“The alarming increase in automobile accidents everywhere during the past few years has rendered the correction of traffic conditions one of the most important municipal problems of the present day. The motor car has become the greatest menace to human life, and has made the streets of the cities places of real danger.”
Except for that quaint phrase “motor car” you might have thought this was written yesterday, because then as now, Memphians have always been bad drivers. Why, my chauffeur tells me about near-death experiences almost every day! But this observation actually comes from the introduction to a little booklet archived in the Lauderdale Library called “Memphis 1929 Traffic Code,” and it’s just full of fascinating rules and regulations.
Then as now, city officials probably realized the situation was hopeless. It really doesn’t set a very confident tone, if you ask me, that the advertisement on the FRONT COVER is for J.T. Hinson and Son, the “world’s finest ambulance” service.
