Chicago and find out just what was needed to cut that toll down. Well, yes, in the fall of 1947, a survey was made by the traffic division of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Recommendations were made and were adapted to plan involved, a coordinated effort by all of the agency's concern. New legislation was made, a tempo and public education was increased through the meeting of radio, newspaper, television, school, civic groups, traffic engineering was enlarged and expanded traffic court procedures were simplified and improved. And the traffic bureau of the Chicago Police Department was expanded and personnel and reorganized. Now, what was that reorganization of the traffic bureau? I understand that was a pretty important step in our whole enforcement

program. Well, yes, it was. After the study was made, an increase was made in the personnel and equipment such as squad cars. And we also brought into the department three wheel motorcycles. Traffic division was expanded and personnel from 569 to 1125 in cars from 14 to 128 and in solo motorcycles from 50 to 150. However, at that time, we did have the mounted section, but the mounted section was done away with and we brought into the department three wheel motorcycles to take the place of the mounted section, which is far more effective in our program than what the mounted section would be. What's even for coming up to a critical period for the traffic division the holiday season, I suppose this imposes a lot of extra problems. Well, yes, it does. It imposes a terrific problem on the police department for the coming holidays of Christmas and New Year's.

The police department has caused a study to be made of the accident experience of last year and the previous years of the Christmas holiday and the New Year holiday. However, from the information received from the study, we learned where the accidents are happening, when they are happening and the causes of the accidents. And through this year's program of study, I believe it has contributed much to our success over the New Year and Christmas holiday of last year in which we only suffered one fatal. And we've had a very good experience so far this year during other holidays. Yes, we have our fatal experience as it stands today. We are four down for the month as of this date as compared to the same date last year and the traffic debts to date this year, we are 18 down as compared to the traffic

debts of the same period of last year. And I believe that that is a very, very excellent record that we have achieved here in Chicago. And I just hope that with the help of the motoring public and the pedestrians of this city that we can gain a better and a finer record at the end of this year of December 31. And 18 lives are certainly well worth saving. It certainly is. What's this machine you're operating here? An IBM machine, sir. This is pretty new in the police work, isn't it? Well, we've been using it here in the traffic division for 10 years now. Because that's all, yes sir. What are you doing? What are these cars that you're feeding? Right now I am plaking down and moving the rest by hour of day. The first run requires breaking into AM and PM. The second one, the second run gives us the breakdown by hour. What's your name, buddy? Officer McCarthy. First name? Justin. How long have been the police driving? 10 years, sir. You like police work? Yes, sir. Your Edward Aras, the Tunis, your deputy chief of traffic and

charge of staff services. That is right. And this IBM machine that Officer McCarthy told me about is an important part of your operational area. It sure is. Why is that? It gives us the information that's necessary to control the accidents in the city of Chicago. From that, we find where the accidents occur, at what time these accidents occur and what caused the accident. We find this information and we then take and analyze it and we prepare bulletins. We call them selective enforcement bulletins. And this information is given to the deputy chief of field. And from that, he prepares the assignment of the personnel in the various traffic areas so that they can combat the incidents of traffic accidents. He can use this personnel at the

time necessary for the prevention of accidents. He can instruct this personnel as to what causes accidents. So the personnel would be aware and be waiting for these violators to prevent any such reoccurrence. We feel that this information is of prime importance in that we do not have any duplication as a result of it. Now, we go further. We spot maps here to prepare our bulletins. There's a map for each section of the city for the various times of the day, whether it be morning, whether it be late afternoon, whether it be late evening, whether it be the real early morning hours. Now, I see a big map over here on the firewall, one of many that you have on big flips. And this is labeled 3 p .m. to 11 p .m. September, October and November.

That refers to that period of the day during those months. That's right, sir. Now, what does that show? Well, it shows just where each and every accident that occurred in the city of Chicago where it occurred during those periods, during those hours, during those months. This is an amazing operation up here, chief. I suppose that if I wanted to find out from you the number of accidents that were caused by improper turns, one of your officers working on the IBM machines could feed the cards in and come up with that information. Oh, definitely. We certainly can do that. We monthly come out with such a study and that report is submitted. We have that information. And your studies go on all the time. All the time. It's just analyze, analyze, analyze. Talking about the statistics of accidents in Chicago, chief, what are the special types of problems you encounter at the Christmas season? Well, driving while under the influence is one and it's one of the most serious

