The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-25

vious high mark for February was 1S0.000 in 1920.
 The Illinois Automobile club has started a campaign against criminal and careless drivers. Safety educa- t1onal pamphlets are to be distrb- uted to all motorists.
 Of the 6o0.O00. 900 pounds of crude rubber imported into the United States each year, 49o,oOo,OoO pounds, or S1 per cent were required last year for automobile tires.
 Traffic police in Denver, Col. wear special belts with red signal lights on the front and rear of the leather straps. Small batteries are carried in the pockets of the police- men.
 While the United States has the greatest number of motor vehicles in the world, the Republic of Sey- chelles has the least number of any nation, with only two cars in the whole country.
 There are 1O6 makers of passenger automobiles in the United States. as compared with 123 last year. A year ago there were 169 models l made by these factories, while today there are 156.
 At the close of 1922, there had been placed under agreement for Federal aid, in connection with the Canadian highway act, 274 projects at an estimated cost of $35.706,991 for 5.7S6 miles of road in the dif- ferent provinces.
 According to A. A. Carroll, super intendent of police at Grand Rapids, Mich, women are more careful auto mobile drivers, obeying ordinances better, do not take the chances, and do not drive so fast as men operators.
 Automobile speeders found guilty of driving faster than 30 miles an hour in Cleveland, O.. have the alter native of serving minimum sentences in the work house or forfeiting the right to use their cars for from 30 days to six months.
 The average purchaser of an auto mobile Is a married man. S3 years old, has bank account, and carries life insurance. He buys a S1400 car and pay s7OO down, the balance at the rate of .s1O0 monthly. His monthly income is $350.
 According to W. w. Wooden. head of the Automobile club of Kansas City, 10o, ,OO0 motor tourists will pass through the city in the next six months. Kansas City has become one of the principal stopping places for eastern and southern tourists en route to the Yellowstone and Colo rado resorts.
 From the analysis of the 501 fatal motor vehicle accidents in Massa- | chusetts last year. o'clock in the | afternoon was found to be the hour when fatalities were most numerous. Other statistics show that by far the 1 largest part of the accidents oc- cured in clear weather. in the day. time. and on straight roads. | For his discovery in applying chem | ical compounds to reduce the gaseous detonation, or knocks" in automo-
 bile engines, Thomas Midgley of Day
 ton. O., received the Nichols, medal
 of the New York section of the Amer
 ican Chemical society. Midgley, who
 Is 32 years old. is the youngest re-
 cipient of the medal, established by William H. Nichols in 1903. and since
 awarded to 15 men for achievements
 in various branches of chemistry. The old Spanish trail, 8 national
 highway from Jacksonville, Fla. to
 Los Angeles, Calif., along the gulf coast, and through the territory inn
 mediately north of the Mexican bor- der is destined to include several sec
 tions of road the equal of which will
 not be found in the United States. It
 Is estimated that road through the
 marshes strong enough to withstand i any gulf storm and to bear the
 artillery would cost from $30o,oo0 to | $40O,000 a mile.