Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-23
BIC AUTO PICNIC TUESDAY
Owners Will Watch Endurance Race
and Lunch in the Country.
AUTO CLUB is NOW ACTIVE
Owners Are BEGINNING to Take
nm Active Interest in the Laws
of the Road and Repairs
OF streets.

Members OF the Omaha Automobile club
have arranged to spend Tuesday watching
the endurance contest which will be run
from Omaha TO Blair TO Scribner TO FREE
mont and return TO Omaha. The club will
leave Omaha at : a. m. and return about
s in the evening. Private picnic parties
have been organized which will leave
Omaha early in the morning and run to
/ various attractive locations to watch the
: contestants pass.
The m club has about 125 or 40
members and the membership is being
largely increased. The club has been in
corborated during the last year and is
thoroughly organized. 1t has adopted an
emblem In the shape of an automobile horn.
a very neat letter also has been printed.
Special Automobile club buttons are being
manufactured at present. A map giving
all the important Items and roads for fifty
miles around Omaha is being finished,
which will be ready for distribution to club
members within the next ten days. This
map was especially gotten up for automo-
bilists, giving landmarks, bridges, distances
from Omaha, danger spots. conditions of
local roads in and around Omaha, etc.
The club was working with the old city
council in connection with an ordinance re-
qulring licensing of all amateur and pro-
fessional automobile drivers, it being the
opinion of the Omaha Automobile club that
a just and equitable law governing automo-
biles enacted and enforced would be pleas
ing to the general public. that they would
be better satisfied and at the same time
there will be no hardships worked on auto
mobile drivers. In other words, the club
believes II the reckless drivers were brought
before the Justice OF the law it would be
better for all concerned.
w. r. McKeen. jr., president OF the
Omaha Automobile club, advocates the es-
Establishment of an automobile bureau with
a salaried inspector who would issue the
licenses. the fees for which would make
the office ~self-supporting.
All drivers whether amateur or profess
sional would be required to not only take
out licenses, but pass a satisfactory me-
chanical examination on the construction
and management OF automobiles, showing
q reasonable amount of, familiarity with
all road rules, city ordinances, etc., per-
tanning to highways. Also every car op-
Grated in and around Omaha would be In
spected once a year to see that they are
| equipped with brakes and safety devices.
One of the chief pleasures of a large
! number of Omaha people is riding in auto
mobiles over the delightful roads in and
around Omaha. There are over 800 ma
chimes in Omaha, and the time for laws
regulating same for the protection OF both
automobilists and the public in general is
at hand.
An unjust law with possible enforcement
is of little benefit; a just law properly en-
forced would be a benefit to all concerned,
A law regulating the speed of automobiles
to six miles per hour is almost or prac-
tically impossible to live up to.
Under the auspices of the Omaha Auto
mobile club other automobile clubs are
being organized for various purposes with
the idea to form the Nebraska Automobile
association and then join the American
Automobile association. which is the lars-
es. m association in America and
the second largest in the world.