New Britain herald., 1928-03-24
AUTO REGISTRATION STARTED ABOUT '03
Agitation for Control by State
 Begun 25 Years Ago

by tht stat" police against mot orisi S
 Mho Were driving without Accuses
 cF registration recalls the fact ,hu'
 Il quarter onntur, ago registration
 "t motor vehicles WAS not required
 or that matter. even if lher. had
 b" Il such q provision in the auto
 mobile laws. he commissioner of
 motor vehicles co'!ld not have en-
 forced if, for th"r. wi4> no commi.s-
 s.Cncr of motor Nshicl"s.
 II Was just "5 years ago thi- the
 r. Sliirdtion of automobiles was pro
 posed. No need had even been found Tor registering horse drawn vehicles. "nd these still had such an cnor- lHrus prcpond"raEc, oyer those N hich were self propelled that it Was soInr time before the authori- tics considered the ;sd,jSability Of listing this suall proportion of con- Nryancr'Si. Just N nat it Was that first suggested the step is not know, hut II may hay" been the licensing of bicycles which wrrc permitted to bc pcdalltj over th" old state-conSt TUG ted bicycle paths. At any ratc. New orh, Massachusetts. and New .Irr- sCy adopted the idea of rrgisira ton and in 1908 tonn"cticut took the first >i'p toward formulating ,lt" code of laws and the state organize ton which by today have become so complex ani all-ombracing.
 Usually Remained i" "Garagc>'
 .tu,olnobil 6 in those days were ro longer novelties, but they were l.! no means frequent. Many Wcr" privately built contraptions Of OK 1trt or wouii-ho mechanics, and the lack of move for registration may even haNe been due 10 tho fact that th.S" cars Were so imperfect that they spent very litfla Of their time outside the barns and stables " hero they were housed. The auto l,!oiilo was ;t private affair. and il was not until the numbers began 10 increase and the reckless .V-mie- an-hOur drivers 10 !sllpcrsele the hi cycle scorchcrS as tn. menaces of the highways that "lforts were made 'o bring them under stale superyi- sion.
 There Wnr- so few of the horse loss carriages that the r. gistering of .l"nl Was made another duty Of tho secretary of state. That the office of this official could handle task which today requires the service of enc of the largest and most highly organized departments of the state government bears cloqnont witness to the pancity of gas hugglos in the var 1908.
 Owners Of vehicles were required by the now law. 10 file their names, uidreSa"s. and descriptions of cars owned. They then received certifi- cttcs similar to those issued today. Each automobile also received one number plate, which was 10 be af- fiE"d 10 the rear Of the vehicle This plate bore tho initial letter Of the .sth'Ii hanlS and the number of tt.a r gistrstion certificate, which ] "orrr sponini. the figures being ! thrn" inches high. The f"". regard !! l"Ss of the size of the vehicle. was | 2 >caut dollar. Today slo is the . minim um ajlscry few cars escape ! that lightly,
 X peculiar feature Of th" law i Nas that no license was required for !! automobiles offered for public hire ! or owned by manufacturers and ! dealers and not used for their pri- : llte business. .r
 Sc Ancient speed LAWS
 The speed laws Of the time re- than I2 miles an hour within city limits and at under I miles an : lour ill the country. This is quite . with tho present situation. as the r0con' Limits have o0 and an have recently been removed as too rtstrictiye and the matter of speed !. las been practically dropped.
 In those days what was consld- cred speed WAS believed extremely lH zarlo and a reference has been found in the Herald of the period Y arning of ih. dangers Of turning corners at h miles an hour. Today the problem is not 10 retard traffic but travel must be rapid in order that SO many vehicles can use the road. while then the principal con was still the safety Of 'ho drivers of the slow moving car ria ses.
 The penalty for speeding was go were in 1903. Already the law pro- ,l1ed that violations be penalize1 by fines of s2ho and in that year q jail sentence of 80 days was added to 1la r,,JDi sbp,S,,,