The record-union., 1896-12-06
MOTOR CARRIAGES AND ROAD
RULES.

Certainly the bicycle has had a Won
agitations and in securing highway re-
forms; In the meantime the revolution
of road laws and customs has gone on
AT first it was sought to apply old rules
to new conditions. That would not
work Pedestrians held to rules that
treated the wheel as a road machine,
while road men insisted that it belonged
on the sidewalks among pedestrians.
This conflict evolved code of rules,
the chief Of which put the bicycle upon
the road, gave it the same right as the
vehicle drawn by the horse and added
features of alarm and warning to pre-
vent accidents.
Drivers of vehicles rebeIled from the
start and did their utmost to drive the
wheelmen from the street and road, but
the latter very soon established their
rights and owners of horses yielded. In
England and France it became neces-
sary to provide a road code by legsla-
ton, which is very specific and de-
tailed In this country We have done
nothing in that line save by municipal
ordinances, and by one decision holding
that the rule of the road as to taking
the right hand operates in favor of the
bicyclist, just as 1t does in the interest
Of the driver of horses.
The motor wagon and carriage is to
be with us very soon, and we will pass
through another agitation to adjust it
to our system In England and France
laws have been passed to secure the
motor carriage g. right upon the road.
Here doubtless, the new vehicles will
be opposed by horse owners just as in
case of the bicycle, when the chief rea-
son advanced was that the wheel
frightened horses, and that as it
Travelled so low to the ground, 1t was
liable to be run over by vehicles drawn
by horses.
The first part of this objection might
just as well have applied to street cars
not drawn by horses When the cable
and the electric cars first appeared they
terrified horses on the streets, but Il
Will be remembered that the animals
became accustomed to them in a very
short time. Progress is not going to
be checked because 1t crosses old-time
customs or Inconvenience a few peo-
pie. Men and women must adapt them
selves TO advancement in all things or
expect to be pushed aside and left be-
hind.
In cities We have attempted to limit
the speed Of vehicles drawn by animals
but with very poor results. 1t is only
rarely that the ordinances are complied
with. II is conceded that even in New
York carriages are driven, as a rule,
somewhat faster than the law permits,
but In the smaller cities the contempt
with which fast driving ordinances
are treated is amazing. The most Of
our cities and towns limit speed to six
miles an hour for animal-drawn vehi-
cles, but In seven cases out Of ten they
are speeded from eight to twelve miles
an hour and In our own city, where the
law provides moderate speed for BIZ
cycles. and five miles an hour as the
limit for other vehicles, the great ma
jority Of bicyclists make ten miles an
hour in the streets, and most buggies,
hacks and carriages are driven at a
speed Of eight to ten miles.
When the motor carriage comes, as it
soon win, we must be prepared for a
regulation concerning its speed and
rights on the highway. The right thing
to do would be to leave it under the
same laws and regulations that apply
to other road vehicles, but this VIII
probably not be done: we are too much
in favor of legislation. In England
when the motor carriage appeared 1t
was found that 1t fell under the classi-
fication of road and traction iocomo-
tivsa with 4 limit Of four miles an