1.Ancient Roman Mile-stone, France
2.Privately Erected Signboard, England
3.Old Parish Mile-stone, England

Mile-stone reform is another thing which is occupying the serious attention of the road user. In Continental Europe this matter is pretty well arranged, though there is frequently a discrepancy of two, three, or even five kilometres between the national mile-stones (bornes kilométriques) and the sign-boards of the various local authorities and touring clubs.

France has the best system extant of sign-boards and mile-stones. One finds the great national, departmental, and communal signs and stones everywhere, and at every hundred metres along the road are the intermediate little white-numbered stones, from which you may take your bearings almost momentarily, with never a fear that you are off your track.

In addition to this the sign-boards of the Touring Club de France, the Automobile Club de France, and the Association Générale Automobile satisfy any further demands that may be made by the traveller by automobile who wants to read as he runs. No such legible signs and warnings are known elsewhere.

There is uniformity in all the kilometre and department boundary stones in France; but in England "mile-stones" of all shapes, sizes, materials, and degrees of legibility are found.

There are some curious relics in the form of ancient mile-stones still in use, which may please the antiquarian, but are of no value to the automobilist. There is the "eightieth mile-stone on the Holyhead Road" in England, which carries one back through two centuries of road travel; and there is a heavy old veteran of perhaps a thousand years, which at one time marked the "Voie Aurelian," as it crossed Southern Gaul. It is found in Provence, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, near Salon, and is a sight not to be missed by those curiously inclined.

The question of dust is one of the chief problems yet to be solved for the benefit of automobilists and the general public alike. A good deal of the "dust nuisance" is due to badly made and badly kept roads, but we must frankly admit that the automobile itself is often the cause. "La Ligue Contre la Poussière," in France, has made some interesting experiments, with the below enumerated results, as related to automobile traffic. Road-builders and manufacturers of automobiles alike have something here to make a note of.

  1. Sharp corners and excessive road cambers lead to slip, and, therefore, to dust.
  2. More dust is raised on a rough road than on an equally dusty smooth road.
  3. Watering the road moderately diminishes the dust.
  4. The spreading on the road of crude oil, or of oil emulsions in water, is an important palliative.
  5. Wood, asphalt, cobblestones, and square pavings are not dusty save after use by horse traffic.
  6. Cars with smooth, boat-shaped under surfaces are less dusty than others.
  7. Cars with large mud-guards and leather flaps near the road are more dusty.
  8. Cars on high wheels well away from the ground are less dusty.
  9. Cars with large tool-boxes at the back reaching low down between the back wheels are dusty.
  10. Large car bodies are often dustier than small ones.
  11. Blowing the exhaust near the ground increases the dust.
  12. Cars fitted with engines having an insufficient fly-wheel or a non-uniform turning effort from any cause are more dusty.
  13. A car mounted on very easy springs having a large up-and-down play will suck up the dust with each rise and fall of the body on rough roads.
  14. Front wheels—or rolling wheels—raise less dust than back wheels or driving wheels.
  15. Smooth pneumatic tires are dusty.
  16. Solid or pneumatic rubber tires are more dusty at higher speeds, and with high-powered engines.
  17. Non-skid devices, such as small steel studs, etc., do not increase the dust.

  1. Sharp corners and excessive road cambers lead to slip, and, therefore, to dust.
  2. More dust is raised on a rough road than on an equally dusty smooth road.
  3. Watering the road moderately diminishes the dust.
  4. The spreading on the road of crude oil, or of oil emulsions in water, is an important palliative.
  5. Wood, asphalt, cobblestones, and square pavings are not dusty save after use by horse traffic.
  6. Cars with smooth, boat-shaped under surfaces are less dusty than others.
  7. Cars with large mud-guards and leather flaps near the road are more dusty.
  8. Cars on high wheels well away from the ground are less dusty.
  9. Cars with large tool-boxes at the back reaching low down between the back wheels are dusty.
  10. Large car bodies are often dustier than small ones.
  11. Blowing the exhaust near the ground increases the dust.
  12. Cars fitted with engines having an insufficient fly-wheel or a non-uniform turning effort from any cause are more dusty.
  13. A car mounted on very easy springs having a large up-and-down play will suck up the dust with each rise and fall of the body on rough roads.
  14. Front wheels—or rolling wheels—raise less dust than back wheels or driving wheels.
  15. Smooth pneumatic tires are dusty.
  16. Solid or pneumatic rubber tires are more dusty at higher speeds, and with high-powered engines.
  17. Non-skid devices, such as small steel studs, etc., do not increase the dust.