Tacoma Tries to Tame the Automobile
The city council moves to regulate the dangerous 'benzine buggies' with mandatory registration tags and strict speed limits, including a crawling 6 mph pace on downtown streets.
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At the council meeting last night, Councilman Conrad introduced an ordinance licensing and regulating the running of automobiles. If the ordinance is passed in its present form, all auto drivers will be compelled to put tags on their machines. The tags will be numbered, 2x4 inches in size, and will be sold at the city hall for the sum of $2. The ordinance also provides a speed limit; in no place within the city limits shall the automobiles run faster than 12 miles per hour, and on Pacific avenue, Commerce and C streets the rate shall not exceed six miles per hour.
“If the ordinance is passed in its present form all auto drivers will be compelled to put tags on their machines.”
This early attempt at traffic control highlights the rapid and sometimes chaotic introduction of the car into Tacoma's streetscape, reflecting a time when cities had to invent new laws to keep pace with new technology.
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