The Washington times., 1925-05-11
With the
.AlibiArtists.
"A Cross Section of the
Daily Grind in Judge
McMahOn's Court.
Read EN- and Weep
By DONALD McDOUGAL.
Unhauny Ending,

unhappy EnGlng.
We have 1t from reliable
source that agitation is afoot to
bar all old. nearly wotn.out motor
vehicles from the highways of the
District.
These junk piles on wheels are
a menace to other traffic, ii is
contended, AMI should be abolished,
although no cases are cited where
in the worn-out condition OF a car
was the cause of accident.
We've gone over the notes of
some seven or eight hundred col
lision cases heard during the last
two years, and we can't cite any,
either.
Before signing the order ruling
these rattle-traps off the course
we hope the traffic director will
give considera ton to the follow
ing:
More than so per cent of passen-
ger car mileage In Washington is
for business purposes exclusive
of bootleg businesS). If the law
of averages means anything be-
sides a question you get marked
wrong on in a math. exam, deny
ing the use of the streets to these
worn-out vehicles will put a crimp
in the business of the owners in
more than so per cent Of the cases.
These used-up cars pay more
than their share of the gas tax
1t takes more gas to run them.
Why should they be chased off
the road, IL they behave them
selves?
It's the same with autos as
with people-the experienced old
timers are better behaved, as a
rule, than the upstairs. We were
surprised in going over our notes,
to find that more pedestrians are
knocked comatose by new or
middle aged cars than by the old,
rheumatic ones.
Old As It's Brakes.
The new ones sneak up noise
lessly and knock you for a
ringer before you're ready. to
play. The old rattle-traps warn
you when they're a block and a
half off.
A car is as old as its brake
lining, and the Alibi Column be-
lieves that if the Director were
to stiffen up the regulation about
brakes, by putting responsibility
for them up to the owner, he'd
hopping on a car merely because
it's gone bad in the joints.
And this isn't any map-and-pin
T. II F.
tory full of pretty complicated
machines. And they're all run
ming so fast they look like they're
standing still. And little
monkey-wrench is dangerous
thing.
The used car business is the
outlet for automobile production.
Somewhere around 80 per cent of
all the new car sales in Washing
ton last year involved turning in
the old bus. The purchaser
couldn't buy new car unless he
was allowed something on the old
one. And he couldn't be allowed
on the old one unless
there was a purchaser for it.
He'd have to use up the remain
ing mileage of his machine be-
fore he could give the dealer an
order for a new one.
But the prospective purchaser Of
the used car would be shier
than a guinea keet if he feared
that an order might come down
like the gentle dew from heaven
or up from some other place and
rule him off the road.
Would Slow Up Sales.
Interfering with the sale of
used cars will slow up the sale Of
new ones, and that in turn will
slow up the sale of new ones,
and that in turn will slow up
production. The effect of such a
regulation in Washington alone
would be slight-only about one
half of / per cent fatal figureD
of all the cars registered hepe;
but we understand that Washing
tons traffic code is to be a model
for the whole country. and that's
else again.
We hope the director will inves-
tigate these statements before ap-
proving the proposed regulation.
Our Lizzie is getting along in
now, and sQuawks some
thing scandalous.
When we first got her she was
as bright and shiny with varnish
and polished metal work as
,offin. But she's lost all that
glamour now-lOst it in our serV-
ice. She was always good to us,
and gave us new rattle each
day.
It'll be bad news when the
director tells us to drive her to
the boneyard-and leave her there.
Well feel like who's-this selling
what s-her-name down the river
In I.Pndd,n, IIond MZiInnr,