INSTRUCTIONS TO MOTORISTS.

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 52, 29 August 1925, Page 16

INSTRUCTIONS TO MOTORISTS.

Not until you have toured the United States by road do you realise how much sign-posts can do to help you and make the journey interesting. Every State has ideas of its own in the matter, but most of them are effective enough, and many, have a grim irony that fixes them in the memory, writes David Worrall in tho "Daily Chronicle."

On one precipitous road in Colorado an arrow points straight into an abyag where rest the mangled remains of dozens of cars, so far below that they look like toys. Under the arrow is a sign which says. "Step on the gas and follow these.' A frequent railroad-cross-ing sign bears the skull and crossbones, while a popular small town sign reads, "Go slow and see our town; go fast and see our'jail!" "Don't be a speeding fool," pleads another type of signpost, which sometimes adds, "How would you like to kill your own children?"

Althonh- it is doubtful if there is a village or town in the United States which does not impose a speed limit of 15 miles, very few inform the motorist when he may(speed up again. A few do, adding the universal slogan, "Thank you; come again." It is possible to travel through almost every- State without maps, and know at each milepost how far you are from all the adjacent towns and cities. One bad exception is lowa, which still has mud roads and bad sign-posts. The curves are particularly well marked everywhere. An arrow on the sign indicates the direction of the curve, or else you read, "Curve L" or Curve R."

All the main highways have their distinguishing numbers and colours, and the striped band of colour and the number are placed on the posts at regular intervals, making it unnecessary to ask the way, even in the hearts of the large cities. Detours are the worst things a motorist has to xace in America. It is heart-breaking sometimes to have to leave a wonderful concrete road for a crumpled side track. But even these detours aro plainly marked at frequent intervals with an arrow and the word "detour."

When the roads of America are good they are very, very. good; but when they are bad they are wicked! Some of the main highways in Arizona give real Wild West thrills, and anyone craving excitement should travel on the slippery mud roads of lowa in wet weather. Even with "chains and travelling in low gear it is impossible to avoid going crab fashion, with an occasional excursion into the ditch.