When Texas driver's licenses first required
Updated 12:29 am, Sunday, February 26, 2012
In comparison with the four-century span of recorded history in San Antonio, a couple of decades doesn't sound like much, but in the context of newspaper columns, it's not bad.
The earliest version of this column debuted about 20 years ago and grew out of a regular feature, S.A. Questionnaire, in the Sunday paper.
The first historical question came from a reader who found a deceased relative's driver's license, which had a single-digit number: 6. When did Texas first require drivers to be licensed, the reader asked, and who got license No. 1?
In those pre-Internet days, it took a chain of phone calls — to the Department of Public Safety, the Texas State Library and other sources — to get to the answer, a surprising one to anyone who hadn't lived through the long campaign to pass a driver's license bill in Texas.
Though some municipalities, such as Kansas City, Mo., issued driver's licenses, and San Antonio had flirted with the idea in the 1910s, only 18 states and the District of Columbia required them by the early 1930s.
Safety organizations, women's clubs, civic groups and automobile associations all promoted their adoption, noting that traffic fatalities had been reduced by as much as 25 percent in states that required drivers to be tested.
“We can see no argument against it,” said the Express, but there were several. Trucking companies didn't want to pay any more fees. Municipal and county governments worried about getting stuck with administrative expenses.
Some law-enforcement authorities feared unfunded extra work for officers, and some drivers claimed that only those envious of car owners could support the measure.
From the mid-1920s through the early '30s, the issue came up whenever the Texas legislature met but was never passed.
What had long been referred to as the “contemplated driver's license bill” finally passed both houses and was signed Nov. 15, 1935, by Gov. James V. Allred. The new law required “any person driving a car” to have a license as of April 1, 1936; those caught driving without one were subject to a $200 fine — equivalent to more than $3,000 in today's money.
Drivers had to be at least 18 years old and pass a test. There was no fee for regular licenses, which were “notarized free,” and chauffeur's licenses cost $4.
The DPS was in charge of issuance, and county tax collectors collected the fees. There were provisions for suspension or revocation in cases of manslaughter with a vehicle, drunken driving, failure to “stop and render aid” or committing a felony while driving.
A special driver's license office opened Feb. 15, 1936, “in the northeast corner of the basement” of the Bexar County Courthouse, where officials expected around 300,000 drivers to fill out license applications.
The first Texas license was issued that day, but it's hard to say where or to whom. Numbering was done within counties, since without a computer network, DPS employees had no way of knowing if their counterparts elsewhere were issuing licenses at the same time. Gov. Allred is thought to have been the recipient, at least symbolically, of the first license, but there could be No. 1 licenses in every county.
When I first researched this question, there was no Internet and no email. For every question, I needed to call people or visit libraries. People sent irreplaceable photographs by postal mail. It was only 20 years ago, but in some ways, 1992 was closer to 1935 than it was to 2012.
Email Paula Allen at historycolumn@yahoo.- com. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/sahistory- column.