Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-12-20
instruments Vary in Tone.

! "A number OF motorists carry Z must
cally toned instrument, sometimes
alone and sometimes i'll addition to 4
raucous road clearer Others satisfy
! themselves with 4 horn. The increasing
demand for the road clearer is unfor-
! tunately due to the difficulty of prov
| ing in many accident cases before the
court that the driver did, in fact sound
! any milder instrument. Moreover. by
ii kindly but unwise feeling OF toler-
ance-mindful of his own childhood
| a policeman has seldom been known to
/ admoniSh children who catch on the
rear of wagons and jump off without
notice. These and other similar dis
turbances all go TO show that pedes-
| trians and motorists alike must be
{ warned by noise i'll excess of that
/ around them. Thus experience proves
! that they must be warned in a manner
obvious enough to Justify the carrying
of noise-producing machines OF the
! worst type.
| "The loud noise being thus neces-
sary, a direction in which Improvement
might be effected is that of making 1t
more harmonious The principle OF
the gramapEone or the auXelaphone are
already in use, the loudness which is
! obtained from these instruments with
out increasing the relative harShnesS
render their utilization advantageous
But this hooting nuisance could be
reduced by enforcing the rule upon all
highway users of keeping TO the right:
Upon the open highways wagons and
motor cars should always leave on their
left full clearway for an oVertaklhg
or passing vehicle and, in the event
| of a necessary movement being made
! by it into the clearway so provided,
it should be compulsory for the driver
| to signal to other road users by eX-
tending his mind.
| Advocates Strict Rule for Cities.
| 81, o;,;ar tho rule should he not
only stricter. and all vehicles should
be Obliged to keep not only to the
right of the middle line. in the
country. but also to the extreme right
of the available road space. The coun-
try rule should have the effect of divid-
ing the wear of the road, since the cars
which are coming and those which are
going would not run on the same
tracks, and the effect of the city rule
would be that all slow-moving We
hicIes would be found close to the
curb, the fast ones permanently be-
yond them. nearer to the middle of the
road, to the great advantage OF foot
passengers, and, above all. with great
increase in the carrying power of the
road and the speed of traffic.
! The pedestrians right should remain
undisturbed when he crosses at ap-
pointed places. but his right to be d
nuisance by blindly dropping into the
road between crossings should be put
to AN end. The suggestion of keeping
to the right is not advanced without
consideration of Inconvenience, especl-
ally upon slippery days. when such
driving diminishes the maximum speed
appreciabIy. but it has been noticed
that when at Il sharp turn an on-com
ing car was sharply encountered the
feeling of security was remarka bl y
increased. The approaching driver
startled would WAIVER little and then
seeing the hesitancy in the movement
of the other car. would resolutely ana
therefore quite safely take it to the
cars width allowed him on his proper
side of the road
ITO signal at such turn might he
useful, since all vehicles were MOI
keeping to the right. but 1t is far less
ljmperative than when each is keeping
to the center of the road"