New-York tribune., 1904-10-13
AUTOMOBILE PROHIBITION.

The action Of West Virginia court IN pairing
automobiles altogether from the highways Oh
county Of that State will doubtless oe ies"iu iuc-'
as extreme and uniustifiable. The lhcIuehl Is
however an instructive one, as an lhuica'ioH oI
the growing temper of responsible ana thouSht-
full men toward the devil wagon nuisance
and it suggests a certain elementary edul'!
arising out of the unpleasant ALTERNATIVE Whlch
some automobilists themselves seem uetet-
mined to force upon US
For if it comes TO be question whether au-
tornohiles shall be excluded from the highways.
or all other traffic shall be thus excluded In
favor of automobiles. there is no question as
70 which will have TO 90. Nor is such an alter
native as remote or as unlikely as reason and
sense ought to make it. On some roads right
here in Ncw-York and its suburbs. that alter
native has for some time seemed at hand. Au-
tomobiles. detiantly and insolenty run at illegal
speed and otherwise violating the common rules
of the road. have so abused the highways that
other traffic has been largely excluded from
them. 1t is easily within bounds as every in
teIligent observer knows, to say that thousands
OF people In the last year or two have given up
driving. or have confined their driving to incon-
venient hours and to out of the way and unde-
sirabIe roads, because of the imminent peril to
limb and life caused by automobiles on our
favorite parkways. The matter has now gone
further than that. and in the last few days we
have seen the public formally and by prescrip-
ton debarred for n time from great system of
roads in order that the latter might be monop-
oliZed by engines
Not only the road practice but also the man.
ners Of some chauffeurs, are becoming increas-
ingly offensive. They are characterized with an
arrogance and a contempt for common courtesy
that are intolerable. These persons do not think
Of turning out TO pass other vehicles which they
overtake or meet. They blow peremptOry blasts
upon their horns, and expect the others 10 turn
out and give them the centre Of the road II
horse is frightened into running away or a car
riaGe Is upset or smashed by a collision, the
chauffeur does not think of haltnc to give aid
or TO express regret He grins at his victim and
puts on extra speed 10 get away aud escape
identification. Not many days pass when such
an incident as that docs not occur on Riverside
Drive, Boulevard Lafayette. Ocean Parkway or
some other Of our great highways.
We repeat what we have said before-that
few automobillsts are guilty Of such conduct
Only an unworthy minority thus offends. largely
composed IL is probable. of irresponsible chauf-
feurs. out without the knowledge Of the owners
Of the vehicles they misuse. and thus alike
treacherous 10 their employers and insolent 10
the public The Automobile Club and the ma
jority Of users Of such vehicles discountenance
anu uiScouLdE6 SuCu evil pEdcUceS. Yet the
Automobile Club itself has set the bad ex-
ample Of monopollzing public highways for
private uses and for private gain-for the race
Of last week was OF course chiefly business
advertising scheme. Moreover despite loud
protestatOns that there would be no speeding
on the roads except in the actual race, It is no
torious that for days in advance automobiles
were speeding at top rates over those roads
and that they continued the practice the dav
after the race 1t has been hoped that this
matter would right itself, that the craze for
"scorching" would pass away, and that the bet
ter element in automObiling would assert itself
and control the situation; but IT must be con.
fesSed that at the present time that hope is not
growing brighter. On the contrary, the IawIess
element seems TO be gaining the nscendencv
That is condition which makes directly for
such reprisals as those reported from West Vlr-
ginia; and our begOggled 'scorchers" may be
sure that If 1t comes to that pass a wav will
be found TO enforce prohibition here as well
as there.