Evening star., 1938-11-13
NEWS OF THE MOTORING WORLD
Automobile World Now Abandoning Long Rivalry Sexes
Women Relinquishng Special Dispensations

After years Of an acute sex rivalry
motordom now is going to the other
extreme. In the beginning motor
dom was q mans world. Then 1t be-
came q mans and woman's world
Gradually, however, in the melting
pot of traffic both sexes have lost
their identity.
Woman has given up her smile
for the traffic cop. Her appealing,
helpless air In the face of a fiat tire
has disappeared. She has no sense
Of self-importance based on sex
when she drives.
The traf1c cop no longer thinks
in terms Of masculine frowns ana
feminine smiles, and motordom has
become sexless.
Trafnc authorities and policemen,
who really ought to know, say woman
drivers no longer are timid. An
observant one Of the former re-
Gently told the writer that 1t once
was possible to identify the car
driven by woman in one maneuver
that always was made hesitantly.
They'd get out of line to pass
the vehicle ahead and then, ap-
parently, they'd lose their nerve" )"
he says. 1T was characteristic of
women's driving. But not any more.
When they want to pass they get
into the passing lane, blow the
horn and glide by with all the
confidence in the world. The pre-
caution of blowing the horn, which,
incidentally, is one that a great
many men do not take, is a wise
one"
And so the lady goes along.
Asks No Favors.
No longer does she ask favors as
she goes. When traffic was q. brand
new world to them, one of the first
in which they found themselves
face to face with the reality of
human competition and a realm
devoid of the amenities, women
showed signs Of expecting a SALON.
like grace on the part of the other
sex. The evidence, at any rate,
leans pretty strongly in the direc-
ton Of that assumption. ,
The lady has doffed that attitude
as she has gone along.
Traffic cops, who admit they have
no more time to be chivalrous than
the red light has an impulse to be
considerate, speak with an air of
unquestioned authority on this sub
ject. Traffic is too demanding upon
the woman drivers attention to per-
nit her to take time out to smile.
The officer is too busy to notice it
If she did.
When they were fewer in number,
and accordingly more conspicuous,
woman drivers had several Identify
ing driving characteristics in addi-
ton to the one of timidity in pass
ing.
At intersections, for example, they
were accused of one or two grave
faults. Either they blithely took
the right of way from some one
else as an expected courtesy or they
hesitated in taking it when the
law said they should. Neither was
regarded as particularly winning
display of driving ability and the
ghost Of many a muttered impreca-
ton hangs around some of the busy
intersections.
The temperatures which woman
drivers manifested under this con-
dition brought against them all
sorts Of other critical allegations.
They were accused Nof being slow
drivers, Of road-hogging, in fact, of
everything that was subversive to
happiness in what man considered
his own world.
Neither Knows Motors.
Whether in succumbing to the
woman's influence in designing cars
that were easy to drive. steer, stop
and start, the engineer brought the
fairer sex up to the masculine
standard inNnotor- operation, or
reversed the process, may be an un-
answerable question. The fact re-
mains that women drive like men
and men like women these days.
Except for the fact that they
dress differently, another quarter
in the automobile universe in which
there is no distinction between men,
bers of the fair and swarthy sexes
is the service station and repair
shop. In the older days of motor
ing men knew quite a bit about
the mechanics of a motor car.
Now, neither sex does so, save in
broad and general way, and the