Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-06
FOUND NO SPEED
LAWS IN PARIS
RAN DOWN A PEDESTRIAN AND
HE Is ARRESTED
American Has Interesting Experiences
Touring in Ford Runabout.
Drivers Must Pass an
Examination

Dr.. A. H. Heaton, after 7OOO-milc
tour through Europe in a Ford run
about, has a most interesting tale TO
tell of his experiences of the past four
months.
Leaving New York late in April, DR..
Heaton started his tour from PARIS on
May 10.
Before leaving Paris I had to under
go a severe examination as to my apll-
| ity to drive. Having successfully passed
those requirements relating to mental
equipment, habits, ETC., the examiner
went out in the car with me Tor the
final test on the boulevard.
Take every vehicle of every nature
in Detroit, mass them on Woodward
avenue, and you know how the pouIe-
wards are crowded at all hours. There
are no speed laws in Parls-go as 1ast
as you can--if a pedestrian is run down
he, not the driver, is arrested. The
laws are very strict in regard to sig
nals-there Is no indiScriminate tootlng
of horns allowed. Every sound means
something definite. A horn blown be
hind you means the car behind is speed
ier and desires to pass. You must I'M
mediately pull to the side and permit
the approaching car to pass: Inc use
of rear lights is enforced. Ill smelllnS
exhausts are forbidden, and violations
severely punished.
"There are fewer auto accidents in
Paris than in Detroit, despite the enor-
nous number of cars there. My exam
iner gave me a command suddenly 10
stop. With one foot on the emergency,
the other on the reverse, pulled up SO
short that he went over the dash and
would have fallen out had 1 not caught
him. l passed.
with me on the tour was Emil Blch-
sci, a fellow townsman, and we traTele9
in a model N, 15-horsepower Ford
runab bout. The route lay southwest
from Paris over the Cevennes noun
tains through Moulin Monte Carlo
and Lyons and from Paris to Genoa
italy. we made the entire distance on
high speed. On June we rested above
| the clouds, several inches of snow COW
ering the top of the mountains. The
next day in the valley we found II SO
degrees in the shade.
1--WE had an interesting experience at
little mountain town in Southern
France. We carried a letter of intro
duction to a gentleman there who mad
considered handling Ford cars, but was
fearful of their being able to make good
! in the mountainous region. l invited
him for ride up the mountain side,
and had him yelling to stop, while l
pretended ignorance of the language
and dashed on to the top. He wired
Paris for a car and won hill climb the
following week.
1.-THE trip through France was de-
lightful. The roads, though hilly, are
very fine-regular boulevards-the seem
cry is wonderful, and touring through
the country a glorious experience.
stopping only at the best of hotels,
living well at every stage, our expense
for the week ending May %, covering
the trip from Paris to Genoa, was $3Os
a day for each person. This did not
hut in
cluded hotel bills gasoline and oil, ga
rage charges, repairs and tips
"From Genoa we went south to Rome
and Pompeii, and up the eastern shore
of Italy to Venice, practically travers-
ing the entire coast of Italy Striking
east once more we entered Switzerland,
making successfully Geneva, Berne, In
! terlaken and Luzerne. The trip over
the mountains from Interlaken to Lu-
zerne. while hazardous, was well worth
the time. The pass is. open to automo-
biles only between 9 a. M and p. M,
being too risky at other hours.
I'VE had no trouble going over the
mountains of Switzerland making ex-
cellent time, and up to the time we en-
tered Germany had had no repairs of
any kind to make.
| "Entering Germany. we visited
Strassburg and Berlin, then crossed the
country through the Netherlands, south
| through Belgium ana pack TO Paris
From Paris we crossed the English
| channel to London and visited the prin-
cipal cities of England, Scotland and
| Ireland.
I'VE saw more of Europe than the
average tourist ever sees. We had no
Inconvenience waiting for trains, hunt
| ing up baggage, securing tickets-no
stuffy railway coaches, no sticking TO
circumscribed roads bound down by
steel rails. We travelled on no set
schedule went as fast or as slowly as
! we desired. saw the country that the