Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-01
ACCIDENTS DUE
TO NEGLIGENCE
A. A. U. ISSUES WARNING TO
RECKLESS DRIVERS
OBSERVANCE OF ROAD RULES is
URGED
Strong Movement Under Way to Pre-
vent Unnecessary Automobile
Accidents by Exercise
of Caution
PAGES 1 TO II

Do automobilists understand the
rules of the road? This question has
been brought prominently before many
automobile clubs within the last few
days in view of the increasing number
of accidents. some resulting In fataIi~
ties both to motorists and other users
of the highways.
In many cases these accidents have
been due either to ignorance of the or
dinary rules of the road or to the su-
preme carelessness of automobile driv-
ers in ignoring the simple regulations
that conduce to safety.
So fragrant has this tendency to
recklessness become, in spite of the ef-
forts being made by the leading clubs
throughout the country to cooperate
with city and county officials in OBJ
serving the legal regulations, that u
word of warning has been sounded by
| President Lewis r. Speare of the
American Automobile association, and
his endeavors to control the present
wave of recklessness have been Sec
onded by the other officers and chair
men of the various A. A. A. boards.
Observe Road Rules
MANY of the recent deplorable ac-
cidents might Nave been avoided by
the observance of the simple road
rules and sane driving" said President
Speare. "There is also too much reck-
lessness in crossing railroad and sur
face car lines, as well as passing elec-
trio cars in city streets, when passen-
gers are alighting.
Again, many motorists in descend
ing hills, even If not very long or steep
ones, persist in keeping practically the
! full power of their motor on. If more
motorists would throttle down the en-
! gine or totally disengage it while de-
scending hill the number of accidents
! from this source would be materially
| decreased.
when the motorist suddenly finds
himself in a tight place while descend
ing hill under full power, or even
partially so, and he loses control of his
car it is the most natural thing in the
world to attribute the difficulty to the
failure of the steering gear to work
properly whereas there would proba-
bly, have been no trouble at all were
the machine allowed to coast down
gradually under it's own momentum"
Should Keep to Right
Some of the ordinary rules of the
road which every motorist ought to
know by heart and invariably observe
are:
First-Keep to the right when over
taken by a passing automobile or 9TH
er vehicle going in the same direc-
tion.
Second-Keep to the left when about
to pass another vehicle going in the
same direction; in other words, the au-
tomobilist should pass another vehicle
going in the same direction on the left
hand side.
Mi Il.
ing vehicle moving in the opposite
direction.
Among the clubs that have recently
been aroused to renewed activity
toward preventing this widespread ten
dency to recklessness are the automo-
bile clubs of Cleveland, Rochester and
Syracuse.
A vigilance committee has Just been
appointed by the Rochester club whose
object is to deal severely with MEM
bers and chauffeurs who persistently
exhibit recklessness and careIessness
in driving, and vigorous campaign
is also to be waged against autoists
carrying fictitious numbers.
President w. F. Bonnell of the
Cleveland Automobile club has issued
general letter TO all of the members
calling their attention to the fact that
the city ordinances are being violated
every day.
So fragrant has this become that the
chief of police in Cleveland has or
dered that bulletins shall be issued
every forty-eight hours giving the
numbers of cars which have been
recklessly operated.
President Bonnell requests the MEM
bers to cooperate with the officials
toward suppressing this evil
"Co-operation in this" he says. "wil
be helpful to the automobile manufac-
turers the individual owner of q car
and to citizens in general"