and wherever it pleases him in search for passengers? One see them everywhere: they park their vehicles in the most odd places, rush across the street whenever they feel inclined to do so and without taking any heed to the direction of the traffic; they take over little, and in many cases no notice, of red traffic lights and the most extraordinary thing is that in most cases they seem to get away with it, And here I come to a very important "why" namely: why does the Traffic Authorities not make any attempt to effect a better control over the rickshaw traffic? I shall now let you in on a secret: I have been informed from a very good source that the Authorities concerned are not inclined to attempt to improve matters because by allowing the rickshaw pullers to have it more or less their own way the traffic in general is considerably slowed down: should a stricter control be enforced over the rickshaw traffic, so it is argued, a 10 to 15 per cent. increase of trafic accidents would be the result. So apparently for the sake of "safety first" the traffic has been left more or less to regulate itself and the regulators are the roaming-about, rickshaw pullers! But surely it cannot be correct to hold such a view in the modern time we are living in, a view which in my opinion constitutes a policy - of defeat and in addition has a very decided taste of "muddle through?"
Our aim should be to speed-up the traffic and at the same time, of course, not losing sight of the safety factor. A stricter control of the traffic in general would seem to lead to such a result. It may be argued that the present Traffic Police Force is far too small to cope with the situation. Well, if this is so it should be enlarged. This would naturally cost money which is not so easily forthcoming these da: But perhaps savings could be effected elsewhere: Iam very fond indeed of the excellent Municipal Orchestra we have here and would surely feel very sorry should it be compelled to go. However, I cannot help thinking that it would be of more benefit to the general public if the large amount now spent yearly for the upkeep of this orchestra instead was utilized for a more urgent purpose—in this instance for the creation of additional forces for the Traffic Department.
May I suggest that experts of the various Traffic Departments in Shanghai put their heads together and make a careful study of the various traffic problems which we are now confronted with here to be followed in due course with recommendations for an up-to-date Traffic Law? And when this new Traffic Law (which should take the place of the antiquated Law which is now in existence) has been approved by the Authorities concerned steps should be taken to ensure that the arious rules and regulations are strictly carried out. Let us get out on the present "muddle through" state of affairs which belongs to a period which existed long before the period of the motor-vehicles—about half a century ago!
It is all very well to hi "safety first" week or an "ant ing campaign." But I am very much afraid that one cannot hope for any lasting—perhaps not even temporary—results from such weeks and/or campaigns, What is needed here is a tightening of the present, traffic regulations, plus a drastic revision of a number of these regulations when found necessary.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.