Bridge-walkers beware

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By Dan King

We might all be criminals without even knowing it.

If you’ve ever strode across the Saunders Street Bridge at a pace “faster than a walk,” you’re lucky it’s not the old days.

According to a document found in the photobook “Day Before Yesterday” by former Whitehall town historian Doris Begor Morton, going across the Saunders Street Bridge “faster than a walk” was punishable by a $5 fine in 1874.

That would equate to $104.17 in today’s dollars.

Mayor Ken Bartholomew said as far as he knows the only speed limit over that bridge was for motor vehicles.Saunders Street Bridge Now

“The village-wide speed limit is 30 mph unless otherwise posted,” Bartholomew said. “I do not know exactly

when this was set but the bridge is not now posted for any other speed so the limit on the bridge is 30 mph.”

Heritage Director Carol Greenough said she has heard of the old fine for going across at a pace faster than a walk. Greenough said she wasn’t sure if the law was meant for walkers, horses or both.

“I always took it to be for four legs, but it could have been for people too,” she said. “You can imagine the problems you would have if horses were going in opposite directions over that bridge too fast.”

In 1874 there was a spot on the bridge for horses, as well as a spot on the bridge for walkers. Further down the canal, there was a walkers-only bridge, which was popular for silk mill workers walking to and from work, until it was taken out by a barge that was a little too tall to pass under the bridge.

Officials said there is no need for walkers to worry, though – the police don’t plan on ticketing anyone for walking too fast over the modern incarnation of the Saunders Street Bridge.

Sometimes old laws and rules sit dormant for so long that they are no longer applicable to the modern world and instead of being repealed, enforcement of the law is simply stopped.

For example, there is a law in New York that it is illegal to wear slippers after 10 p.m. But you won’t see police chomping at the bit to show up at your home with a search warrant if they think you’ve got your slippers on past bedtime.

In Vermont, it’s unlawful for a woman to wear false teeth without written permission from her husband, but you won’t see police conducting roadside “teeth checks.”

There is a whole website of such laws, www.dumblaws.com.