100 years ago in The Saratogian
Tuesday, July 10, 1917
Broadway in Saratoga Springs is sporting new painted lines in an effort to get pedestrians to cross at the right locations, The Saratogian reports.
“Traffic regulation today is more than a policeman with a whistle in his hand,” police chief James H. King tells the paper, “The time has passed when a police force can make the public bow to traffic regulations by use of the night stick.”
The action by the city follows a lawsuit last fall in which a pedestrian who had been hit by a car claimed to have been walking inside the crosswalk, only for the driver to show that no crosswalks had been marked off on Broadway between City Hall and the trolley station.
“In order to protect the public their interest and attention must be won and in order to do this it is necessary to go to them as a teacher,” King elaborates, “That is the answer to those painted lines marking the crosswalk which you see on Broadway.
“You can’t legislate carelessness out of people. You can’t, by making laws, stop a man from being reckless or negligent. You can post traffic rules as often as you like but that won’t stop people from running in front of automobiles or automobiles from running over pedestrians.”
The crosswalk lines are a way of showing, rather than telling. “To protect the pedestrian, the city is trying to show persons where to cross the street,” King explains.
The chief goes on to list things drivers have a right to expect from pedestrians. Along with crossing at the crosswalks, pedestrians should not read newspapers while crossing the street, nor should they carry bundles that obstruct their view. King finds it necessary to add that “persons crossing the street [should] keep their eyes open.”
In return, pedestrians have a right to expect that drivers refrain from speeding, driving while intoxicated, or operating vehicles with faulty steering or brakes. Drivers of horse-drawn wagons have an obligation not to leave their horses unattended on the streets.
Saratogians at war
Two Saratoga Springs men are part of the first American expeditionary force to arrive in France for the war against Germany.
Today’s front page reports that Lt. J. F. Roohan, son of Mr. and Mrs. P. F. Roohan, and Samuel J. Smith, son of Mrs. Oscar Smith, have reached Europe safely with Gen. John J. Pershing’s force. Smith’s telegram, dated July 3, reached his mother yesterday.
“That cable messages are carefully censored is shown by the fact that the message contained no information except that [Smith] was safe and well,” a reporter notes.