Emily Post’s 1940s Motoring Manners

“A courteous lady will not ‘scold’ others with a horn any more than she would act like a ‘fishwife’ at a party... An honorable man would no more cheat a red light or stop sign than he would cheat at games or sports.”

Tips on Touring

I enjoyed Emily Post’s book on “Motor Manners” so much, that I dropped around to see her the other day and came away with these etiquette tips. 

For men: “The horn should never be used to announce arrival or to call someone to the car. A gentleman will not tune the radio or light the cigarette of a lady beside him as it distracts his attention from the road. An honorable man would no more cheat a red light or stop sign than he would cheat at games or sports.”

For women: “Shorts are permissible attire when driving, with a skirt to be whisked on when propriety demands. A courteous lady will not ‘scold’ others with a horn any more than she would act like a ‘fishwife’ at a party. Heavily veiled hats or obtrusive scarves obstruct vision, are as out of place in motoring as boots in a ballroom.” 

For everyone: ‘‘Obeyance of traffic rules is the best definition of motoring courtesy. Bad manners on the road all too often result in murder. The motorist’s continual application of the Golden Rule will make the use of streets and highways safer and more enjoyable.” – 

By Carol Lane, Women’s Travel Authority, 1949

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia  

Etiquette and Polite Drivers

While gallantry is expected of all gentlemen, on the highway women drivers lose the identity of their sex and simply become “another driver.” Courteous drivers show full consideration for the safety and convenience of all “other drivers.” In fact, split second decisions do not allow sufficient time to make a distinction nor does safety justify it.

Gentlemen Of The Highway 

A gentleman of the highway can be anyone. The kind of vehicle a person drives is not important, whether new or old, high priced or low priced, commercial or private. How a person drives is the important factor. Emily Post's Motor Manners, the blue-booklet of traffic etiquette published by the National Highway Users Conference, Inc., states that while gallantry is expected of all gentlemen, on the highway women drivers lose the identity of their sex and simply become “another driver.” Courteous drivers show full consideration for the safety and convenience of all “other drivers.” In fact, split second decisions do not allow sufficient time to make a distinction nor does safety justify it. Only a pseudo-gentleman will make a show of chivalry to women drivers and then tangle bumpers in a bluffing match with a man driver. 

The realm of gentlemen of the highway also includes the pedestrian. Responsible drivers realize that since they control the power to inflict injury, special precautions must be taken by them to avoid a casualty. Drivers with experience know that non-driving pedestrians do not realize how difficult it is to spot a pedestrian, to stop a car immediately or to dodge suddenly in traffic. In addition, not all pedestrians a driver encounters can command the full capacity of their faculties. Considerate drivers know that the person on foot may be, for example, bewildered, sick, crippled, deaf, blind or intoxicated. 

Experienced drivers know that children cannot always be held responsible for their actions. Lack of consideration for children in the street can result in manslaughter. All careful and polite motorists keep on the lookout for pre-school age youngsters who may dart into the street. Mannerly drivers will always slow down and proceed with caution in school zones. Every civil motorist will co-operate with school boy patrolmen as they go about their serious business of protecting their schoolmates. It should shame many grown-ups that school children frequently are their peers in pedestrian courtesy and manners. - Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1951

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Automobile Etiquette

“Traffic laws are simply rules of etiquette for streets and highways,” according to the Commissioner, “guides that make it easier for us to move about in the car without mishap." 

Courtesy Is Stressed

“Barging through traffic in an automobile probably means not obeying traffic laws, and disregarding the rules for safe driving,” according to Clifford E. Peterson, Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol. “On the sidewalk, a person is usually courteous enough to allow room for another person to pass by, but the pedestrian- become-driver feels that he must ‘elbow’ his way through traffic,” he said. “And sooner or later, ‘elbowing’ lands him either in the repair shop—hospital—or both. 

“Traffic laws are simply rules of etiquette for streets and highways,” continued the Commissioner, “guides that make it easier for us to move about in the car without mishap." 

