New Britain herald., 1915-06-29
WHAT'S a DRIVER To DOE

Is q
Numerous arrests have been made
during the last few days as a RESULT
of the new automobile law requiring
motorists to stop not less than ten
feet back Of a standing trolley car.
The natural defense has been offered
In court. Drivers have contended
of the car, travelling with 1t. while IT
was moving They had no warning
the car was going to stop. When It
stopped and the autoist had reached
some point midway Of the trolley be-
fore it came to complete halt. wat
could the driver of the machine do?
If man stops his automobile along
side the car he is breaking the law.
as he is not ten feet back of 1t. If
he FORCES ahead is he breaking the
law? He is passing a moving trolley
which is however coming to a stop
The only reasonable solution left, is
for the driver to do as Massachusetts,
applicant for a license once suggest
T. =
ed in the examination. when he. was
asked what would be the procedure
If his machine approached a fright
ened horse. stop, take the machine
to pieces, and hide 1t in some bushes
till the horse got by" was his reply.
It is reasonable enough to sup
pose that driver Of an automobile
can see when trolley car is stop
ped. 1t then becomes easy for, him
to stop, providing he is well back
of it. 1t is hard to tell when troll
ley is going to come to a halt as sta
tions for the convenience of pas
sengers, and not regular stops, are
placed midway on every block. There
. Is notstelling when machine viii
overtake the trolley at rome Of these
stations, pass it while the trolley IS
slowing up, coming even. perhaps
with the front fender, when a full
stop is reached. Suppose q driver
was travelling midway Of the trolley
moving along with it at the same rate
Of speed and the trolley came to
stop What can driver do? Would
1t be the proper thing for MIN to put
on extra speed and get ahead of the
trolley or to stop and back up to the
required ten feet in the rear7 The
conditions of traffic in back Of the
machine at a crowded time may be
imagined if driver has to back
thirty feet down a crowded street.
Surely the automobiles muse be a
legal authority to decide the question
Tie upshot of all these laws gov
erning traffic is liable to mean that in
a short time there will be no more
automobiles than are absolutely nee
cessary about the center Of city or
on streets where there are car
tracks. About this time we will hear
from our merchants who will pro-
test against the dropping off of trade.
Unfortunatel perhaps, 1t is the owner
Of an automobile who furnishes the
best customer for merchants. The
small business man on the outskirts,
away from all traffic will of course
be benefited. The autoist who is
paying a heavy tax cit costs about
SIS a year, when all taxes on a ma
chine are counted in, to satisfy the
town and state governments) will
be prohibited from taking advantage
of the conveniences made possible by
his taxes and the trolley company
vantage Of city. There is Of course
no reason why the trolley patrons
should not have the conveniences but
it seems unreasonable that the trolley
companies are allowed to do about as
they please with our main streets and
the automobilists are curtailed. Peo-
pie of New Britain could point every
day to points where trolleys are be-
Ing run in a dangerous manner.
Are there no regulations for the
speed of trolley car? If there are
them !? Are trolley crews under no
obligations to other users of q high
way? If they are why isn't there
some methods of signalling to an au-
tonobile when the cumbersome We
icle is coming to stop?
When all is said and done it looks
as if the consolidated road niger in
the legislative woodpile had it's little
say In the last legislature. The jitney
proposition was probably another fac