Evening star., 1935-05-05

Drastic Laws Seen Unless
Drivers Mend Their Ways
Safety Responsibility Bill Passage Hailed.
Lesson in Good Driving, A. A. A. and
keystone Club Report.
By G. adams HOward.

Is H0yard. !
be placed on the statute books
oughout the Nation If motorists
their ways. A wave of restrictive
und to come unless drivers stop
;idents and really get down to
'dship of many careful and con-
as they exist today, 1t
1t for many.
ofitless to the munition makers.
by automobiles impossible in as
le injury and fatality lists must
level - dominated by habit, rather |
than good sense. And while you are |
having the pleasure Of enjoying your |
emotion of combat, the car in front |
Of you stops suddenly and you pile |
into it, and there goes your safety |
record and all that it involves-re- |
ports, damage to both cars, claims to
be paid, etc.
How much better 1t would be to
react on the next higher. or the in
telligent level. Use your head, which |
is your intelligence, and figure 1t out. |
The company is paying you to drive
an automobile. It's true I violated
the law in coming out of the alley
without stopping. The city is not
paying you to be q traffic cop, so why
should you neglect your job to be
one. Yelling at, or cursing me, Is
not going to make me a better driver
after all, you're not being paid to
teach me how to drive, so why bother.
Just remember, your bread and but
ter Is coming from the company.
They are paying you to drive well, and
there lies your responsibility. Ignore
the crazy or thoughtless driver and
exercise your intelligence. You can
control your driving. You can't con-
troll his. If you try to, you will be
dividing your attention and will be
driving less carefully than your
ability"
Urging motorists to give more con-
sideration to pedestrians, the Key |
stone Automobile Club here empha-
sizes a fact apparently little appre-
ciated by the average driver-that
motor car travelling at only 20 miles
an hour moves five times as fast as
q person walking briskly.
A pedestrian walking at smart
gait goes but miles an hour. or less
than feet per second. club safety
officials point out, while at 20 miles
an hour q car covers more than 20
fnnt tiv,4a thu n1Nrb firkc
As further emphasis Of the rapidity
with which q car overtakes pedes-
trian, George E. Keneipp, manager of
the club, points out that at 40 miles
an hour the motorist is moving at
least 10 times as fast as the person on
foot.
The motorist never acts as promptly
as he thinks he does, the Keystone
official declares. Between the time
the motorist thinks he applies the
brakes and the time he actually does
it, the car will have travelled about 20
feet at 20 miles an hour, and another
% feet will have been traversed before
the car Is stopped. That means, he
says, that anything that appears less
than A. feet ahead is almost certain
to be struck.
The greater the speed, the more the
danger zone is extended ahead Of the |
car. At 40 miles an hour, it is pointed
out, the car will travel IS feet during
the brief period of mental and physi-
cal reaction, and another SO feet after
the motorist has put on the brakes
a total of 1873 feet.
Protection of lives of school children
when being transported
in school buses to and from their
classes has received widespread con-
from State Legislatures
holding sessions during the early part
Of this year, the American Automobile
reports.
Basing its statement on recent
survey Of legislative trends, the ma
lional motoring body said that some
Is bills dealing specifically with the
question Of providing safety for pas
sengers in school buses have been in
Lroduced in State legislatures during
recent or current sessions.
"The importance of this subject"
said Thomas P. Henry of Detroit,
Mich, president of the A. A. A., "can
De readily appreciated when we re-
that $1,000 buses transport
nearly 2,50O,000 children daily to and
rom $4,000 consolidated schools
throughout the country. In addition
10 the study being given the subject
Of protection of school children by
legislatures and school officials, manu-
lecturers Of buses and bus transpor-
tation agencies also are giving close
;tudy to this important problem.
Most Of the measures introduced
n the State legislatures are designed
% prevent danger of collision of a
school bus with other vehicles or to
,uild safety into the school bus itself.
While some Of the proposals may be
the objective itself is en-
irely praiseworthy.
"A bill introduced in Maryland
would require all motor vehicles to
'top behind school buses loading or
passengers, while similar
measures advanced in Oregon and
New Hampshire would compel vehicles
o slow down when passing stopped
school bus.
Nearly all States have measures re-
Iuiring school busses to come to q
stop at grade crossings, and
It Is probably that this regulation
eventually will become Nationwide"