Evening star., 1920-12-02
WET WINDSH'ELDS
ONAUTOS MENACE
Blurred Vision Held RESPONSE
BILE for Accidents-Drivers
Spurred to Precautions.
BY THEODORE p. MOVES.

Mr.. Motorist, do you drive with your
windshield closed on a night such as
Tuesday. or, in fact. any night when the
streets are slippery and when the rain
drops spread thin glaze over your
shield?
If you do you can readily see why
on just such night as Tuesday there
were two Washingtonians killed and
twelve injured. some seriously
Ask your self the question and an
swer it truthfully. Can l hont silly and
conscientiously see as well with my
windshield closed and the rain beating
on 1t, as if 1t was raised enough to
get clear and unobstructed vision of
the street?'
"NO' Is the Answer.
The answer viii be emphatically NO"
Every motorist viii ackuow edge
that when it is raining, or, as a matter
OF fact just after Il rain, the reflections
on the street make it very difficult to
see ped Strian. So if that is the case,
why not open the windshield. Get as
Clear a view as possible without hav-
ing piece of & ass in front OF you
that is so covered with raindrops that
You can hardly see a thing through It.
10 see now many motorists took
this precaul.on a tour of the streets
OF the city was made on Tuesday
night. which, with the nard rain and
wind, made an ideal demonstration
night.
The result of this tour showed that
about ten out of fifty District motor
lists had their windsheldS raised to
get the benefit of all the vision pos
slble under the circumstances. This
is a remarkably small average of
really careful drivers.
well. if | do that" answers tho
motorist. 81 will get wet, because the
rain viii beat in. l have an automo-
bile. and for that reason 1 should
be able to get as much comfort out
of it as possible.
OF Course You'll Get Wet.
There is no question about your
getting wet, and cold, too if the night
happens TO be chilly. but balance that
little physical discomfort against your
feelings in case you should strike
down and kill pedestrian.
You owe it to yourself as well as
70 the walking public to take every
reasonable precaution to prevent acct
dents, especially of the kind that
happened on Tuesday night.
Devices like Windshield wipers to
keep raindrops from punching them
selves on the glass are not to be
considered as safe as the open wind
shield. for frequently they only serve
20 smear the shield instead of clean
ing it.
There is only one answer to the
proposition. Forget your comfort for
while in the realization that you
are taking every precaution to put
an end to the epidemic of accidents
which seems to have settled on this
city.
Dirty Side Curtains Hinder.
Now. another point in regard to the
proper vision for a motorist on one Of
these rainy nights. DO you have a
side curtain up on your car next to
the windshield and is the celluloid in
that curtain clean and can you see
through it? And. if you have a closed
car. do you keep the windows down
next to the front seat or do you have
them up, to give you the added vision
at corners?
That's another point the tour of in :
spection took in on Tuesday night,
and the results in this respect were
gratifying to the careful driver
There were very few cars whicf
had the side curtains up all around