The sun., 1908-05-24
THE RURAL AUTO SPEED TRAP
MONEY MAKING DEVICE USED
I'M THE COUNTRY. !. ,s.as

J O. =
ono Csty Hsli 70 10 Iauiis Frem the pro.
ceedg- How vupage Rssn for Motor.
cyeies for Jts ReIaee- Autemcbfiist
want % Hsve tne 1sws Changed.
Tho man who drives an automobile has
q multitude OF things TO bother him besidea
the expense Of owning and usdng Ii. For
one thing he can never be entirely sure
when he gets outside the lmits Of the city
that he isn't running into o speed trap.
That In o device used by the country con-
stable for the purpose Of timing and gather
ing In the automobilist. whereby the town
ships treasury 10 enriched. Mostly the
speed trap exists along some particularly
nice stretch OF road where the houses are
few and far between and the danger to
casual pedestrians through fast driving
hardly exists
The speed trap 10 designed for the money
that IL In It. Take. for instance. one town
10 the north Of New York on main ,rav-
elled highway.
The police there had bicycles. but they
didn't do any good when It came to catch
Ing man with fast car. When the BIZ
Cycle man ranged alongside the automobile
to tell the occupants they were under arrest
the chauffeur kicked the acoelerator. and
phiti the bicycle man was left behind.
So the police wanted motorcycles. Good
machines cost 500 each. or something like
that, and the Common Council wouldn't
appropriate 90 much money
The police then asked the Common Coun-
Gil to authorize the purchase and they
wouldn't ask for money. % .
How will you pay for them? the police
were asked.
soh. never mind. wen get that out Of
the people We pinch
And they did. They held up pretty
nearly every one for two months. They
made out case sEsandss Esd sean ad prisoner: mHrth:
the motorcycles. the uniforms and the police
salaries had been paid out Of the money
collected. Then they let up bit.
In another town near that ono the speed
trap was worked with four mon. This
| town was anxious TO build a new city hall
| and the automobilists were relied upon
| to furnish the working capital
Every man the trapperB could get was
| brought before n Justice and released on
SOS bail. Then when the case came up
| incidence. That city hall Ii very near being
an accomplished fact. and the automobilists
| win be able to point TO 1t with civic
| pride. II with no other emotions.
| The complaint the automobilists make Is
| that the speed trap Is generally estab-
iished at some point where running car
\ q little fast is by no means dangerous.
| Furthermore, IL is only the slower running
| cars that can be caught.
When a man who has the power In his
engine tS 60 asy ta es he az q nSSs ss9e As
| ali the policemen there can do is to we've
their hands and try to get the number.
| 80 as to arrest the man some latar day when
he is caught unawaree.
One man was out the other day,runntng 8
through an unfrequented country. when be
happened to notice q man lying on the
| grass alongside the road, seemingly asleep.
This man, the moment the car passed.
bumped up and waved wildly to another
II" The second man had . watch In his hand
and he fixed his eye ona mark across the
road When the auto passed heyelled out:
-Heyl You re going too fast' Slow up'
| The driver was indelicate enough 70
A Few yards further down the road was q
| r,otorcyclist. who put after the car. ap.
paGently to make that arrest. -
sWell, hope he likes exercise. said the
automobile owner, for be's going to getall
The motorcycIist did not have tho power
10 keep 1t up at tho clip the car put on. an
item which shows the safenees Of the road
For three miles he pursued and the auto
kept pulling away. II tho road had beer
thickiv settled. or IL there had been traffic
enough to make fast going dangerous the
auto would never have got away. As II
was II escaped easily.
The automobile men want to have hw
paesed that will do away with speed limits
They want q chance to run q car sensibly
40 that they may slow down when fast
running would be dangerous and may &c
faster than fifteen miles an hour when the
coast il clear and there is q long stretch
Of nice road with no obotructing wagons
and few houses alongside II.
why, they have the Same regl iations FOL
drivers who have handled cars for year.
as for those who have out o oar for the frs
time said an automobile man recently
"Now that Is absurd.
IA man who knows his car and has driver
It for seven years can do almost anything
with H.. but sxpertnoss doesn't count.
aThe rules OF so-and-so many miles ar
hour in certain places are all wrong.
"A man mny drive by q schoolhouse whel
il is letting os:t L: .h!s city st the legal rat.
OF eight miles an hour and still be drivinl
with criminal carelessness. That stands L
reason" IiNs
THE STRAW HAT SEASON.