Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1929-06-20
Motor Vehicle Facts

The state motor Venlcle bureau
At the coming in of the year
1929. 2O7,231 unprotected main
highway grade crossings existed in
the United States, according to a
com pilation made by the interstate
commerce commission, at which
1858 people were killed during
1928.
With a motor vehicle registration
of 24.493,124 there were 124,932
motor fatalities in the united
States in 1928, or 102 per cent OF
the automobile registration.
of the list of those states which
had a gasoline tax in 1928 the state
of Ohio stood first with con-
sumption of 86O,631, 600 gallons.
California which headed the list
with 7,681,OOO in 1927 used
but 1O1.4O4.OO0 in 1928. Illinois,
Massachusetts and New York had
no gasoline tax in 1928.
Twenty states use the horse-pow'
er yardstick for computing automo-
bile license fees, of which Ohio IS
one. Several of these compute the
fee by pounds net weight In addl-
tion to horsepower.
In 1928 the state of Ohio re-
ceived total automobile taxes OF
s36, 725, 957.00, divided in a ratio
of approximately two to one be-
tween gas tax and license fees.
1t costs 6.43 cents to run the
average automobile mile accord
ing to a computation made by stat
i;sticians of Iowa State college. The
same statisticians by the same
methods arrived at a figure of ten
cents even for the same "imagi-
nary machine in 1924. The differ
ence is ascribed to greater mileage
of cars and lower operating costs
per mile existing at present.
It is estimated that there are
$4,000 busses in operation in the
United States at the present time
Charles Gibbs, resident OF Gin
cinnati saw visions of sudden
wealth when he conceived the idea
of changing 1928 license plates
over into those Of the 1929 vintage
with the aid of some green paint
and his native artistic ability. He
had fifteen or twenty sets reaoy 1or
the market when an Inspector OF
the state motor vehicle bureau
came along. The Judge, after a
fatherly lecture, sent him for Two
year stretch with Warden Coffln.
Any Ohio city which is In the
market for a first class model mu-
nicipal traffic code can obtain such
a symposium of traffic ordinances
by writing the national conference
on street and highway safety, 1919
III street, Washington, d. G. This
model code was recently drawn up
under the auspices of this organlza-
tion and is now in print and is
available free of charge.
Morgan county has 3,391 motor
vehicles of which 2,915 are passen-
ger cars.
From Ohio Good Roads Federation
In 1928 Ohio stood third in num-
her of motor vehicles registered,
second in gasoline consumption,
among the lowest in license fees
charged the individual owner, was
one of SO states with three cent or
higher gasoline tax, fourth IN total
raised from license fees and gaso-
line tax, sixth in number OF motto"
cars per square mile, and ninth IN
state highway expenditure per
square mile AS a result of changes
in gasoline tax rates in many of the
states, and considering average in
crease in registration, Ohio in 1923
is one of 29 states having four cent
to six cent gasoline tax, third in to-
tai amount raised from license fees
and gasoline tax and doubtless will
retain her relative position as to
registrations, gasoline consumption
and low average license tag charge.
These figures, which are based on
en- out by the Ohio Good Roads Fed
Grafton.
A recent report shows New York
registered most motor vehicles in
1928 with 2.083,942; California sec
ond with 1,799,S90; Ohio third with
| $40, 500; Pennsylvania fourth with
.642,207, and Illinois fifth with l.
5O4,359. and Michigan sixth with
,249, ,221.
Travel upon the highways of Ohio
is very heavy due to the great num-
Der of motor vehicles owned by the
people of the state, which is TO of
he entire registration of the United
States or one car for every AT per-
oOuS anu dlpO DSCduSS VI OAlO 6Co-
graphical position with respect to
The great east and west highways, as
we'll as good north and south roads.
Because of this large highway trav-
81, Ohio stood second in 1928 in the
use of gasoline, consuming $50, 0,632,-
s25 gallons, which is gain of near
" 1870 over that of 1927. If the av
erage of 13 miles per gallon is cor