The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-13

RESTRICTIONS UPON
 AUTOMOBILE TRAFFIC
 Restrictive automobile action by the General Assembly, before which a number of such measures are pending, will quite probably be among the re- suits of the New York-Boston endur- ance race of Thursday. There was a strong tendency toward such action among the rural members who consti- , tute a majority and 1t will probably be intensified by the death of MT. A. w. Wallace as one result of the race.
 It may be urged that had MT. Wal lace remained in his carriage, he would nave escaped injury A legitimate ,presumption is that, in view of the us uAlIy somewhat eonsested condition of gshe highway, and of the probable com. anx of ot4Asr automobiles at high speed and with mufHers off, he deemed it the hent4r plan to jump from the ve- shioie. As 1t resulted, this was not the seemed to him, and he was entitled to tine exercise of his own Judgment, whatever the result.
 A60of0ln9 EO TSpOELS. uNS dOlOlhiO- piles began to race at the Fairfield Lii brary, with mufflers off and at high speed, and four of them overlook MT. iwalIace's vehicle at Grassmere. It is probable that the noise somewhat re- seEnbled a battery of gatlings in ac- ton, and we very much doubt wheth- CT any horse, however accustomed to automobiles driven in accordance with fhe law, would have tolerated it, es- peciaIly when approached from behind MT. Wallaee's horse ran away, and Mr. waIlace. ih rightful exercise of his Judgment, jumped to his death.
 The Connecticut law carries no speed limit, except the following:
 If the rate of speed of a motor ve- hicle operated on the public highways of this State exceeds 25 miles an hour for the distance of one-eighth of a mile such rate Of speed shall be prima fla cie evidence that the person operating such motor vehicle IS operatlng the same at a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper and in viola tien of the provisions of this section.
 In addition, the law provides against operating "recklessly or at a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and propef. having regard to the width, traAac and use of the highway, or so as to endanger property or the life or Hnb of any person."
 It seems probable from the state zneAts of Fairfield residents that the four ears were operated for more than one-eighth of . mile at a higher speed than 35 miles an hour; that the speed was "greater than is reasonable and .preper," and with too little regard to the tsafac of the highway and assured fly endangering the life of at least one person.
 T1ae fatality was a direct result of the endurance race. Such high speed was not called for by the rules of the contest: the racing spurt in Fairfield grew out of the spirit of rivalry which Iis suxe to crop out somewhere in a |road contest of whatever kind. Un- avoidable conclusions are that, to pre- vent further fatalities, all racing on public highways, whatever the type should be rigidly prohibited, and that the uninterrupted use of mufflers should be required, both under such severe penalties as would prove effi- cient deterrents. Nothing less will conserve the safety of traffic on the highways.
 Such action may be deemed over-re- strictfve by law-obeying autoists who really constitute a large majority, but they must suffer, in the interest of the public, for the sins of the reckless ele- unent.