Life — October 18, 1923 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Those Sunday Motorists" This cartoon satirizes early automobile culture, specifically reckless Sunday drivers. The sketch shows a chaotic collision scene with a car striking a tree, debris flying, and a voice from the roadside warning "HEY, TURN OUT! THIS TREE IS TAKEN." The humor targets wealthy leisured classes who drove automobiles recreationally on weekends ("Sunday motorists"), treating country roads as playgrounds while endangering others and property. The caption's sardonic tone—as if trees must be claimed like parking spots—mocks drivers' careless attitude toward both infrastructure and public safety. This reflects 1910s-era anxieties about automobiles as dangerous novelties operated by inexperienced, overconfident drivers more interested in speed and thrills than safety.