Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-04
TRY THE OLD MOTOR LAWS
BEFORE MAKING NEW ONES
Vio'ators Of Existing Road Laws
Are Properly Punished

Vio!ators Of Existing Road Laws
Are Properly Punished
7 IKE every other privilege of free citizen
- ship-likc the right of free speech. for
example, or the right to wear red neckties
or compose musical shows or NEEDLE with the
food markcts-the privilege of driving an
automobile on the public streets is often
abused.
Now and then somebody has to be egged
or jailed for talking seditiOn. There are
occasional new shows to which even the
sophisticated 60 in fear and trembling. And
gentlemen OF otherwise faultlcss character
often 60 unthinl;inS in the streets with neck
ties that ought to be Cuuipped with DINNERS.
Similarly, in every $1,000 automobile drivers
there will be one idiot destined sooner or
later to kill himself or somebody else. We
manage to survive without gaggng the
masses of the CitiZcnry and discerning
public is loft to censor the theatre. You
never henr any one urge New and Drastic
Laws for the Regulation of Haberdashcry.
The gasoline maniac has been running
pretty wild and though he is a rarer spcci
men than most people suppose. a way will
have to be found to deal with him. But the
unfortunate thing about the present discus
sion of motor accidents is that it has been
made to include the 1890 drivers who are
as sincerely interested as the police in any
scheme for the elimination of the dangerous
fifteen thousandth There seems to be
current impression that the weight of official
wrath and the force of new and binding re-
strictions must be imposed on the whole
world of motor drivers before the highways
of the land can be made safe for democracy.
There is an insisten: cry for new and
drastic motor laws. and il is raised by rco-
pie who forget that accidents and killings
increase daily only because laws now in cx-
iStcncc are not enforced.
Certainly the state should inquire into the
character and qualifications of those to whom
motor licenses are issued. Yet the demand
for driving tests and third degrees for all
who apply for the right to run motor We
hicleS is obviously due to a misunderstanding
of facts long familiar to the police in this
and other cities.
1t is not the amateur who drives reck
lcssly. beginners seldom fall into the hands
of the traffic police. They go softly and
gladly give the road to the first conner.
The bitter indictment voiced so often in
the name of the public is properly aimed at
reckless drivers, and no one who is not an
old and practced hand in a motorcar ever
was reckless. 1t is the old hand, the over
confident and the overprofcicnt driver, who
takes wild chances on the open road or at
railway crossings. depending on cXtraordi-
nary skill which sooner or later proves in
adequate to carry him through some sudden
emergency of his own creation.
How to regulate that particular driver is
the real question of the hour. In New Jer-
Sey and in some of the New England states
under laws presumed few years ago to be
ideal the chief restrictions are imposed on
the timid beginners. Any one who applies
for drivers license must go out with a
highway inspector and show that he knows
how TO handle car. This is n proper
course. certainly. But the rule has not less
"red motor accidents to any perccptible
degree. Gradually it is becoming apparent
that the driver with the instinct of Il circus
performer. the man made reckless bY alcohol
aud the new type of maniac operating car
while under tn" influence oe violent drugs.
are chiefly responsible for the appalling toll
of motor fatalities in this country.
Drug addirtS present an entirely new
| problem for the public authorities. All su
| Deriicial evidences indicate that so-called
| motor highwaymen are detectives tempo
| rarily r"rvrd to desperate adventures by
| cocaine. which always has been the favOrtc
stmulaut for yeggmen and burglars nor
maly c0wardly Road tests for the anna
| Tours and schemes to withhold state licenses
| from applicants who are not skilled drivers
| will not eliminate this type Of criminal nor
| viii any of the proposed restrictions keep
! tlr skilled drivers in order the roads
| What. after all, i" the use of neT laws
| until old laws are enforced:
II the speed laws already established for
| ri;y and county highways were consistently
| observed by drivers and the police if proper
| safeguards were established at grade cross
| ingS by the railway companies and If politi-
! cal workers had not the power to nulify
| motor laws in the lower courts whenever il
| suits them TO do So motor accidents would
| not be half so frequent as they are. And
| if hardened viOlntOrS were jailed, deprived
Of their licenses and their tags after a sec
| ond cUnNi Nicton under the road laws it is
| probable that accidents of the sort that
now shock the community almost every day
would soon be extremely rare. Before the
| roads can be made altogether safe the police
forces on city and country roads will have
| to be increased and those who drive motors
| will have to be permitted to co operate IL
some way or other against the occasional
drive who is doing his best to give the auto
mobile q bad name.
| Broad street is still a race track after
midnight and the police department has little
means for dealing with the speeders. i
| motor drivers who respect the law were t
combine and report every fragrant violation
of the rules. and If EVIDENCE obtained in this
way were to be accepted in the courts. tn,
stat" and municipal authorities would in
stantly BE- enabled to accomplish more il
their efforts to make the highways safe thar
can be accomplished in a decade by putting
amateurs through few PAGES to prove thei
fitness for license privileges.
What has been happening is plain. Thi
various world has numberless we'll inten
toned people with a habit of jumping a
quick conclusions. Such folk put their fait
always in what they like to call DraSti
Laws. Moved by a "ommendabe ndigna
ton they lead in the demand for harshc