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Show Many Safety Suggestions Made by Jasper Yet Fend Status of recommendations by Rutin G. Jasper, traffle engineer engi-neer for 'b National Safety council: . By BOB HAXJC Three months have passed since Rufus O. Jasper, traffic engineer for the National Safety council, made his first set of recommendations recommenda-tions as a result of his Salt Lake City traffle survey. Included In his Initial report and a subsequent one made upon his rstura early In April were some 10 general recommendations for Improving Im-proving Salt Lake City traffle, aa for slowing up and bringing the vehicle ve-hicle to a stop. For speeds ef M to 26 miles aa hour, this time Is Insufficient. In-sufficient. It Is therefore recommended recom-mended that the amber period after the green be changed to at least five seconds, which should eliminate many of the rear-end collisions which Salt Lake City has been experiencing ex-periencing and the resultant personal per-sonal Injuries and property damage" dam-age" A companion recommendation wvu mm Bwir vwn vi pmun proposals for certain intersections. The first general recommendation made by Mr. Jasper in January long since has been carried out it waa reported Thursday, but few others have been fulfilled. , . Ths first general recommendation was for lengthening to five seconds the amber light after ths green on each traffic semaphore in the city, aa a msana of reducing rear-end collisions between motor vehicles. One Changs Made vThla waa accomplished shortly after af-ter the first report waa made, according ac-cording to M. W. Silver, signal superintendent su-perintendent of the fire dspartmant who carried out ths work at the Instance In-stance of the city traffle commission. commis-sion. "An analysis of the accidents which occurred at signalised intersections inter-sections shows definitely that the amber period after the green Indication' Indi-cation' is too short for proper and safe clearance of the Intersection by traffic," Mr. Jasper reported after af-ter surveying ths lights, "When a green light ehangas to ambsr, a motorist must decide Instantly In-stantly whether he shall stop or whether it Is nsossaary to continue through the Intersection. It has been found through research that this decision and reaction to change requires a one-second interval for an average driver before the foot can be placed on the break pedal. "An amber pmnot of three seconds sec-onds then allows only two seconds elimination of tha amber light after the red to make semaphores standard stand-ard (some already not having the ambsr after the red) stUI Is pending. pend-ing. Ths traffle oommlsaioa found tt would involve considerable expense Is changing wiring to accomplish this change and has held up action until funds can be made available. Cause of Cslllalsna "Where the amber la Indicated after af-ter the red, there Is a great tendency tenden-cy for vehicles to start before they should and those approaching the Intersection judge the length of amber and retain their speed," Mr. Jasper reported. This hss been done many times la Salt Lake City and has resulted la right angle collisions, with both drivers claiming they had the light" Action by S. L County Waits Rnal Report Other than change la trafflo semaphores, already made la ao-oordancs ao-oordancs with ths rsoemmsndationa, no action will be taken by Salt Lake oeunty commissioners la connection with the traffic safety survey recently re-cently mads by Rufus O. Jasper, engineer en-gineer for the National Safety council, coun-cil, until he submits his final report re-port said J. R. Rawlins, chairman of tha board, Thursday. A report embracing several recommendations rec-ommendations en lights was submittsd sub-mittsd to ths commission April 21 by County Surveyor George M. Haley and referred to the committee commit-tee of ths whols. |