SECDUTOOBIP.
This is the second automobile to run on Prince Edward Island. The photo, taken at Victoria Park, shows the car while it was being used as an
excursion vehicle. It had been purchased by a syndicate of Charlottetown businessmen who charged ten cents for a ride.
Shortly afterwards public opinion against these vehicles forced the government to take measures against them. An act was passed in 1908 which prohibited the use of cars on public roads. This legislation was passed to appease the horse owners of the rural districts who were afraid the cars would cause accidents by scaring their animals.
Car owners were few in number but they closed ranks and pressured the government to change the legislation. By 1913 cars were allowed on
the streets of Charlottetown and Royalty. Summerside ioined the ”auto areas” shortly afterwards.
In the rural areas there was still oppositiongand the question was opened to local option. If a certain percentage of the residents of a road
petitioned to have it opened to cars, then an Order—in—Council was passed to allow it.
For a time only horses could travel the roads on market days. It was
not until after the First World War that unrestricted automobile travel was allowed.
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