because a man who had been drinking certainly would be driving in such a manner as to cause an accident or injury to people, maybe even kill somebody. So actually, we here in the traffic division have had, oh, in 1956, we took and reorganized our breathalyzer unit. We made it a breathalyzer unit. We sent 40 men to school and after these 40 minutes gone to school for a three week period, they were then assigned 15 of these men were assigned to the breathalyzer unit. Now, let me come back to the school. The school was conducted by Dr. Vitulo, the chief surgeon of the Chicago Police Department. And the people that taught in this school were all for the most eminent doctors and physicians in the city of Chicago. This course could

not be duplicated by anybody. This was a course that in three weeks concentrated much information and much knowledge to the people that took this course. And now we have 15 men assigned in the breathalyzer unit who are real competent officers in their work. And these breathalyzer men are the men who take and test the driver who is suspected of driving while under the influence. Now, this, of course, apprehends the driver who's been drinking after the accident has occurred. But during the holiday season due to the traffic division also takes steps to keep that man has been drinking out from behind his wheel of his car. Last year, chief McGuire decided that it would be here in the loop area where there was a high concentration of grudges and parking lots to see to it that at every garage and at every parking lot, in those hours

when people would be leaving parties and leaving work, that the police officer would quickly scan and observe the people as they were coming to get their cars. If he, the police officer suspected that the man had been drinking, he would give him a word of advice. If you had been drinking, Mr. you better leave the car here and use other means of transportation to get home. It worked. It was very good. It certainly eliminated many people driving a vehicle who had been drinking and this is what we want. We certainly feel that if they want to imbibe that is their privilege, but we certainly will prevent them from using the privilege of driving if they had been drinking. And your breathalyzer unit certainly is effective in determining what they have. It's 100 % correct, sir.

Your James B. Conless, Deputy Chief of Traffic and Charge of Field Services, right? That's correct, sir. And Chief, you take over for the information you get from the staff services, your work begins out in the field. That is right, yes, sir. We take the information and we assign our personnel to those locations and at those times where accidents have been occurring and instruct the personnel to enforce against those violations which have caused accidents in the past. In other words, you have a picture of the entire city and the accident peaks in as far as geography of the city is concerned and you know where to anticipate your peak load of trouble. Yes, sir. We make our assignments on the basis of our past experience where accidents have occurred, we feel that accidents will continue to occur unless we take effective enforcement action. We have coming up the holiday season in the Christmas weekend and after that the New Year's weekend and this must be a peak period of activity for your division. I guess it is, sir.

We have already begun laying our plans for the coming Christmas and New Year holiday seasons. Chief, what are some of the peak areas in the city? I think everybody interested in finding that out where our accidents peaks are actually from your experience. Where do these accidents happen? Is Western Avenue, is some people say the most dangerous street in the city or where would you think it would be? At one time, Western Avenue was the greatest accident incidence of any street in the city because of the, first of all, because of the length of the street. The street is the longest one in the city as you know and it is a heavily traversed street where there is a heavy concentration of traffic. There will be a heavy concentration of accidents. But in the individual locations of the city, in the downtown or the area which extends from possibly 22nd street to the river and from the Lake to Ashland Avenue, the street which has the greatest accident or had the greatest accident incidence in 1957

during the Christmas holiday season was Canal Street extending from the river. What do you think the reason for that was the heavy amount of traffic on the street? As you know, the Canal Street has been one of the most thickly travel streets within the city for those people who live in the southern part of the city. Everything finales into the Canal Street. But concentrations of our personnel on three wheel motorcycles and enforcement cars have reduced that during this past year. This is our selectivity of enforcement which the chief is preaching to us all the time. Now, is just the concentration of personnel there is sufficient just having the police officers there on three wheelers and in cars or is there a plan of activity for the personnel in these areas? For example, do they do special things during the holiday period that they

don't do under normal circumstances? Yes, sir. They of course have been alerted as to what violations have been causing accidents in that location. They have their red dome light or yellow flash light illuminated at all times. They are busy in conspicuous patrol up and down those streets in a general area where in the public can see them and be aware of their presence. This creates in their minds of the public an effect of omnipresence of policemen. Every place they look they see a policeman. This is our one of the principles of selectivity of enforcement, concentrations of people, of policemen in those areas where in the accidents have happened. And that flashing light is a good reminder to look down at your spot down there and be sure you're staying within the speed limit and that you're observing the rules of traffic safety. That is correct, sir. You think chief that the education program has been going on these past several years, the effort to get people to cut down on holiday drinking has been at all effective. Do you think there is a cutting

