Item Info
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:
The growing popularity and use of automobiles in the early 20th century had its share of critics. Antagonism towards motorists was especially pronounced in rural areas. The most forceful complaints from rural inhabitants "stemmed from the dramatic effects that the car had upon livestock. Horses reared at the car's noisy approach,often breaking away or upsetting buggies; chickens crossed the road for the last time...many drivers paid handsomely when they killed farm animals on country roads."[1]
In rural Pennsylvania the Farmers' Anti-Automobile Society was formed to suggest rules for motorists. They proposed a number of regulations:
- Automobiles traveling on country roads at night must send up a rocket every mile, then wait ten minutes for the road to clear. The driver may then proceed, with caution, blowing his horn and shooting off Roman candles, as before.
- If the driver of an automobile sees a team of horses approaching, he is to stop, pulling over to one side of the road, and cover his machine with a blanket or dust cover which is painted or colored to blend into the scenery, and thus render the machine less noticeable.
- In case a horse is unwilling to pass an automobile on the road, the driver of the car must take the machine apart as rapidly as possible and conceal the parts in the bushes.[2]
Sources:
[1] Kline, R., & Pinch, T. (1996). Users as Agents of Technological Change: The Social Construction of the Automobile in the Rural United States. Technology and Culture, 37(4). P. 769.
[2] Stucker, D. (n.d.) AAA and the Glidden Connection. Retrieved from: http://www.vmcca.org/bh/aaa.html
Country: Country:United States
State/Province:Pennsylvania
Creator Name: McDougall, Walt (1858-1938) - Artist