Evening star., 1922-11-27
BONDING Of AUTO
DRIVERS IS URGED
Number of Owners Unable to
Pay Damages Held as
Showing Need.
SOME STATES HAVE LAW
Victims Of Accidents Often Face
Imrossibility Of Obtaining
Redress for Injuries.


| Mr.. Davis auditor Of tho Supreme
Court Of the District of Columbia, re-
"ently made very valuable sugges-
ton, as reported in your columns. to
the effect that all autoists be bonded.
regret that this suggestion not only
has met with some opposition from
one Of our citizens association. but
appears to have been lost sight of
i, publicly. Feeling that Mr.. Davis sug-
gestion is too valuable a one to be
overlooked or to fail of legislative
| enactment. may in your columns
express my views on the subject. and
also make several further sugges-
tions.
| In several states laws similar to
! that which Mr.. Davis advocates have
teen enacted. The validity of most Of
these laws has been established in
the COURTS and the constitutionality
Of New York statute requiring taxi
drivers to be bonded is now before
the United States Supreme Court. 1t
| will be seen. therefore. that legisla-
! tion Of this general character is not
| without precedent.
Discusses Alleges Bu-den.
In opposition to the enactment Of
legislation Of this general character
N the District of Columbia. it 10
claimed that the cost Of the bond will
| impose a burden on the poor man or
, man In moderate circums. .ances. and
| therefore law obliging autoists to
be bonded is undesirable.
Let US look at the subject from a
less driven with the utmos. care. is a
machine very dangerous to every one
. IN the streets Autoists who are
poor. or In even moderately comforta-
BILE circumstances. are very seldom
! able to pay for such damage and
! injuries as are often caused by their
negligence. The rich man however.
! can be forced to pay Our streets
are full of automobiles driven by
business men and government em-
have nothing more than modest SAL
aries with which to respond in dam
ages for Injuries and losses caused
i by their faul' and 1t should not be
! overlooked that the salary Of gov
ernment employe cannot be reached
by the writ of execution under a
Judgment. Even mere children, own
ing and earning no hing. are drivers
of cars upon our streets.
Offers Means Of Redress.
Is 1t common sense to suffer finan-
cially irresponsible autoists. hop
ever worthy otherwise. to continue
to drive dangerous machines by
cause serious persona! injuries and
other damages for which the in
Jured persons are wholly without
financial redress. when such RECESS
san be be easily easily ggaranteed by DO uing
burden Of the cost Of n bond should
be sufficient cause to justify defeat
OF this kind of legislation, seems
indefensible in the face of the ever
growing number Of personal injuries
our city streets. No person with
money enough to own or operate an
autombile should be heard to say
that he cannot bear the pense OF
ure Of redress 20 persons injured by
his negligence.
AS matters now stand when a we'll
to-do autoist Is held liable In the
| courts for damages. satisfaction may
| be had on the judgment recovered by
the injured party by execution levied
upon the auto SITS property. and gem
! orally in addition, an insurance COM
i pany will pay the damages. since the
wealthy autoist always protects him
self sFainst hay ns to pay damages
| by taking out liability Insurance.
Often without Property.
But only too often the autoisN
1
| serious damage to az innocent party
has little or no property out Of which
| judgment can be satisfied. Knowing
| how financially irresponsible they
| are. many of this latter class Of au-
toists do not deem 1t worth while to
{; surance. with the result that when
they cause damage of one sort or an
| other for which they are legally re-
| sponsible the injured party is unable
to satisfy his judgment either out
Of the autolsts' property or out of
| such insurance as the richer autoist
| carries.
In my own experience as a lawyer
| I have on several occasions represent
ed persons who were seriously in
1ured by the negligence Of automo-
/ bilists. who not only possessed so
little property as to make valueless
any Judgment recovered. and, there
fore. futile any lawsuit, but who also
carried no insurance. so that the in
jured party was wholly without re-
dress In only one Of these cases
was 1t possible to secure any financial
satisfaction, and that was limited to
the sum Of 800. paid in settlement
OF the claim. poor redress to the in
1ured party who had suffered a brok-
en- leg and spent several months in a
hospital
Insurance Not a Guarantee,
however. does not guarantee that an
Injured party can secure redress, if
| the insured autoist has been guilty
OF negligence. The insurance COM
pany Is obliged to reimburse the au-
toist for such damages as he may
have to pay. and If the auto.st has no
property which can be levied upon
in other words. If he cannot be forced
to pay-the insurance company is not
OBJ 'iged to do SO. as would surety on
Accordingly. a system Of universal
/ bonding of autoists seems to be
necessary. Since the company insur-
; ing an autoist against such damages
as he may have to nay. is not subro-
gated to the wronged party's right of
action against the insured autoist the
of personal immunity from the obii-
CATION to pay. which leads to in
creased recklessness on his part.
Creates Different Situation.
However. when the autoist is bond
ed there is different situation. The
bondsman must pay the damages for
which his principal is liable. and is
then subrogated to the claimants
right of action against the autoist.
from whom he Is at liberty to obtain
reimbursement, II 1t can be had
Further. q bondsman will probably
hesitate to bond q person abso' o'utely
without financial responsibility. a
circumstance which. would further
, tend toward reducing the number Of
such persons driving cars. From
that the bonded autoist IL not under
the same temptation as is the insured
autoist. to become reckless through
feeling that he will not be made to