Evening star., 1924-03-09
Safe and Sane Use of Autos
GOuerns Continued LO,v Price
Every accident Damages Market-Qua',.
tity Products Depend on Assurance
of Safety on Part of Purchaser.

less experienced drivers. passing
other machines only when it was
safe to do 80 and having due consid-
Grafton fer the carelessness of pedes.
trians. Isn't it reasonable to sup.
pose that the safety of motoring. as
able comment. that many persons
who don't motor because they fear
an accident would change their minds
and that. as a consequence, he would
be able to buy his next car at the
same low price because of the con-
tinued demand for automcbtles?'
Damage to Aviation.
1t has been rointed out frequcntl-
that the aeroplane would now be in
greater public favor as a means of
arsportatton had there not been so
much stunt flying" Misuse Of the
aeroplane for spectacular purposes
has developed the thought that fly
ing is the last wcrd- in danger. This
means that civilian sales of planes
are very restricted and that If a truly
SAFE plane We're nut on the market
tomorrow the man who might appre-
late the value Of owning one of
these machines would find the price
tag way beyond the capacity of his
pocketbook
1t should not be necessary for city
officials to conduct safety drives for
the elimination of carelessness and
recklessness, nor for the legislatures
safety Of motorists. The whole
thing Is so vital to the motorist
'imself that he should be able to
'plreciate the Importance of doing
iis own reform work. The results
accrue to him, more than to the city
or the state.
Accident Problem.
This is the practical view Of the
accident problem and, judging from
the difficulty being experienced in the
progress of safety work, it would
seem that the time has arrived for
appealing to the motorist from the
dollars and cents angle. The mo-
torist is always interested in price,
so why not show him the most i'm
portant factor in the regulation Of
price?
The carelessness that results in ac-
cidents also results in the sort Of reg
ulation that restricts the use of the
automobile. fair instance Of this
is found in the modern custom in
many states of painting white line
in the center of. the highway at
curves and even along the straight
away.
Because the motorist hasn't been
salesman enough to insist upon
safety the states have found 1t nee
essary to restrict him, which means
tndt many drivers VINO are. travelling
find considerable difficulty making
time. 1t may simply be that the car
ahead is struggling, but. regardless
of conditions. the restriction on
passing over the white line holds. 1t
might be entirely safe and practical
to pass such a struggling car. but
because so many motorists passed
cars when such action was not sensi-
BILE the state says NO" It is this
sort of thing that causes some one to
lament the tardiness of motor travel.
Cuts Running Time.
Yet the thing that will help to
keep the price of the modern automo-
bile low Is the belief that the auto
mobile can be used to cut down the
running time between cities and do it
safely.
Every act of indecency or incom-
petence has it's undesirable effect on
prices through this indirect process
of sales resistance. Every time there's
an accident some one decides not to
buy a car. Every time motorfst
jeopardizes pedestrians unnecessarily
by driving through congestion when