Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-03-19

I think the slogan Safety First"
which has recently been adopted by all
of the railroads is one which may well
be taken up in the automobile world,
both by owners and by manufac-
turers.
The motor car, like practically
every new thing, has suffered from ex-
travagant use. 1t is human nature
to go to extremes. We are all in
and literally to run wild with them
until we become accustomed to hav-
ing them about.
This has been true of motor cars.
The automobile and those who use au-
tomobiles, as we'll as pedestrians, have
suffered from reckless driving. The
mania for speed is inherent in the
human race. To go> faster, whether for
pleasure or on business, has been the
aim of all races of men.
The motor car offered the first
widely useful means of individual
transportation, and its usefulness was
Immediately abused. That it trav-
eled fast seemed to be the only rec
ommendation for the automobile. In
races and on tours, out in the country
and in the cities, motorists tore pell-
NELL as thought the difference of
few seconds in the time of getting be-
death.
There are those who have blamed
the automobile for the misuse to
which it has been put by reckless
drivers. A motor car properly used is
not q dangerous machine. Modern
cars are easy to handle and easy to
control. Whether they travel fast or
slowly is entirely at the will of the
driver.
7 o,,o uIo5 20 600 +hot A. ---.r -
most drivers is more and more in
favor of safety driving.
In inaugurating the Safety First
campaign at the Chalmers factory we
made some tests on the difference OF
time between safety driving and reck-
less driving. The Chalmers factory is
five miles from the center of Detroit.
We have found that this distance can
be covered well within the speed limit
in 1S to 20 minutes. Driving five miles
above the speed limit wherever traffic
permits, only cuts from two to three
minutes off the running time for this
distance.
Think of the folly of u driver run
ming incalculable risks, endangering
his machine, himself and pedestrians
simply to save two or three minutes
There is not one instance in a thou
sand when these two or three minutes
make any difference as far as ultimate
accomplishment is concerned.
The same facts hold in the case of
all motor car speeding. The time
saver is in no way proportionate to the
unusual risk involved. If by keeping
within the speed limit a driver loses
an entire day in the course of q years
driving, that day will probable be in
consequential. Yet in trying to save
one minute he will carelessly risk all
of the additional days of his life. 1t
seems to me that reckless motor car
driving is the most utterly useless of
all our eXtravagances.
wish 1t were possible to make
everyone who drives motor cars and
everyone who rides in them. just stop
and think for one minutes of the
senseless recklessness in high speed
driving. l feel sure that everyone
who gives 1t any though will quickly
recognize that the time gained is not
worth the great risk involved.
Fortunately, the manufacturers of
motor cars have come to realize this
fact. We see far less now of automo-
bile salesmanship on the basis of
speed-rather endurance, serviceabil-
ity, smooth running, are the qualities
which chiefly recommend the most
desirable cars.
Tht manufacturers of cars are now
talking less about speed and more
about seryiceability and smooth run
ming, is, I think, very healthy sign,
1t indicates that manufacturers rec
ogniZe the desirability of conservatism
and that motor car buyers are becom-
ing more conservative.
My advice to every driver is to keep
well within the law. Actual experience
shows that most OF the laws regulat-
ing the speed of motor cars are well
framed. Their restriction is not so
great as to hamper any driver once in
a thousan dtimes. Yet the maximum
speed allowed is conservative enough
to insure safety.
would like to see the slogan
Safety First" hung in every public
and private garage. and painted on
every taxicab, and indelibly stamped
on the mind of every motor car driver.
think the full penalty of the law
should be put on a man, not simply
because he has been travelling faster
than the speed limit, but because he
has been endangering property and
the lives of both pedestrians and those
who ride with him. 1t is a shame
that the many who drive motor cars
conservatively should suffer for the
offenses of the few who drive reck-
lessly. 1t is high time that those
who build motor cars and those who
use them should do all in their power