Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-02
Careless Driving.
To the Editor of The stor.

To the Editor of The Star:
The death of little William Berry In
Southeast Washington should be all the ar
gUment needed to bring about some sort of
regulations to govern the promiscuous ham
ding ct cannot be called driving) of teams
In the District. A number of times the
writer has narrowly escaped being run
down by teams when the right of way was
his by all rules of the road and police regu-
lations as we'll 1t is very seldom that a
white driver willfully takes as much of the
ROAD as he can monoDolize. L have made
especial note of this phase of the danger
for years and have come to this conclusion
Yet many negroes will take the entire
roac II no one viii stop them. They will
drive as carelessly as they. possibly can or
deliberately inJure others if possible with
OUT Injury to themselves. If hailed into
court they vii bring crowd of associates
who perhaps have not seen the occurrence
but will swear most assuredly that the en-
tire fault lay with the other parties
The writer remembers of one negro driver
arrested for driving into another convey
ance. lie gave as his defense that he had
thought the way clear. SO improved his
opportunity to read his Bible" Ere
quently we see small negro boys, apparently
not over ten or twelve years of age driving
teams about the streets and, like their ell
ders, sitting sidewise or even leaning back
ward, watching everything but the road
AHEAD of them. 1t is a frequent sight TO see
them sailing along full speed with their
reins dragging on the ground, and when one
calls their attention TO it they reply. "Yaas
l know they're there"
Only day or so ago the writer was
crossing 10th street at d northwest when
suddenly delivery wagon came tearing up
ID street, appearing to be going directly
west, but turned abruptly into 10th The
driver had his reins hanging loosely down
to the shafts and he was looking blankIy
ahead as If in trance. Several of us
barely escaped being run down, though we
had a frantic scramble. and had but time to
note that the wagon was yellow-top
one with large red diamond on the side
mo. 8" ~ u's '''' 'i0''
Complaint to the police Is of no avail; the
reply Is too often in the nature of an in
quiry as to whether you are wiling TO go
To court with such people and run the risk
of having some shyster lawyer hold you
up with impunity as several different kinds
of falsihed. thief and general scamp and
very likely get yourself into trouble for
your pains, or have your case disposed of
in some ridiculous manner
case IN point came under my observa-
ton some years ago. The plaintiff was a
gentleman of refined appearance. His COM
plant was that on the previous morning he
had been taking a bicycle ride in company
with his wife and her sister. Suddenly at
Vermont avenue and street a burly negro
came around the corner at high rate of
speed and collided with the sister. knock
ing her sprawling the street. He was
arrested. He gave as his defense that he
a
loaded heavily, but on his own admission
thar he was riding considerably above the
lawful speed he was sentenced. The COM
plainant then left the court. Afterward
snail negro who had been standing some
two hundred feet farther up Vermont ave-
nue. testified that there was plenty of room
for two people to pass where he was, and
the prisoner was dismissed.
Some time ago a movement was inaug-
urated to limit the age of drivers to sixteen
years as minimum, when certain hys-
terieal women Immediately raised a howl
about prohibiting the poor little negroes
from making an honest 90 living" ire
spectiye of allowing law-abiding people and
innocent children to retain their lives
Isn't it about time some sort of regulation
were imposed on these people? There is
one regulation as TO the number of vehicles
to follow In close procession, but has any
one seen Ii enforced? have seen 1t violat-
ed time without number. There is another
a. TO speed, but the paper used in printing
1t had better been saved IL careless, ig-
norant people are to be allowed to drive
promiscuously through the streets without
restraint, supervision means of identifca-
ton, each individual viii have TO adopt
means of his own to correct the offenses
occurring to his injury
Who of us wants to come out as this
Mrs. Berry did and find our little ones
n,angled beyond recognition by lot of
careless. incompetent drivers who were act
ing upon their wagons and rot paying any
attention to where they, were going. and
and then be told officially that 1t was an
unavoidable accident? This one does not.
II is high time that the loose. indifferent
and don't care regulations of the road be
brought to an end and few additional
regulations be enforced, such as:
/. Licensing all drivers. with their num-
bers always displayed prominently in large
characters
.. Every vehicle TO display a light fore
and aft al night, the after one to be red
Also to bear the owners name In large let
ters.
3. Revoke the license upon any careless
ness or incompetence.
4. Allow no one under responsible age
to be licensed. J. a. BLACKWOOD.