Arizona republican., 1916-07-03
Growth Of Motor Traffic
Forces Road Betterment

In 1905 there were $4,000 motor cars, |,
including commercial vehicles in the
United States, according to the regis |
tration stastitics assembled by the Di
vision of Road Economics of the Unit
ed States Office of Public Roads and
Rural Engineering; in 1915 there were
2445, 66l. This was an increase Of
five thousand per cent. Ten years ago
of the expenditures on account of the
building of rural roads and bridges in
the United States less than three
tenths of one per cent was derived
from the tax on motor vehicles; last
year nearly Z per cent of the money
available for this purpose was derived
from this source. In 1901 the first rev
enue derived by any of the states from
automobile revenue was collected in
New York state and amounted to only
$554. Other states followed the exam
pie of New York requiring the regis
tration of motor cars, chauffeurs and
operators, until in 1905 the total
amount collected in all the states on
this account aggregated $62, 500: last
year the revenues from this source
amounted to $1S,245, 713. In nearly all
the states practically 80 per cent of
the motor car revenues was applied
in 1915 to road work and 20 per cent
of this sum was expended under the
control and supervision of the state
highway departments. In forty-two
states all. or large part of the rev.
enue from motor cars must be eX-
pended for the construction, improve
ment or maintenance of the public
roads, or for the maintenance of the
state highway departments. In six
states this requirement is not made.
| In 1915 the total number of motor
vehicles registered in the United States
was 2,445, 664 The total road mileage
in the United States outside of incor-
porated towns and cities is approx
! mately 2,275,000 miles. This would
mean that there is slightly more than
one motor car for each mile of rural
road in the United States. if the dis
| tribution of the cars were uniform for
all the states; but it is not, as in the
state of Nevada there is one motor
car for every six miles of rural road,
and in New Jersey six motor cars for
every mile of rural road. In the Unit
| ed States there is one motor car regis
tration for every forty four persons, in
the state of Iowa there is one regis
tration for every sixteen persons and
in Alabama only one registration for
every two hundred persons.
There is no uniformity in the fees
required of motor vehicles. and there
are wide differences in the require
ments for the registration or hcens-
ing of chauffeurs, owners. dealers and
operators. The tendency is growing
to base the registration fees for pleas
ure cars on straight horse power; fol-
commercial vehicles the tendency is
to require a part of the fee on tht
horse power of the car and the re-
mainder of the fee either on the carry
ing capacity of the vehicle or on it:
weight. The average fee of the motor
cars in the United States, taking then
by and large, is estimated at SAG
Reckoning on the same basis. the stat
of Vermont received in 1915 a gross
revenue of $500 for each car whilt
Minnesota received only about fit.
cents annually for each car, the regis
tration in that state covering a perio'
of three years. In Texas and Soutl
Carolina no annual registration fee
are collected. the only requirement be
ing a county fee of fifty cents and on
dollar respectively for what is called
perennial registration. Many state
make no distinction so far as the reg
: istration records go between pleasur
and commercial cars. few states reg
! lister all motor vehicles, including mo
/ torcycles. under single class; in som
states the registration of motorcycle
is not required.
! The registration and revenues il
several typical states for the last tire
| J years show the steady increasin
growth of the motor car in the trans
portation business of the country.
, One of the puzzing things about tn
matter is that the increased use of tn
motor car does not seem to be regu
, lated by the conditions of the road
: For example, in the state of Nebrask
in the three-year period covered b
the figures in the official report. tn
number of motor cars increased NOR
than four times and the gross rev
! enues eight times while only 215 mile
| of the S0.S3S miles of roads in tina
state are improved. In Massachusetts
| where a little more than one-half {
the rural roads have been improves
the number of motor cars and the rev