24 * * * * "Oh, Ranger!" 



season meant perhaps forty thousand visitors to the parks. Most of 

 them came by rail. Today the figure is three million visitors per season, 

 four out of five of whom come in private automobiles. The safety 

 record of the parks is truly remarkable. In the past fifteen years, almost 

 a million cars have driven to Yosemite Valley with but a single fatal 

 accident within the park. Where is there a city that can equal such a 

 traffic record ? In the other parks, accidents have been equally negligible. 



The average motorist is more careful in his driving when he 

 reaches the narrow mountain roads. He knows the traffic regulations 

 are enforced by the rangers and he observes them. These regulations 

 are quite simple and are easily understood, even by motorists un 

 familiar with the trick of mountaineering in an automobile. The experi 

 enced mountain driver knows how to "play safe" on mountain roads. 

 He makes sure that his car is in good condition before starting for the 

 parks. Driving over mountain roads, on which there may be occasional 

 rough stretches, is a test of any car. At high elevations where the 

 atmosphere is thin the motor is under additional strain. It should be in 

 good tune for this extra work. It requires more gas per mile, inci 

 dentally. 



The veteran Sagebrusher is not ashamed to use low gear in the 

 mountains. He uses it not only to go up hill, but to go down hill and 

 to hold the car back on the short level stretches where curves make it 

 unsafe to go faster than fifteen miles an hour. He knows that use of 

 compression to hold back the car on downhill stretches not only saves 

 his brakes but gives him an additional factor of safety in case of emer 

 gency. Yet it is surprising how many inexperienced mountain drivers 

 think that low gear is used only to start the car. The old-timer in 

 the mountains knows that fifteen miles per hour is a good speed on 

 curved roads, twenty to twenty-five is fast enough on the level stretches. 

 He never ventures into the mountains anywhere without a set of tire 

 chains. The occasional rains in the mountains may make the road wet 

 and slippery. The machine without chains is a menace not only to 

 its occupants, but to all others on the road. Yet no matter how often 

 the rangers repeat this counsel, some motorists prefer to learn the lesson 

 by experience. 



From these remarks, the impression might be created that the roads 

 of the national parks are hazardous. The contrary is true, as the parks' 

 safety record would indicate. But in the mountains, when showers or 

 a brief snowfall may take place any time, roads sometimes become 

 slippery temporarily. The motorist with chains seldom has trouble. 

 The government has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars improving 

 the roads of the parks and has embarked upon a fifty-million-dollar 

 road-building schedule, but even paved roads, such as are now found in 



