New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-14
MR.. MAY DISCUSSES
MOTOR SPEED LAWS
Says Remedial Legislation
Should Include Horse
Driven Vehicles.
BY MITCHELL MAY. Secretary of state.

Albany, June 13.-Every one must de-
plore the waste of life and limb as q
result of highway accidents and would
welcome any practical suggestion by
which it is likely to be reduced But no
good purpose is served by attempting TO
throw the whole blame on motor car
traffic.
1t is true that of the total accidents,
fatal and otherwise last year. nearly o.
per cent were attributable to motor
vehicles. and that the proportion is con-
sideraby higher than ii was in the pre-
ceding year. But it is equally true that
horse-drawn vehicles were responsible for
50 per cent; and that fact suggests that,
just as the evil is not confined to motor
vehicles, so the measure to be taken to
remedy it must not be considered with
reference TO them alone.
1t further suggests that, since horse
drawn vehicles mainly fall under the
category of slow traffic. the remedy is not
to be found in the wholesale imposition
of speed limits, as is often suggested.
The fallacy of the speed limit is that il
acts as a sort of license, permitting the
fes in places at which il is i'm force,
whereas the safe speed is often. perhaps
generally, a function not so much Of the
place as Of the circumstances existing at
the moment.
Speed limits, in fact, tend to make the
driver suspend the exercise Of his own
judgment and act under the sanction OF
a supposed authority. The way to stop
accidents is not TO establish artificial
restrictions, which cannot meet every
case, but TO allow the driver free scope
for his own judgment and hold him fully
responsible for whatever happens in con-
sequence of what he does.
Relentless prosecution should follow
every example Of dangerous, reckless and
even grossly inconsiderate driving. and
for really serious offences that are proved
beyond doubt the culprits should be i'm
prisoned without the option of fine and
should be prohibited from driving either
for a substantial period or for all time.
No doubt, as many persons complain, it
is more difficult TO secure a conviction for
dangerous driving than for exceeding a
speed limit. because in the one case it is
matter Of opinion and in the other ii
Is, or should be, question of fact; put
that only makes a conviction of the for
mer kind, when secured, more valuable
and effective
The words careful" and prudent" are
inserted in the law because, obviously,
vehicles must be allowed to move at some
speed above a walking pace II they are
TO serve the needs Of the community and
if the roads are not to be hopeIessly con-
gested Otherwise, an easy method OF
abolishing street accidents from vehicles
would be to abolish traffic.
Any one who has watched the develop
ments of automobilism of late with re-
gard to both pleasure and commercial
motor cars knows that the passion for
speed which was once an obsession on
the part of great many motorists mas
noticeably decreased. Close observation
VIII show that driving has never been so
skilled or so moderate as at present.
AS is naturally to be expected, the in
creasinS number OF motor vehicles and
the decreasing number of horse-drawn
vehicles on the road must mean that
there will be an increase i'm accidents
arising from the former and a decrease
in the number of accidents arising from
the latter.
And in few years time there will
probably be so few horse-drawn vehicles
upon the streets that accidents arising
from them will he reduced almost TO
none. But this will prove not as some
anti-motorists are trying to make out
that horse-drawn vehicles are very safe
but merely that they are negligible in
quantity compared with mechanically
propelled vehicles.