New Britain herald., 1916-12-12
JAIL THE AUTO SPEEDERS.
the Editor of The Herald:


 To the Editor of The Herald:
 There are hundreds of people in this town, those who have to use "Shanks Mare," as a means of pro- pulsion. who heartily agree with Chief of Police Rawlings idea, as ex- pressed by him in your Saturdays is- sue, regarding the disposition of the highway autom obile hog-that of a good stiff jail sentence in place of a light fine, for violations of the speed laws and their utter criminal disre- gard of any rights the ordinary pedes- trian may have.
 It is marvellous how quickly a man becomes hog the instant he gets behind a steering wheel That some drastic measures must be adopted, immediately, to teach these dare devil drivers a wholesome lesson, that will protect the walking public from accident, bodily mutilation and death, other than a slight money fine, is be- coming more apparent and demanded each day. The only way to reform outrages, and punish violators of the law, is to reform and punish.
 To obtain a thorough idea of the way the speed laws are violated on our public streets and main thor oughfares take a walk up West Main or Arch streets, either a few minutes after twelve o'clock, noon, and at six in the evening, hours when the streets are full of people returning from factories, when accidents are so much more liable to occur. The in stant these auto drivers have passed the traffic officers, brakes are released and the juice given to her. A forty mile clip is only crawling pace to some of them in their mad determina- ton to pass that other fellow just ahead. The public be damned" what right have they on the streets when we want to race
 Another very criminal piece of vlo- lation Is the omission of many driv- CTS to give any alarm, or slacken speed when emerging from cross streets into the main thoroughfares. If you happen to be crossing one of these streets, you have either to wait till the driver rushes around the corner, or take your chances of be- ing knocked down and run over. The auto is not expected to stop. Watch the corner of Washington and West Main street during rush hours.
 l suggest to Chief Rawlings that he keep his eye on the man next door to him, on Commercial street, who Is attired in Kai-ki and drives a motor cycle. I do not know what this mans duties are but he Is a violator of the speed law. Monday evening" Dec 4th, (you see I have the date) a few minutes after six, when the walks were densely crowded with the oper- atives from Landers, F'rary & Clark's, ~11cshi Nny~fh Main street around the left-hand curb, his body and machine at an angle of almost forty-five degrees, without giv- ing any alarm Or attempt to slacken his speed, the men and women, (the writer being one of them) having to run and jump to escape a contact Again on the following evening, Tuesday, he crossed the sidewalk from the road, to enter the engine house, with rush, without giving any signal or without dismounting, the people again having to spring ahead or jump back to avoid being struck. This man should be imm ediately ex- amined in the rules of first aid to safety.
 With the great increase of the auto mobile and business truck, the danger of accidents is daily growing, and there IS put one way CO aVOld SerlOuS accidents and deaths which must oc- cur, unless some restraint is placed on speed and violators severely pun ished. l would suggest, MT. Editor that an officer, in private dress, or some one clothed with official author ity, be assigned to these streets dur ing rush hours, or on regular duty, to give information and evidence to Chief Rawlings, against these speed violators, then have them brought be- fore the court and given a rest in Seyms street, or Wethersfeld. One vacation would in all probability be sufficient. There should be no dis tinction or partiality between the early bread wagon, the monday merchant or manufacturer, or the half-drunken midnight reveler-show neither fear nor favor.
 Let The Herald take up this cru sade against this reckless disregard of human rights, and the public back up the chief and Judge Meskill, in the enforcement of this much needed reform.
 It is up to the public.
 A PEDESTRIAN.