The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1914-10-03
RECENT LEGISLATION
AS TO MOTORISTS

The automobiles of the State of
Maryland received nothing material
from the General Assembly. On the
other hand, the Legislature took moth
ing from the automobiles. An ex-
haustive report has been made by
Counsel Osborne /. Yellott of the Au-
tomobile Club of Maryland, on the
work of the General Assembly from
the Automobiles viewpoint. In his
report Mr.. Yellott says, in part:
In all, there were 80 bills at this
session touching motoring and motor
lists in this State, directly OF Indirect
ly. All these bills had to be watched
carefully from January p, the date
on viii n the first of them was intro
dured down until the closing hour of
the session. To do this satisfactorily,
| had one man at Annapolis the entire
session, employed another to report to
me almost every day the course of
bills under observation. made a num-
Der of trips to Annapolis myself, and
during the last week of the session
kept one of my Office assistants at An
napois day and night. Three of the
bills in which we were interested were
reported and put through on the very
last day of the session under suspen-
sion of the rules, although had been
trying for weeks to get them out of
committees.
On March 81 the Price road bill, No.
545, was substituted for the Veasey
road bill, No. 81, and provides for a
loan of $6,600000 to be expended by
the State Roads Commission in con-
Meeting up the links in the State roads
system. This act is OF tremendous
Importance to the motorists of the
State, as well as to the public gener-
ally, and it is expected that by the end
of two years it will be possible to mo-
tor through every county In the State
over a connected system of modern
improved roads.
Speaker Trippe's bill, Nc. $40, au-
thoriZing the Commissioner of Motor
Vehicles to employ motorcycle patrol
men to enforce the motor vehicle and
traffic laws of the State was passed.
The act requires the Commissioner,
upon the demand of any community,
to send such patrolmen TO stop excess
sive speeding. 1t is confidently be-
lieved that this act will put an end to
village SpeeulldJS III llilS S'aIS 4Oi
ever, and inaugurate ar era of IA
tional enforcement of the motor We
hicle and traffic laws Of the State.
This bill, introduced by Senator
Mudd, Senate Bill No. 1873, was pre-
pared at the instance OF the State
Roads Commission primarily to limit
the size, weight and speed of motor
trucks. Incidentally, as originally pre-
pared, it contained a maximum speed
limit Of % miles per hour OH the State
roads. Being a good bill in the main,
it was amended and made applicable
to public roads generally, as well as
State roads, and the speed limit was
raised to &, ) miles. The bill was pass
ed in this form. A speed of over 35
miles per hour is now prohibited any
where in the State, no matter what
may be the circumstances or condi-
tions.
AS TIE law now stands, it prohibits
an unreasonable speed at any time. In
the thickly built-up or business sec
tons of cities, towns and villages a
speed in excess of II miles an hour is
deemed prima facie unreasonable. In
the portions of such which are not
thickly built up, a speed in excess of
18 miles an hour will be deemed I'M
reasonable. In the open country
speed in excess of % miles per hour
will be deemed unreasonable, and the
burden placed upon the motorist to
show that it was not unreasonable un-
der the circumstances of the case