The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1921-08-25
GETTING AUTOMOBILE SENSE

Time was, not so very long ago,
when thousands Of men were Grip
pied or killed while coupling freight
cars. 1t was considered unavoidable.
Circular saws, planners and all sorts
Of sharp-cutting, swiftly moving ma
chinery took their annual toll in
lives and limbs. 1t, too, was "un-
avoidable."
With the perfection of motor We
hieles came high-powered, quickly
responsive engines, and the natural
impulse Of most people, especially
the younger, to travel faster and fas-
ter. To one who reduces his auto
speed from 35 to 40 miles an hour
to 20 it seems as if he were barely
moving, yet his car is travelling %
feet second. Even an active, alert
person does not go very far in five
seconds, but the car, if unchecked,
will have gone $50 feet. With the
demand for speed ability in car,
manufacturers increased performan-
ces, until now even a moderate
priced car is guaranteed to do its go
or 80 miles an hour, and some 80 or
100 miles. With improved roads also
came the temptation to "step on it,.
However, rate of speed is a relative
thing, for at times and places 40
miles an hour is safer to the public
than 20 miles few hours later. The
earlier restrictions as to speed have
therefore, wisely, been revised in
many cities and states, and especi-
ally outside corporate limits, to read
"at a safe rate of speed.
The ordinary passenger train does
not average over 40 miles an hour,
and its engineer must have several
years of careful training, and nos
sess certain abilities of Judgment
and skill before he is entrusted
with train, yet practically anyone
with at least one good eye is per-
mitted to drive an auto. An hour or
two is sufficient to master the shift |
ing of gears and applying the break;
but by no means all drivers have the |
alertness of decision in an
and others are careless.
indifferent or preoccupied. Hence,
with nearly nine million automobiles
and hundreds of thousands of motor
trucks, we now have a condition
where more people are killed every
year by motor cars in a single city
than are killei by the railroads
n the United States.
Coroners' juries, police and other
courts have been so lenient, lmpos-
ng at the most fine of few dol
ars, that the death rate is increas-
ng by leaps and bounds. Something
las to be done to check the unneces-
AIRY slaughter. In New York State
he penalty for inexcusable driving
$ now the curtailment or revocation
# the offenders license to drive a
ar. Already this year $500 drivers
licenses have been Cancelled: some
or a few weeks, Others for six
months or a year and some forever.
Massachusetts, has also started on
ne same policy, and other states
rould do well to follow without de-
~. There is no injustice or hard
hip whatever in this; the unworthy
re deprived of a privilege they
,orned to appreciate, and the public
safeguarded against repetition
nd the carelessness of others who
re thus made more cautious. France Z
as recently found it necessary to
wise its motor regulations to meet
S increasing death rate from this
Durce.
The automobile has not only come
stay, but to increase; like all 9TH
good things, it is easily abused,
I'd the surest, quickest, most effec-
We way to reduce it's dangers to
minimum is to withhold its use
ON the dangerous and undeserving.
Automatic safety couplers have
duced the railroad casualties from
ousands to scores; dangeroues ma
inery has been sefeguarded to
eat extent. In every plant in the
untry safety first is taught con-
antly. The wild men and women
living motor vehicles can also be
med, and must. Then why pro-
lg the slaughter? = September
lmber Of Popular Mechanics Maya.
lie.