down in the amount of holiday drinking? I am positive of it. The most important aspect of the whole problem of traffic accidents is the individual himself. Without the individual's cooperation we cannot expect to come anywhere near combating this problem in any degree with any measure of success. What is your name, Lieutenant? John D. Madele. You have a special function here at Traffic Division, right? Yes, I'm a charge of the Public Safety Education Bureau. This is a very important phase of the Traffic Division's operation, isn't it? Well, we believe it is, yes. This helps prevent accidents, keep people from getting involved in them long before they're on the street. That's correct, Jim. What do you do? Well, our main function is to disseminate traffic safety information through all media to the public. We get this data, as Deputy Satunas mentioned, from our statistical and analytical bureau. Now, we use the press radio and TV to get this information to the public. The program we're on right now is this type

of our effort. It's one of them. What sort of information does the division final out to the public? What are the things that the public should know? Well, the types of violations that contribute to accidents, the time of accidents, for example, between 4 and 6 p .m. daily is the most serious as far as fatal concerns. Not the one, but at night. Yes, four to six, and that's not because people are tired driving home then rather than... Right now, of course, hours of darkness, but during the other parts of the year it is fatigue has a great deal to do with it, and the volume of traffic at that time is heavy. What were some of the other things you were going to mention? Well, I mentioned time. The location is a chief and indicated before. We have press releases and give talks at various groups indicating which streets are the most hazardous, which locations are the city or most hazardous. Which days of the week, the months of the year, the weather conditions, all of these things are factors in accidents and also driver attitude

at various levels. Pedestrian activities, there are rights and duties, responsibilities. All of these things are brought to the attention through press releases, radio TV, and in direct talks to the public. Do you find that the public is receptive to your campaign? Do they accept this information that you feed to them? Do they feel that they're being harped at or do they take it in good fit? No, no. We find that they're very interested in. In fact, after every talk, one of the most interesting part of the program is the question and answer afterwards. And this goes on for a great deal longer than the actual talk is concerned. The people are greatly interested and they are very receptive. What is the education program that is underway at this time, specifically in relation to the holiday season? Well, right now we're making studies of the total accidents and fatal accidents during the Christmas holiday and New Year's holiday last year. That is a sort of research type of study. And we're going to start flooding the

press radio and TV with news releases in connection with each of these phases. Now one of the things that was done just recently was an open letter by the Commissioner of Police to the officials of Chicago companies urging them to ban office parties. Now this was touched on earlier, I believe, but this was done last year for the first time and it was very effective. Almost 90 % of the companies reached through the program agreed that no looker would be served at such parties. This was last year. And we feel it was a factor in cutting our desk down last year. Well, Lieutenant, we reached the point in 1958 where our, at least in 1957 and apparently now in 1958, where our annual traffic toll, as far as fatals are concerned in Chicago has reached an all -time low. Do you think it's possible to go beyond the point we've reached now? Can we cut this down even further through education and enforcement? Yes, yes, that's our goal. We're going to continue on. We don't think that killing 318

people is acceptable. We feel that it can be reduced. We're making every effort in all areas to achieve this. Now in connection with other things that we're doing during December, right now there's been a great deal of publicity on the pedestrian leaflets. It's being handed, it's a pedestrian warning being handed to pedestrian violators in the loop. And our police officers, when they find someone doing not necessarily a violation but an unsafe act, they check off the violation or the unsafe act that the pedestrian is committed and hand in this leaf of stating this is for your information. The time I hate to put you on a spot like this, but what do you think will ultimately be the biggest factor in cutting down our traffic toll? Will it be education or will it be enforcement? Or is it a combination? It is a combination. It is a combination of both. And I wouldn't say that one is any stronger than the other and enforcement is effective and in many areas education is effective and one will not do without the other. And the most important single factor beyond that then is cooperation from the public. That's certainly

it. We need their support and understanding and receptiveness here to do the job. And they are doing that. There's no question about it without their cooperation support. We wouldn't have a problem. A good reason for cooperation to save life, limb, and property. Our lives, our limbs, our property. That's the city and sound. Jim Herbert at the microphone, engineer George Wilson at the controls. Next week, The Sound of Children.