Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-15
AN AUTOMOBILE SURVEY
BY Frederic j. Haskin

Dy fECUcTiC ~ AA15hAAh
WASHINGTON, Oct. ia file OF
automobiles going down the street
or along a country road all look
much the same, so far as any indi-
cation of their use Is concerned. Per-
haps a close student of physiognomy
and character could tell by scruti-
nizing the drivers faces whether
they were working or playing, but
this would be largely guesswork. The
National Automobile Chamber of
Commerce has made a survey to as
certain to what use owners put their
cars and has just made public its
findings. A QUESTIONABLE was sent
out to automobile in ten
states and the answers received have
been compiled and percentage tables
arranged from them.
Thirty per cent. of the so-called
! pleasure type of automobiles are
used solely for recreation. Fifty nine
per cent. of such cars are employed
by their owners in driving to and
from work. To be sure such cars
now and then will be used for recre-
alton but the replies show that the
main use of the car is carrying the
owner to and from his labor and
\ lIldI aoC1oiltCoo Noo bAi1 ASdSOlA NAAA@AA
! prompted the owner to acquire a
car.
The replies in general fall into
ten general categories. Some of
these overlap, but. for the most part
they represent separate uses. The
categories are driving to work, use
in business during working hours,
evening driving, picnics, motor camp
ing, long distance touring, driving
to church, taking children to school,
shopping, and taking out the aged
and in1rm.
The questionable was sent to au-
tomobilists in Alabama, California,
Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New
York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Texas and Wisconsin. These states
are representative of about every
type of community in the United
States, both as to geographical re-
gion and as to industrial or rural
population.
Forty-six per cent. of the car own
ers use their automobiles in their
i daily business as a regular thing,
while So per cent. more make such
use occasionally. These figures do
not include delivery wagons or semi
delivery types but the usual< type
classified as the pleasure car. The
percentages are apart from the use
of cars in driving to and from work.
Collecting, insurance. real estate,
newspaper reporting and a wide va
riety of other types of business APP
parently is carried on with the aid
of the automobile.
y =
A. Instrumentation. .t..Iu "a A,arioa ~
habits in different sections of the
country may be made from the use
of the automobile in connection with
outdoor recreation. The eastern
states apparently are not popular
camping grounds for only 1S per
cent. of the cars in Massachusetts,,
Is per cent. in New York and 9 per
cent. In Pennsylvania are used for
motor camping, whereas in Califor-
mia, 46 per cent. of the cars are used
for this purpose and "a per cent. in
Iowa and Texas.
Perhaps the reason for these diff
ferences in utilization Is that there
is more to do by way of recreation
in the industrial states of the east.
Certainly it is not beauty of seem
cry which is the controlling element.
To be sure every State in the Union
has its beauty spots but no n will
claim that the flat and featureless
(though immensely fertile) prairies
of Iowa can compare with the Pali-
sades of the Hudson and the tree
covered slopes Of the Catskills and
the Adirondacks in New York state.
Yet "a per cent. of the Iowa cars
are used in motor camping while
only Is per cent. of those in New
York are so employed. Perhaps, II
the compiler of the tables included
the thousands of cars which camp at
the intersections of street crossings
in New York City, waiting for the
traffic policeman to blow his whistle
the percentage would be changed. In
California the percentage Is not so
surprising. The state which boasts
of being the scenic wonderland of
the nation shows the highest per-
centage of motor campers.
The south uses its cars more ex-
tenvisely for church going than any
other section. Eighty-one per cent.
Of the cars in Texas are regularly
used for driving to church and "a
per cent. of those in Alabama are
SO used. The state of California,
however, reverses it's position and
goes to the bottom of the church.
going list. One cannot camp and go
to church at the same time, it seems.
Only 20 per cent. of the cars in
California are driven to church.
Illinois people r good church goers
and "a per cent. of the cars are
used for church attendance. The
eastern states, Massachusetts, New
York and Pennsylvania all fall under
the fifty per cent. mark.
Fifty-one per cent. of the ques-
tionnaire replies showed that long
distance touring is regarded as one
of the important uses The highest
percentage of this class is noted in
Massachusetts, where SO per cent. of
the car owners are long distance
tourists, according to the table. The
lowest percentage comes from Ala
bama-31.
Some of the car owners who ans
wered the QUESTIONABLE seemed
rather disguised with the idea that
a motor car is of any use to the
owner whatever. One owner said
he could not give information tend
ing to show that his car was of any
use to him at all inasmuch as his
son kept it in use constantly taking
young ladies' out driving. The car
owners replies showed that only
sixty-eight per cent. ever use them
after sunset. Perhaps the explana-
ton for this is the same as that of
the mar who complained of his sons
excessive use of the vehicle. Per-
haps more than CO per cent. would
engage in evening driving If they