The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1916-10-27
Matter Officially 'Threshed Out by City
Council and Mayors Examining
Board is Approved
OWNERS AND CHILDREN
ARE LIABLE TO ARREST
Man Who Allows Children Under Sixteen
to Take Car Out Of Garage will
Be Hailed in Court

without dissenting voice Mayor
Coffman's appointees to the examining
board which will determine who shall
and who shall not be given licenses
to drive automobiles in the city were
approved by the council last night
An examination fee of seventy-five
cents will be levied for all such per
mits.
The examining board will consist OF
Emmett Barton, L, r. Boone aud Har-
old Dipert.
Notwithstanding an effort which
was made by Councilman Linn to
have the age limit removed as a quail
ification for applicants for permits to
drive, the present law prescribing a
penalty for any person under sixteen
eyars to drive car unless accompa-
MED on the same seat b. licensed
driver was not amended :. in any
way affected. 1t was brought out in
the discussion that sixteen and not
eighteen years was the age fixed by
the statutes Notwithstanding the CON
flicting figures inserted in the ordi-
nance ledger Councilman Linn con-
tended that some children were better
qualified to handle automobiles than
were their elders and that many pa
rents nave become accustomed to hav-
ing their youngsters call for them after
office hours Furthermore merchants
in some instances find that they can
economic sometimes to the extent of
two or three hundred dollars by util-
izing the talents and the energies of
their boys in the driving of autodeliv-
cries and wagons during vacation.
On these it would work hardship,
he said, while in his opinion the boys
were fully competent to operate the
cars. 1t would be the duty of the ex-
amining board to determine whether
of not the child's legs were long
enough to reach the various apparatus
which would place the machinery in
motion and whether they could handle
the steering wheel.
Mayor Coffman spoke briefly but to
the point on the subject. Children
were children whether they had,
through prevailing conditions, learned
to operate cars or not They had not
the judgment Of grown people. 1t
was not merely the knowledge Of di-
recting an automobile along clear
road which should determine driv-
Rr's competency, but rather the judg
Aent which he should exercise in mo-
ments of actual peril In this child
was deficient in his opinion. Anoth-
er argument which should exclude
them from handling these powerful
machines was that under the statutes
they are not liable for accidents as
are persons over sixteen It would
not be just to place this power for
evil in their hands without having
handy a remedy to apply in case of its
misuse. That was the dangerous
phase of the situation. There is no
law under which children can be pun
ished in case Of accidents and under
those conditions they should not be
allowed to run cars at large.
Councilman Hayes admitted that
there were many boys who drove cars
and who drove them well. But these
are boys just the same without the
heads of grown-ups.
City Attorney Grigsby placed by.
lpothetical case before the council
Suppose a fourteen-year-old boy should
llose his head while driving a car and
kill a whole .amily, his own Or anoth-
ler. what remedy could be applied un-
der the law? Absolutely none.
Then Councilman Caneman cinched
the whole proposition by declaring
that there was no use in talking.
child under sixteen is a child and has
not sense enough to meet emergen-
|cies. An automobile is an engine of
big horsepower and no child would be
permitted to handle it. What manu-
lfacturer would risk as large an engine
in the hands of child with the same
iisk Of loss Of life involved in its mis-