The record-union., 1896-08-08
ABSURD CITY ORDINANCE.
That Relating to the Speed Of Horses
and Vehicles.
What Five Miles an Hour Means,
When Carefully Con-
sidered.

Since the recent arrests for fast driv-
Ing the question among the people has
been, What is the legal allowable
speed for driving horses in the street? ?"
Seven men out of ten answer eight
miles an hour, the remainder will re-
spond six miles an hour. AS a matter
of fact, it is five miles an hour, or else
1t is moderate speed"
What does five miles an hour mean?
1t means that if the road was as good
as are the streets, it would take four
and a half hours to drive to Folsom,
more than three hours to drive to Elk
Grove, and nearly two hours to drive
to Freeport
Under ordinance II every business
house in the city having delivery wag
ons daily and constantly violates the
law. Every lady driving out with her
phaeton violates the law and is guilty
of a misdemeanor. The only people
within the law of ordinance II are those
driving teams to loaded trucks with the
horses at a fast walking gait.
A Record Union reporter yesterday
called the attention of one of the
Trustees and of the Mayor to the law.
To say that they were astonished at the
result of a little figuring and observa-
ton of teams in the street mildly ex-
presses their amazement. The Clerk of
the Trustees was asked to look up the
law, and he did so, and the calculations
We're made on that basis.
A city block is 800 feet long, street
crossing is so feet-total 400 feet. There
are $3.50 feet in mile, and 60 minutes
into that total gives us IS. and 5 times
that is just 40.
Go he o11ar nrIi
is lawful to drive but 440 feet in a min
ute, or the length of one block and 40
feet into the length of another. That
is about the gait of a Chinese wash
house crowbait when the driver is not
IN hurry, and is dreaming of his posi-
bic return to the Flowery Kingdom.
The older law in the case is Ordinance
II, Chapter ", Section 2, which fixes
five miles an hour as the limit, and
under which business men could not
do a days work in delivering goods
in a day and half and more, but, as
noted below, a later ordinance may
modify the rule.
AS to bicyclists there is no mileage
fixed. The only ordinance affecting
them is No. 32l, and it makes it unlaw-
full to wheel faster than moderate
speed" What is moderate speed? That
is a matter of opinion purely; probably
most men would agree on eight miles
an hour as moderate, which would
allow a wheelman to go with his bicy-
Gle 104 feet in one minute, or sixteen
feet less than two blocks.
There is, however, a loophole of es-
cape from all the seeming absurdity of
the law. 1t is found in the fact that
the so-called bicycle ordinance No. 321,
the latest on the subject, makes it I'M
lawful to ride or run ANY bicycle, tri-
cycle, horse cart, or other vehicle at
more than "a moderate rate of speed"
Now, if this repeats the second section
of the older ordinance, No. H. the five
mile limitation, then there is no specific
mileage regulation as to propelling any
vehicle; they are all limited to a mod
crate rate of speed, and every one is
left to judge for himself and takes his
chances of a Judge or jury disagreeing
with him in case of an arrest
Clearly, there is too much indefinite
ness in that 1t permits one police Off
another may hold to be no offense, and
thus some may be arrested as offenders
who are not, and some may be permit
ted to go free of arrest who ought to be
taken in
The truth is that the ordinances need
immediate amendment so as to make
them definite and understandable.