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Show H "SAFETY FIRST." B A BLOGAH we often hear quoted and one which B has been officially adopted by the Salt Lake B Route, is "Safety first." It is a mightv fine reso-B reso-B lotion and one which should be lived up to in other HI lines than railroading. It is about time, it strikes B us. that this sentiment was crystalized by the lo-H lo-H cal drivers of automobiles. It is no wonder that H we have accidents under the conditions that are H allowed to maintain in relation to traffic regulars regula-rs tions. The only real wonder is that we do not H have a great many more of them. B P'or instance: We have a city ordinance pre-B pre-B scribing that automobiles and other vehicles shall B Rt- n" times keep to the right of the street, but B there is no attempt to enforce it, and drivers of B automobiles almost invariably seek the smoothest B track, regardless of the side of the street it la on H or the direction in which they are traveling. This M same condition maintains to a very great extent B upon the roads of the county outside of the cities B ani' towns. It is a condition which cannot fail to B bring disaster. It is a problem which has been B met an(l solved by other communities throughout B the length and breadth of the land and it is time B it was given more attention locally. The officers B of the law should pay more attention to the ob- B servance of the common rules of traffic ; every B citizen, in the interests of himself and society in B general, should constitute himself a committee B f one to help enforce the law. Drivers of auto- B mobiles should keep to the right of the streets at m all times, and if there is but one track broken to m travel and that chances to be on the wrong side m of the street for the direction they are traveling, H they should break another; and if they meet an- B other auto or team traveling on the wrong side of B the street they should notify them to cross over. V If people persist in disregarding these rules, they H should be complained upon. B It would seem that after the awful example m that was afforded on July Fourth it would be un- H necessary to argue this question. On a wide, B straight road, wide enough for four or more cars H to pass abreast, and only three cars in the vicinity. H two large machines loaded with women and child- H ren and driven by grown men, crash into each H other with a momentum of 20 to 40 miles an hour, H and all because the rules of traffic were not scru- H pulously adhered to. ( There was a question in the H mind of one of the drivers who was on the left B hand side of the wide road and was just running H around another car, as to whether or not he could H better pass an approaching car from the opposite H direction by keeping to the left of the road. The H other driver was right in assuming that he should B always pass to the right of a car he was meeting. H With cars driven at a high rate of speed things H happen so quickly, there is no time to think or H hesitate. There must be only one idea in the mind H of each driver under such circumstances and that B must invariably be to keep to the right. H Let's turn over a new leaf from this time for- H ward and observe strictly modern rules of traffic, H just as they do in the cities. Not only will this H prevent accidents at home, but when we happen H to go where such laws are enforced we will be in H a position to avoid trouble. Why only last week B resident of this place was arrested in an ad.join- H ing county and fined for failing to observe the law in cutting across the intersection of two streets contrary to the regulations of the ordinance. And then, a word of warning in relation to H fast and reckless driving is always in order. There H will always be room for improvement in this ro-H ro-H gard. There is some son of a speed parasite which H burrows into the human brain and occasionally H crops out in a dangerous form in spite of all that B we can do or say, and only disaster will be effect- H ual in curbing the disease. Until we learn to ob- H serve a greater degree of reason in the speeding H of cars, accidents are going to be on the increase. It is well to always keep uppermost in om-'s H mind when tempted to race with another car that H little slogan quoted at the comencement of this article, "Safety First." aVf |
