The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-18
URGES TEST FOR
 AUTO DRIVERS
Secretary of State Phillips Favors Actual Showdown Before
 Getting License

Stamford, July 18-That hundreds l of incompetent persons are running l automobiles in Connecticut at the | present time, and that radical changes in the law governing the licensing of drivers are necessary is the statement 1 made by Secretary of State Albert Phillips. Secretary Phillips suggests that the license fee be increased from g to $3, and that the increased in 1 come of from $25,O0O to $3O,OOO year
 ly be used for the employment of dep uty license officials in each of the eight counties, whose duties it would be to personally investigate the char
 acter. reputation and habits of candi- dates for licenses and decide on the applicants skill as drivers after an
 actual dernonstra ton.
 Secretary Phillips insists that the state will continue to be oVerrun with incompetent drivers as long as it fails to require a test of driving ability be- fore giving license. Some such sys- tenn. he thinks, is absolutely neces- l sary to protect those who use the pub 1 lie highways.
 The licensing of automobile drivers 1 is done by the department of the sec retary of state, and MT. Phillips has had ample opportunity to become ac- quainted with the character cf the drivers in the state. It is the duty of the secretary of state to revoke H.
 eenses of drivens who have shown their inability and incompetence after accidents, and every week quite a
 number of hearings are held on such eases. Under the present law the sec retary of state has no way of deter
 mining a drivers ability before the d- l censes are issued, except in. most unsatisfactory way, and there IS no opportunity to have the candidate for a license give a demonstration of abi1- ity-
 By having deputies in each county every individual applicant for a h- cense could be thoroughly investigat- ed and his or her ability as a driver tested. By raising the license fee there would be no increased expense to the state.
 The only thing which the officials of the state department have to work
 on is the applicants application. and
 they have no way of checking up the
 truth of his or her statements.
 For instance, one of the questions
 on an application paper is: 'tDou you
 use intoxicating liquors to excess? ?'
 The state department has never yet
 received an application in which a
 candidate for a license admitted that
 he did use intoxicating liquors to ex-
 cess One applicants. answer was:
 ''No, and if I did I'd be a d. fool
 to tel1.'' The applicant must also say
 that he has run. a car at least 100
 miles, and, of course, they. all an
 SWer& this QueSLlOn m tn0 d11AEA1deANCs
 even though they may not have run
 car at all.
 MT. Phillips says that he will lay
 his suggestions as to changes in the law before the next legislature He speaks of the enormous increase of the
 number of automobiles in the state. There are at present about 25, 900 aa- tomobiles in the state. In compar1-, son to the population, Connecticut has even more automobiles than the state Of New York. MT. Phillips calls attention to the fact that in New York state all applicants for licenses must give demonstration of their skill, and his scheme is very similar in other respects to the system in New York.
 MT Phillips attention has been call ed to the seriousness of the automo- bile situation and the need for a new licensing law by the many accidents that have occurred lately, a great puT1- Der of which were traceab1e to poor driving With the number of autorno- piles and the consequent danger or travel increasing, better supervision over the drivers is becoming a mat ter of pressing necessity, he thinks