1935 – Shanghai Cop Looks to Detroit for Traffic Management Solutions

I have no idea what the traffic was like in Detroit in 1935 – but given it was the centre of car production one has to imagine it was fairly congested. Of course Shanghai was suffering long traffic jams all across the city in the mid-1930s as car ownership skyrocketed and cars vied with rickshaws, wheelbarrows, pedicabs and, of course, pedestrians. The Municipal Police were keen to find any possible solutions – hence, presumably, Inspector Joseph Leslie’s visit to the city in May 1935 to observe traffic methods.

Leslie, an Englishman born in 1904, had joined the SMP in 1924, i.e. at just 24. He stayed until the bitter end – 1942 – meaning he was interned by the Japanese.