'Instrument of death': The battle for the car on P.E.I.

A new book looks back at the 14-year struggle to clear the way for cars to drive on P.E.I.highways.

Ban the Automobile: Instrument of Death outlines the contentious history of the car on the Island.

"Words weren't minced on either side of the argument," said author Rudy Croken.

"It was called many things: a death-dealing machine, terror wagons, devil wagons and, as part of the title, instrument of death."

Canada's first car was driven down an Island road in 1866.

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But following that innovation P.E.I. fell behind. The first gasoline-powered car arrived in 1905. By 1908 there were just seven cars, but they caused such an uproar, said Croken, that the legislature voted unanimously to ban them.

90% say no

That ban remained in place for eight years, making international headlines.

It was repealed in 1913, but following the repeal 90 per cent of Islanders voted to retain the ban in a plebiscite.

"The government had already appealed the law so they had to figure something out," said Croken.

The ban was back on, unless 75 per cent of people living on a road signed a petition to lift it. Over the next six years this led to a patchwork of highways open and closed to cars.

"You might be able to drive through North River, but then when you got to Cornwall the roads were closed and you had to hire a horse, a team of horses, to haul your car through to the next district that had their roads open," said Croken.

The ban was finally lifted entirely in 1919.

Croken launched his book at Confederation Centre library Saturday, and will hold another event in his home town of Kensington at the library on May 13.

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