Traffic and Mayor Redd

In the late 1920’s, as cars became more prevalent on the streets of Charlotte, it became clear that traffic laws to govern their movement were going to be necessary. In order to deal with some of the issues regarding traffic problems, Mayor Redd chose to institute a drivers’ examination. The Charlotte News explained in a February 24, 1928 issue, “The new scheme will supplant the present method of having the application for a driver’s permit signed by two automobile drivers. This method was characterized by the mayor as worthless from a standpoint of learning the fitness of a person to drive a car.” Redd developed his plan by studying the ways in which other large and growing cities dealt with the influx of automobiles onto their streets.

Licensing was not the only issue that faced Mayor Redd and Charlotte auto drivers. Traffic congestion and parking issues also became an issue during Mayor Redd’s term, causing several new laws to be instated, especially regarding the length of time that cars could be parked uptown, and the prohibition of double parking anywhere in the city as a courtesy to other drivers.

Mayor Redd declared, “We are going to enforce these new regulations and every time the law is violated, the violator will be haled [sic] into court. Everybody, rich or poor, or whatever station may just as well realize that the law will be enforced and govern themselves accordingly.”

He went on, perhaps less politically correctly, “The same strict enforcements will be directed toward women drivers as well as men. We aren’t going to have women trying to ‘cry out of it’ when they are caught violating the law.”

Source: UNC Charlotte Manuscript Colleection #249; Box 1, Folder 12

---

Posted in Community Relations, F. Marion Redd, Gender Issues, Roads and Highways, Traffic Issues