Evening star., 1915-12-02
much as waste resulting from the Eu-
ropean war.
Would Grade Auto Speeds,

| Various changes in the present traffic
regulations of the District. including a
graded standard Of speed, were recon-
| mended by Rear Admiral George w.
Baird, who led the safety discussion. He
held that the weight of vehicles should
govern the speed at which they were al
lowed to operate because of the grea'er
velocity of the heavier vehicles. After
expa ining his proposition in detail ne
drew the conclusion that light cars;
weighing 200 pounds. should be allowed
to go about fifteen miles an hour; tour
ing car of approximately 1,sO0 POUNDS
should have about twelve miles an hour
as a limit, and heavily laden truck
should be cut down to about four and
half miles an hour.
He urged that pedestrians and We
hiclists should respect each others rights
He said that chauffeurs obey the traff1c
regulations much better than drivers DID
before the era of the motor car, and that
drivers of horses are now obeylng trafnc
laws better than in former years.
Discusses Noises of Autos.
There are many things We may con-
sider,' said the speaker. "One Of these
is the noise made by motor cars, not only
in the rattling of the gears and the chain
drives. but by the signals now being sub
stituted for the sufferable 'honk.' l re-
fer to the fiendish screech which frishtens
horses, men, women and children alike.
II Is a perversion of the use of the sig
nal; 1t is not invitation nor a re-
quest for a man to give gangway, but IT
is a howl more offensive than to swear
at him.
II may afford amusement to frlghten
a horse and see him rear, or make an
old man jump or an old woman nave
a mt, but it is neither polite. generous
nor manly. In some states these op-
Jectiona bic signals are prohibited, but
in the capital of the nation they are
endured"
Referring to the rights Of drivers
and pedestrians, he said in part: Up
to the time the automobile came into
use the laws governing wheeled We
hicles was almost identical over the
enlightened world. No carriage was
permitted on a sidewalk, excepting
those for the use of babies and inva-
lids. all wheeled vehicles were required
to keep to the right and none were
permitted to exceed a speed which the
municipal officers regarded as proper
And herein was a factor in which
opinion was dominant without any unit
of measurement, in fact, was arbitrary.
Automobiles frightened uneducated
horses, which excited the ire of their
drivers and resulted in complaints to
the police authorities.
Limits Are Esta blished.
THE temptation to run fast is almost
irresistible. and chauffeurs, yielding to
that temptation, have added much to
the prejudice against the motor car.
The protests from the public against
fast driving have been loud and long:
the Indignation of the public has ac-
cumulated. To satisfy these complaints
a speed limit was established and
though this has pacified the public it
has not satisfied it. There is, how
ever, something TO be said on the
other side. Drivers of horses and
drivers of automobiles have rights
which pedestrians should respect, but
the pedestrians, and sometimes the
courts, do not agree with this.
Barry Bulkley, during discussion
which followed, said certain automo-
bile firms give chauffeurs n commits
mission on trade which they bring to
them. For instance, he said, firm
wouil sell to a chauffeur for his en-
ployer a tire worth $40. but charging
$50 Ten dollars then goes to the
chauffeur. Unless we cultivate higher
ideals than this among men who drive
cars we are bound to have reckless
drivers" he said.