The Washington times., 1913-09-20
MOTORISTS RIGHTS
CLEARLY DEFINED
Slow Drivers Not Always Most
Careful of Others, Says
HeIIman.
By HARRY WARD.

ly daily. The tendency is rapidly to-
ward q rigid code for the automobile,
team and pedestrian. That such is
necessary is now generally admitted.
A ride of fifty miles on any of the
main-traveled roads leading out OF
Washington will emphasize how much
: some drivers need to be held in re-
straint. Some drivers will violate every
known road rule in driving a mile. They
are pests and menaces to every other
driver who not only observes the writ
ten rules but also the principles of
common courtesy.
When the new owner is learning to
operate his machine a study of road
rules also would aid materially. But,
unfortunately, It is not always the new
driver who is the offender. In fact,
some OF the older owners are the most
chronic and aggravating road pests.
Frederick ]. Hellman, writing in The
Automobile" has this to say on the
subject:
The motorist must remember that he
has the same rights precisely according
to his needs in the public ways that
other users have, and no more. and he
must always exercise the degree of eau
ton that an ordinarily prudent man
would exercise under similar circum-
stances. We frequently hear a motorist
boast that he never drives mis- car faster
than twenty miles an hour. But that
does not necessarily follow that he may
not be an even greater menace to the
users of the public ways than the man
who occasionally drives his car at
rate Of speed of fifty miles an hour, or
even more.
Common Sense Needed.
1T is question of good Judgment as
to time and place. 1t is the motorist
who fails TO properly reduce his speed
at intersecting streets. in turning street
corners, passing street cars and dis
tricts, who forget to signal when he is
about to turn a cross street or stop.
and who falls to show proper considera-
tion for the rights of other users of the
streets and highways. who is the real
menace to safe and comfortable travel.
unmerfted criticism and censure upon
all Of us motorists.
Now As to drivers Of horses: They
also should comply with the law and
they should also be familiar with and
comply with the rules of the road. There
is no possible question but that many
OF them fail miserably in both respects.
The driver OF horses has no right to as
sumo that, because horses were in use
before automobiles, he is entitled to tg-
more all the rules of conduct and make
himself as obnoxious to motorists as
circumstances will permit. He has no
greater rights in the public ways than
the motorist, and relatively his respon-
sfbflities are as great.
He, too, is supposed to exercise eau
tion that an ordinarily prudent man
would be expected to exercise under a
given set OF circumstances. and. COM
pared with the motorist, his responsible
ity 10 less only TO the extent that a
horse-drawn vehicle represents a small
ef element OF danger than a motor car.
Examination First
Both classes of drivers should be re-
quired to obtain license to drive, and
such license should be granted only
after a most thorough examination to
determine their knowledge Of the laws
and the rules of the road and their abil-
ity to handle motor cars or horses.
THE pedestrian undoubtedly has
greater rights in the street than either
the motorist or the driver of horse
drawn vehicles ordinarily realize, yet he
10 required to exercise caution which an
ordinarily prudent man would exercise
under q given set Of circumstances.
Where a city provides traffic officers at
street crossings it would seem to me
that an ordinarily prudent man would
make IL point to cross at these cross
tngs, certainly during the busy time of
the day.
IF an ordinarily prudent man or
woman, before stepping from the curb
..
would look to see If vehicles were ap-
preaching, and would also learn that
vehicles in var,ably travel in one di-
rection on a given side of a street, and
look IN the other direction from which
they may be expected instead OF in the
wrong direction, il would be safer for
the pedestrian and more satisfactory
and less nerve-racking for the drivers
Of motor cars and horses
t1lr
the National Garage Company, is ex-
plotting q new oxygen carbon remover,
and is meeting with great success. The
carbon IS removed from the cylinders "
an automobile engine Dy chemical az
ton of carbon meeting with oxygen ana
nre. the carbon leaviI.g the cylinders n
the form ot d gas. Inc system is auao-
IuteIy harmless to the motor" said
thompson, and its use is accomplished
without laying up the ca. The cylin-
ders do not become hot during the
progress of the operation" Free dem
onstratons of the system are being
given al the National Garage, 5Gs Fou.-
teenth street northwest
The Commercial Automobile and Sup
ply Company has sold a Studebak-r
g. touring car to J. Harry Miller, and
Harry Viner.
Sales Of Overland cars made this week
by the OveIta nd Washington Motor
Company include touring cars 10 Dr..
Charles Potter and William Bowman,
and roadster 10 Manager Tinnen. of
the Chevy Chase Club
The most interesting feature of this
fast-approa ching era Of improved roads
and the commercial motor. is their
certain effect in the Cheapening of the
cost Of farm produce to dwellers in the
city" says G. w Martin, manager mo-
tor truck tire department. the Goodyear
Tire and Rubber Company, Akron. Ohio.
The delays and cost of transporta-
TON have prevented the farmer living
s,me distance from a distributing
point from marketing his produce
proftably With soft roads and horse
.safawn wagons, five miles is the average
limit beyond which the green goods OF
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