Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1895 — Careless Drivers. [ARTICLE]

Careless Drivers.

When an omnibus or a cab driver runs over a passenger in London streets the possible loss of a license exercises a wholesome restraint. The private coachman and the driver of the tradesman’s cart has far less compunction in teaching an old gentleman to get out of their way by running him down. At the worst they are fined; not infrequently their fines are paid by a sympathizing employer. But no one pays a poor cabman’s fines, and the loss of a license in addition means the loss of hie means of livelihood. In Paris, we believe, the driver of a fiacre is generally allowed by the law to run over one bourgeois in the course of a year. In London magistrates are less lenient. Moreover, the law makes an unfair and arbitrary distinction between the cabman’s case and that of the unlicensed driver. The former is liable to be removed from the box for good and all; the driver of the cart may continue to go on in his wild career, though he destroys several citizens in the course of the year.