Posted on Fri, Aug. 30, 2002  

[size=4]Police try to put stop to defective brakes[/size=4]

By Steven Finacom
BERKELEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Berkeley police were on the prowl for motorists with faulty brakes in a campaign that began this week, [b]75 years ago[/b]. In a full-page ad in the Gazette, Police Chief August Vollmer reminded readers, "The Power To STOP Is More Important Than The Power To GO."

Owners of Berkeley's 18,000 cars were required to stop at an authorized garage, have a brake inspection and receive a sticker on their windshield. Cars without the sticker could be stopped by the police, tested, and their drivers arrested if the brakes failed.

The campaign was motivated by Berkeley's growing accident rate. During fiscal 1926-27 (as readers of an earlier edition of this column may remember) the city recorded 1,377 traffic accidents, resulting in 414 injuries and 17 deaths.

"Many people complain about being asked to see that their brakes are in proper adjustment," said Berkeley's aptly named Mayor Driver in the Aug. 29 Gazette. "Yet those same people will agree that it is a mighty fine thing for the other fellow to fix his."

[url]www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/counties/alameda_county/cities_neighborhoods/berkeley/3969094.htm[/url]

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That sounds pretty damned intrusive to me!

While the article is from a year before I was born, I can remember riding in many different cars from the few years preceding the article.  The brakes were a hazard unless they were maintained well.  Now, so called safety inspections now are intrusive considering the reliability of the cars.  Back then, the accident rates were horrific, and the equipment did require much more conscientious care.  Also, only a couple of years after that, new replacement parts for cars became very hard to afford.  I can remember my father bragging about not having more than five patches on any of his tubes.z

I have NEVER thought that there was some "golden age" in the past when the government was somehow less intrusive.
For instance, in Maine there are still laws on the books from the [b]1840s[/b] that make it illegal to sell a car on Sundays!