What We Lost When Cars Won
Now we can’t imagine life without them.
One of the main problems was that they were killing children: in 1921 alone, 286 children in Pittsburgh, 130 in Baltimore, and 97 in Washington, D.C.
Cities memorialized the dead with monuments and solemn marches.
A safety council in Detroit commemorated traffic deaths by ringing bells at city hall and churches; another in Brooklyn put up a “Death-O-Meter” near a major traffic circle that kept a running tally of those injured or killed.
At the beginning of the 20th century, rural residents revolted as drivers of “horseless carriages” rammed into their livestock and their neighbors.
Across the country, they threw stones and dung at cars, shot at them, and trapped them in ditches dug across roads, or with ropes and wires strung between trees.
The arrival of automobiles was at first greeted with skepticism that they could ever replace horses and then shock at the dangers they posed.
Author's summary: Cars brought unexpected dangers.
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