The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1924-06-11
RECKLESS DRIVING CAN BE CHECKED

Reckless driving on city streets and on public highways any
where in Montana can be reasonably checked, if not actually
stopped; the driving of so-called bugs" by irresponsible youths
who usually have a b~obbed-hair damsel at their side, and who
travel on the city streets at night at a speed variously estimated
at from 40 to so miles per hour, can be so regulated that the i'm
position of one or two stiff fines is all that would be required to
compel the hair-brained lads to pawn or sell their "bugs" and,
at the same time withdraw their membership from the Suicide
club - the operation of motor vehicles by intoxicated drivers can
be made unsavOry, unpopular and Improbable depredatious by
young thieves, who persist in borrowing" cars from their park
ing place on street, back yard or garage, and who do not hesitate
to burgariZe private garages for the purpose of securing the
permanent loan" of a new battery, a tire or two, gasoline or any
other auto accessory that strikes their fancy and which they
cannot acquire in a legitimate way SO long as they continue to
cultivate a moOnshne appetite on a soda-pop p~ocketbook, can be
quickly discouraged, if not actually broken up; and all this can
be accomplished in a quiet, orderly manner, without fuss or furry,
without conflicting with present laws and ordinances and without
having to wait for the next hundred years for the state legislature
to enact a vigorous statewide traffic law. These improvements can
be effected through the simple, legal and orderly organization of
a Citizens Traffic Reserve in the various counties in the Treasure
state, such as has been done with telling effect in Butte.
Those who lived in Minneapolis about a decade ago will re-
member the stabiizing Influence in motoring circles that resulted
from the Inauguration of the Hennepin County Citizens Traffic
Reserve, composed of lawyers, doctors, dentists, civil engineers,
and other professional men, merchants, clerks, and even ministers,
who, as soon as the city council of Minneapolis had declared reck-
less driving a public menace and resolved that an emergency ex-
listed throughout the country, were sworn in by the sheriff, given
a &C. T. R." badge and, without publicity or further ado, started
out in a quiet, orderly, matter-of-fact way to clean UP a lawless
situation which the regular, official, protective branch of city and
county government found themselves numerically and financially
unable to cope with.
These public spirited citizens, in the regular course of their
professional or business duties, noticing violations of law, in
traffic regulations, or other branches of popular law breaking
either made the arrest themselves, or put whatever information
they could CLEAN in the hands of the sheriff for regular prose
cutiOn. 1t is needless to state that Minneapolis today, barring
natural congestion due to an almost nationally unprecedented in
crease in population as well as automobiles, is one of the cleanest
cities in America in the matter of enforcement of traffic regula
tionS.
While the comparison of Minneapolis with Bozeman, for in
stance, may seem incongruOus, the difference is merely one of de
gree, not of kind; and if the institution of a Citizens Traffic Re
serve in Galatin county, as well as other counties throughout thu
state, would reduce traffic violations and the inevitable resultan
accidents and fatalities on public streets and highways by jus
One-half, the experiment will surely we'll have served its purpose