"Nearest to Maximum"

In 1914 U. S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page's secretary, a rich young athlete named Harold Fowler, resigned to go to War as a flyer. By the Armistice, Col. Harold Fowler had been wounded four times, shot down seven times, decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal. He celebrated by flying his plane under the Arc de Triomphe. Next time Harold Fowler popped into the news was in 1927 when he became the first U. S. citizen to ride in the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree. He was thrown twice. Next year he was thrown again. Other activities have been diplomacy, traveling, big-game hunting.

This rough & ready background stood Harold Fowler in good stead in 1933 when he mixed into reform politics in New York City, helped elect Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. As reward he was given the job of First Deputy Police Commissioner in charge of straightening out New York's traffic snarl, reducing accidents. With characteristic aggressiveness, Deputy Commissioner Fowler took to cruising over the city in blimps and autogiros to spot traffic jams, started safety enforcement contests between precincts, instituted numerous strict regulations for motor vehicles. Last week the worth of his work was recognized by the National Safety Council which gave New York its 1936 grand prize as the "city which . . . came nearest to doing for safety the maximum that can be done practically." Currently Deputy Commissioner Fowler is trying to get even closer to the maximum with a city-wide experiment in redirecting traffic, chief feature of which is the abolition of right turns on red lights.

New York cut traffic deaths 12.2% from the 1935 total of 954 to 838 in 1936. This was 17% less than the average total for the three years prior to 1936. Close second in the big-city group was Philadelphia. Chicago and San Francisco won honorable mention. Other traffic safety winners in their population groups: Kansas City (250,000 to 500,000); Omaha (100,000 to 250,000); Jackson, Mich. (50,000 to 100,000); West New York, N. J. (25,000 to 50,000); Wilmette, Ill. (10,000 to 25,000).

To Eastern Air Lines and Northwest Airlines went awards for "never having had a passenger accident-fatality throughout their entire operating history."

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