Author Description

Motor Manners Even years after her death, Emily Post is still known as the resource to consult on etiquette in polite society. Her reputation was cemented in history in 1921 when her Book on Etiquette was first published. From that springboard, she developed a syndicated newspaper on etiquette carried by newspapers throughout the United States. Eventually the National Highway Users Conference approached her to share her advice about motoring on the highways. The result was the pamphlet entitled Motor Manners published in 1949. Although the underlying purpose was to promote highway safety, perhaps the group thought that the influx of female drivers on the road after World War II would respond better to a list of manners rather than a set of rules from a driver's manual. Whatever the reasoning, reviewers found her tone slightly reproachfully . Lines like "A courteous lady will not 'scold' raucously with her automobile horn any more than she would act like a "fish wife" at a party." In any case, Post's booklet harkens back to a time when our society was concerned about the proper motor manners. This booklet is the republished version of Post's original writing. The inside pages consist of her advice to the motorists of the 1950's. After all, according to Post, "bad motoring manners can be murder."