Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 210, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1916 — Safety First Advice to Autoists On Roads. [ARTICLE]

Safety First Advice to Autoists On Roads.

Monticello Journal. The following is contributed by one of our esteemed country correspondents and it contains some mighty good thought. After one has read his Monday paper and with horror observed the long list of fatalities and accidents as the result of carelessness and a defiance of the law as well as common sense in most instances, the truth of what the correspondent says is quite apparent: “Safety first on the road has got to come and the sooner the better. The auto is not driving the horse off the road so much as it is the horsemen. Many men, as well as women, who formerly took pride in handling a fine horse or team on the road, have lost their nerve and are afraid that some reckless motorist will run them down. “There are automobiles and motorcycles everywhere and little effort in made to control them. Licenses to run these powerful machines are granted anybody who applies with the necessary fee. “Knowledge or previous experience is not asked for, yet in some states a man cannot act as fireman of a boiler without passing an examination and demonstrating his knowledge and capacity. Is it asking too much that every auto driver should have received competent instruction and training before allowing him to operate a motor on the public highway? A good deal of attention has been given to the matter of registration fees, but too little to the competency of those who pay them. It is high time that ‘safety first’ on the highway was given more attention by both courts and legislators. Many of the latter will be elected this fall and it is not too early to pledge them to a wise and careful.revision of our automobile laws.”