A TRAFFIC LESSON

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 23, 28 January 1938, Page 16

A TRAFFIC LESSON

GIVEN TO GERMANS

j; EFFORT^O CUT MISHAPS

• VOLUNTARY EFFORT

increase in xxiuiur ircuuu iij ueiuiaj. since 1933' has compelled the nation authorities to pay special attention ' ■the problem of road safety, writi "Emelyn Williams in the "Christia Science Monitor." On the Germa roads today are more than 1.000.W private motor-cars', an increase ( 323,000 since Hitler came into powe "Der Fuhrer" is himseli an enthus ■ astic motorist, who has covered thou ands of 'miles up and down German: ,both as a party campaigner and as hea *of the State. He also is especiall anxious' that all Germans should bf come "auto-minded" and that th pleasures' of the motor-car should b within the reach of the majority of th population. . That explains the err iphasis lajd at every year's Automobil. 'Show upon the "People's Auto." whict •it is hoped, will, one day' appear oi ethe roads of Germany, It has also pre vide'd much of the impetus behind th great movement. which has produce* the" new "motor" "roads ' and th great automobile production of the las four years. Military, economic, an( . other State considerations have playe< their p"arts in this development, but i jias also^ received great encouragemen from the"Fuhrer's personal desires. As the number of cars rose rapidly the problem of the safety of the road; became more pressing. During thi summer months of 1936,145 were killec and ,4200 injured each week on'the Ger man roads; in the closing weeks "of 1931 these figures were 80 and 2000 respee tively. This improvement was ever "better, than the, statistics indicated since'the number of cars on the roads was* continuously increasing. But even" so, it was not considered satisfactory. , . : < EDUCATION CAMPAIGN. < A campaign of'traffic Education foi the' masses, therefdre, was launchec early in 1937. Its ..aim is-to cure inexperience and lack of thought on the road through the establishment of i "comradeship of the road,"-embracing the automobilist, the cyclist, and the pedestrian. •>" ,■• The campaign opened on January 21 with' a special- police day, 'which carried as its slogan, "The Policeman—Oui Friend." To the L 'aid-of' the police were called in the-■» members Loi the "N.S.K.K." (Nationalsoyialistisches Kraftfahr-Korps), the,'auto squadrons of the party. They are in fact, the mediators between police and people, upon the success and failure of whose policy the road safety of, Germany wil] very .largely depend in the near future. The N.S.K.K. was established some years ago for'making propaganda foi autb>travel and auto sport. Today, it has more than 450,000 members, who are.themselves being trained or are already trained -to make Germans a nation of "modern traffic-minded pejjple." This organisation has evolved a special "Verkehrserziehungsdienst" (traffic education service). Most of its members are former; members of the Hitler Youth ' organisation and enter one of the 26 auto schools which exist in Ithe Reich. They are trained in both the;theory and practice'of dealing with traffic and traffic offenders, in these schools, in traffic parks, and on the streets. The N.S.K.K. has only a very small staff of paid officials, the majority of its members being voluntary helpers, who sacrifice their free time to; help on'the cause of "comradeship of the road." This, one of them explained, is a practical application of their motto, "treu, opferwillig und einsatzbereit" (loyal, willing-devotion, artd ready-sacrifice). APPLYING THE KNOWLEDGE. Having learned in the special schools, through the use of "traffic tables," how to detect and avoid the mistakes of the pedestrian, the automo-

bilist, and the cyclist, the N.S.K.K. men seek to apply this knowledge on the road. Since their work is voluntary, they are generally to be seen at the weekend, when they have most free : time. They work ,in pairs, and are easily recognisable, since they wear, suspended from the neck, a small metal breastplate beaming the title "N.S.K.K.—Verkehrserziehungsdienst." One of them also carries a small stick at the end of which is a round, white metal sign bordered v.ith red, carrying the same,words as the breastplate.

The N.S.K.K. men are not policemen. They may co-operate with the policeman on point duty at times of great traffic or in accidents. (They rendered valuable service during the Olympic Games in Berlin last summer.) Their main task is not to control traffic. but to deal with traffic offenders, immediately an offender is found, a special procedure is followed; this is the same whether the offender be automobilist, cyclist, or pedestrian. The offender is stopped by the N.5.K.K.., man holding up his "staff of authority." He and his companion then salute the offender and point out his offence. Then in order that he shall not forget it, he is presented with a sheet from a block of 100 tear-off sheets, each one of which contains 12 pictures humorously illustrating the cardinal traffic mistakes. A cross is marked against the particular mistake which has just been made and the offender is allowed to go his way. These N.S.K.K. men do not enjoy police functions and cannot arrest or fine an offender. Only in the case where someone under the influence of drink is found in charge of a motorcar can they lock up the car and hand over the driver to the next police station. TACT IS REQUIRED. Since their task is intended to be< education through persuasion, much tact and knowledge of human nature are required in carrying it out. " To know when the serious word or when ttid light, humorous touch is applicable requires insight and experience. Yet, without such knowledge, little progress towards a "comradeship of the road" will be made. How patience may be taxed is illustrated in the case of the experience of one such N.S.K.K. man, who was on duty recently on Unter den Linden, Berlin's leading thoroughfare. Two women who were crossing the road against the' red light were' held up by'him. He and his companion courteously! and with a humorous touch; explained the offence.and handed the women^ a marked "offence sheet." ,The conversation lasted until the light signal had again changed to red and prevented, the women .crossing. But immediately the N.S.K.K. men had turned their backs, one of the women was heard to say, "That's all right. They have gone, so now we can cross!" • Or what' of the automobilist, whose offence' was pointed out courteously at brie crossing, and at the next, handed back the block to another N.S.K.K. man with the remark, "I haven't seen the joke yet; will you show it to me?" RESULTS NOT KNOWN. It is1 as yet too early to speak of the results ox their experiment, since ; has only been working properly from the beginning of 1937. About 30,000 ' N.S.K.K. men have already passed through the training schools and a few thousands are added to this figure each month. At the moment, these, men are sent to the various centres of population, according to a rule of this sort: Towns of over 20,000 inhabitants iiave at least six men on duty at a time, those over .}. 80.000 have twprity men, while the number for the larger cities increases in proportion to their size. •The various National-Socialist Party organisations and the schools have also been used for the purpose of spreading "traffic education." Some of the best-trained N.S^K.K. men periodically attend these institutions to give lecitures with pictures, films, etc. Everything is being organised with that thoroughness associated with the German character and the authorities are confident that the results will justify the care, thought, and expense which are now being given to this subject.

I The iSud express has resumed the I service between Paris and Lisbon, which had been stopped since the outI break of the Spanish civil war.