He listed the following safe driving rules as especially worth remembering: 

1. On a right turn, move over to the right-hand side of the roadway as far as possible. 
2. Get into the proper lane for the turning movement long before you reach the intersection — a full block ahead is not too far. 
3. Move into the center lane of traffic for the left turn, but in making the turn, don’t cut too sharply. 
4. Traffic laws will help you only if you obey them. – Sausalito News, 1950

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia  

Etiquette for the Road

Every man in this country who drives a car knows that he has to look out for two cars—his own and the other fellow’s.

Motor Car Etiquette

A Georgia editor claims to he able to judge a man's character by the way he drives a motor car—or words to that effect. He says that when he sees a gentleman coming toward him in a motor car, he gives him half of the road; when he sees a fool coming he gives him all of it. And when he sees a darn fool coming, he takes to the woods or climbs a telephone pole.

Every man in this country who drives a car knows that he has to look out for two cars—his own and the other fellow’s. He is not afraid of an accident from his own driving; that is. He is not afraid of his own. It is the other fellow’s car that causes him the most anxiety. And here, as in Georgia, it is the fool and the darn fool that is most to be feared.—Columbus Dispatch, 1919

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the

Site Moderator and Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

1960's Travel Etiquette

Do you on planes hang assorted cameras, coats or other accessories including flight bags in your area so that they overlap and create a hazard anyway discomfort for the person behind or in front of you?

How Are Your Travel Manners? Check Yourself

By Gay Pauley UPI Women’s Editor

NEW YORK (UPI)— A tourist is judged by his travel manners and the better they are the better the impression made on strangers at home and abroad. The better also you will enjoy your trip if you exercise the rules of courtesy. 

Good manners add to good service you get too, from the motels, hotels, roadside eating places, airlines, trains and buses. Those catering to the vacationer, if pinned down could give you a list of gripes that long for correction. They are tolerant, because they are seeking the tourist dollar. But, from talking to various persons in the travel industry, we have compiled... 

 Pauley's Easy Guide for Testing Your Vacation Etiquette:

—Do you hog two seats in the bus, train or plane by deliberately placing your coat, purse or other paraphernalia on the second seat, hoping thereby to seal it off? 

—Do you on planes hang assorted cameras, coats or other accessories including flight bags in your area so that they overlap and create a hazard anyway discomfort for the person behind or in front of you? 

—Do you light a cigarette, pipe or cigar without asking whether smoking bothers the person sitting next to you? 

—Do you use the ash tray nearest you or prefer to lean over and use one of your neighbor, dusting ashes as you go? 

—Do you march up to the reception desk of hotel or motel and elbow others aside who are in line ahead of you to register? If you've pushed your way past others a little more patient during a busy tourist season, you’ve just won a top award for crudeness. 

—Do you adapt, if the conditions are not as perfect as promised? Some of the overseas countries are just getting into the swing of seeking you as guest for a holiday and the shower may not always work, the soap supply not be ample. But point out politely that flaw in the service. Creating a scene does not create a favorable impression of Americans. 

—In motor travel, especially in the United States, do you litter the roadside picnic areas as if litter did not hurt? Multiply your left-behind paper plates and cups, soft drink bottles, etc., by the hundreds who will use that picnic area in a given week and you see why some areas of the United States look like one big garbage heap. Crews eventually will pick up after you, but you’re not thinking of the others who want to enjoy the outdoors nor of the multi-million dollars of taxpayers’ money spent on cleanup alone. 

—Do your driving manners show in reverse? Tail-gating, nudging out of your lane at a stop light for a quick getaway when the light turns green... these invite disaster. 

—Do you remember to say, "thank you!" to the filling station attendant, the policeman or anyone else who acts as a free guide? There are a dozen times a day the tourist has a chance to say, "thank you!" and make traveling a treat instead of a trauma. — Madera Tribune, 1963

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia