10/16/2025
October 13, 1925: One hundred years ago today, Miller McClintock was hired to serve as the director of the new Albert Russel Erskine Bureau for Street Traffic Research, endowed at the Southern Branch of the University of California (today’s UCLA).
This, the first national traffic engineering institute, was funded entirely by Studebaker. It was named for the company’s president. It soon relocated to Harvard, and later to Yale. In 1935, when Studebaker could no longer fund the bureau, the Automobile Manufacturers Association assumed responsibility for it.
Just before serving as director of the new traffic engineering institute, Miller McClintock wrote the Los Angeles Traffic Ordinance of 1925. This law, which I posted about this morning, prioritized driving and restricted walking. McClintock wrote it at the request of L.A. Studebaker dealer Paul G. Hoffman. The ordinance became a model for the USA.
Hoffman was also responsible for persuading Studebaker to establish McClintock’s bureau. Hoffman’s sales record and his deals with McClintock earned him promotion to Studebaker VP. Three decades later, Hoffman told an audience of young traffic professionals: “I claim no altruism whatsoever for that early interest. I was in the automobile business in Los Angeles.”
