CAUGHT WITHOUT A WINDSHIELD

Shannon News, 10 February 1928, Page 4

CAUGHT WITHOUT A WINDSHIELD

A windshield wiper is . not ft person. For the benefit of the uninitiated it may be described as a mechanical contrivance which it attached to the frout windows of motor vehicles for the purpose of keeping the line of vision reasonably clear during rainstorms. It has no connection whatever with the Window Cleaners ’ Union. Some windshield cleaners operate automatically and constantly, while others are worked by hand, and only at such intervals as conditions may seem to demand. In passing it may be truthfully said that there are times when the automatic cleaners appear to "bo on strike. But whether hand operated or me ehanical, workable or not, every .owner of a motor vehicle in Connecticut i.; required to maintain a windshield cleaner on his machine.

The Connecticut law, however, evi dently overlooked a possibility. Recently the owner of a truck was hailed into court on a charge of haw ing violated the windshield wipe' faw. Evidence was submitted which conclusively proved that he had no windshield wiper. In fact, the defendant himself, undoubtedly an honest man, admitted that he had no windshield wiper, and his defence, which would have ordinarily seemed logical and reasonable, was that he had no windshield upon which to attach and use a'"windshield wiper. It failed 1/s secure his acquittal, and a fine was imposed. The moral appears to be that he who is caught without a windshield wiper is no more guilty that he -who ventures upon the public highway without a windshield.