The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-04

the present law, with one amendment which was before the committee, that of Ierrftting local authorities to Edve permission to hold speed or hill climb Ing contests. After referring to af- fairs of that character held in Easton he said he believed it would be perfect ly safe to delegate such authority to local authorities. He said that after vinced that the chief complaint was not against the law but it's enforce ment. Much of the trouble he thought. was through the ignorance of the officers having the enforcement of the law in their charge He was not in favor of charging non-residents reg istration fees, holding that there would be similar Legislation on the part of other States and this would initiate against Connecticut automobilists. W. (. Gfbney of Berlin, asked MT. Stoddard how they succeeded 1n stop ping the automobdlists who were going at high rate of speed.
 Mir. Stoddard-"We have no diffi- culty in our town.''
 R. J. woodruff of New Haven said the present law needs amendment. '.It
 seems impossible he said, "and ] speak from the standpoint of one hav- ing experience as a prosecutor of au- tomobfleS, to secure convictions. Case after case has been tried in New Ha- ven county. In eight out of ten the parties accused have paid immediate ly. That is. they have not appealed. I personally tried five cases before a jury in the common pleas court, and in every one the evidence seemed to war rant conviction, but in every one an acQuitta1 resulted, and largely because the court found, as it was bound to do, that under theS present law there was no speed limit, and under certain con- ditions, no speed could be considered reckless. It is also impossible to de- eide beyond a reasonable doubt when a man is reckless. I do not see any possibility of increased efficiency on the part of the courts, or any increas- ed protection to the public under this law.I ask the committee to put some limit on the recklessness that the pub lie is complaining of"
 c. G. Allerton of Middlebury, a rep resentative in 1907 and denominated the
 ather" of the present automobile bill said he was in favor of retaining the present law in so far as it applies to the question of speed. He added that but result in traps being set, which result in automobiliSts being fined. He referred to the fact that in Darien, under the old law, s1, 800 in fines was collected one Sunday as the result of the enforcement of the speed law.
 Frederick E. Duffie of West Hart ford, said he represented the West Hartford grange, having membership of 300. We know the law is violated outra geously," said MT. Duffie, "and we are not all fools, although we were called that yesterday. There is no use in standing up here and calling us damn fools. There is no argument in that. We believe in taking half the road and giving the a1tomobilists the other half. We believe that when we put up our hands for an automobilist to slacken his speed, he should do so, as required under the law. Our peo- pie are up in arms-they are indignant against the law breakers. In West Hartford we are about discouraged trying to maintain our roads. I have seen newly built highway go to pieces in six months under the tremen- dous traffic they have to sustain. We feel that the State should help us out, not only in the construction of the reads, but also in maintaining them We are carrying a very heavy burden, and it is all for outside people. We want the license fee doubled. We are in favor of the automobile business and know what it means for Hartford and for the State. We hope some time to own one, but when we do we will observe the law We ask that all help possible be extended to us in maintain ing our roedS.
 Senator AlsoD-ssNothinr has been said regarding test cars. Have your people any sentiment on that subject ?''
 MT. Duffie-''We have a strong senti- ment. They run at friehtful speed"
 walter s. Schultz said it seemed to be practically agreed that 75 to s5 per cent. of automobilists are all right and proper. There are, he said, from 15 to 25 per cent. that have to be punished. He referred to that feature of the pres ent law that provides that all convic- ticns shall be reported to the Secretary of State. The records show that not one-third of such convictions have been so reported, so that the fault is not with the automobilists, but with the authorities themselves. Automobiles want to see the man who is doing wrong punished. He suggested that to some department of the State for instance the State police, be given the enforcement of the law and that the question of revocation Of licenses be lived up to. Make the law more speci- fife, if necessary, by giving the sec- retary of State the right to revoke li- censes upon complaint of any violation, without conviction.