The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-08-17
THE SPEED MANIAC
RIGHTS OF THE ROAD
dope in Philadelphia Saturday
EvQninp Post l

ly-disposed,, extremely considerate
gentleman-a quality too rare to fail
of making an impression when en-
countered. Our route lay through a
succession of small towns and their
suburbs on a much-traveled and I'M
oiled highway.
We had a high-powered can and an
English-speaking chauffeur; and,
| from the moment we left the limits
of the ferry, the speed of our car was
that of the racer Evidently nothing
had been made in the line of auto
mobiles which could keep pace with
us, and that every one along the dust
logged roads should fully realize that
fact was the obvious thought of the
owner and his chauffeur. My dear
old friend, hitherto the most regard
full of men, had been transformed
into a speed maniac of the most care
less type, and the chauffeur knew on
which side his bread was buttered.
| Signs of SLOW Down" or of Dan
ger! Sharp Curve Ahead" or of RE
duce Speed to Ten miles" or of Dan
gerous Crossing" had no significance
| for us and we're absolutely no brake
upon our speed. We rushed over
crossroads at the rate of forty miles
an hour, without sounding horn,
much less slowing down, we swirled
around corners where the road mar
rowed, trusting to blind luck that no
other maniac was coming from the
opposite direction at the same pace !;
we whirled past pedestrians, smother
ing them in the dust-olOud which fol-
lowed us 80 thickly that you could
not see ten feet into It; and when we
plunged into the dust-cloud OF pass
ing car we could not see twenty feet
ahead OF us; but we sped on, just the
same, and the only reason we did
not run down some one was because,
by the grace of Providence, no one
CHANGED to be there. 1t was
o'clock In the morning when we left
the ferryboat, and 1t was 4 In the af-
ternoon when we arrived at the inn
which my host had scheduled as the
end of the first days run, $50 miles
from our starting point-an average
of 80 miles an hour. And the first
questions put to us by other tourists
were: Where did you come from
and what did You make it in?"
An Adjustment of Rights.
have taken this leaf out of my
book of personal experiences literally
as 1t happened, for two reasons:
First, to indicate how the speed ma
mia debauohes otherwise decent, law
abiding citizens, and second, to illus
trate how the comfort and the lives oil
those living or walking or driving
along roads frequented by automo-
bic tourists are menaced, And fol
both of these reasons it seems to me
that the need Of an equahle adjust
ment of rights Is imperative, 1t is
to emphasize such need that ! have
gone into this detail,
We are repeatedly reading In oul
morning newspapers, under the head
of Automobile Notes of Interest" oil
someone or another group of automo
bile owners, or club committees, thai
are getting together In an effort to
ease some stringent state or local law
affecting the speed of the automobile
And l always feel when | read thi.
kind of thing that the interests Of
Automobiles would he setter served
If effort, vigorous and sustained, wa:
made rather to punish those who
speed through the country regardless:
of the rights of anyone, whether
afoot or In a car-for the consider
; ate drivers of automobiles also suffer
at the hands of the road hog, if may
be permitted to use that unpleasant
word. Resentment of the reckless
drivers attitude has, 1t Is true, re-
suited In some local regulations thai
are irksome, and, In some instances
nearly impossible to ohey-like, fol-
example, one regulation of which
thof ttc to ci mil
the hour! There are high-powered
cars which could scarcely maintain
SO low a speed without the risk oil
damaging their machine, and the
pace Is too low for almost any kind
of car, except at likely cost to the
engine But ten miles the hour is a
rate easily within the possibilities OF
the highest-pOwered machine, and
on the other hand, from the average
citizens point Of view, whether he be
living along the thoroughfare or
walking or driving upon 1t, ten miles
the hour Is sufficiently low to remove
a.. danger as the car moves through
the town street.
The Short End of the Stick.
At the present, even taking into
account the unjust restrictions OF
speed in localities, the average citi-
zen" has all the worst of it. His
rights are not even thought of by the
average man in car. and he is JUS
tilted, in my opinion, in making such
laws as will bring such people to
their senses. At the moment the lid
is off and we are wide open to the
reckless influence of the scorcher,
| xnhA oil
spreading CONSERVATION before the
burr of his approaching motor and
leaving a binding dust-cloud and a
trail of anathemas in his wake. With
such a situation it would appear to
be to the interests of all automobile
clubs and Automobiles generally to
devote time to easing the condition
of the average Citizen instead of
seeking relief from the rather just
! Tin the circumstances) rebuff admin
istered by certain popular touring
sections.
What the automobile interest now
wants is not mechanical improve
ment, but a more rational and more
cautious and more considerable spirit
among those who drive cars. Often
| the owner, when spoken to about the
speed he has been making, will lay
the blame for disregarding. the
rights Of others upon his chauffeur,
as, indeed, did my friend when, at
the end of our first day (Which was
also my last day., took him to task
for the reckless speed we had kept
up from start to finish; and that
same kind of owner will, as also did
my friend, from time to time during
a run. lean forward and say to the