A running board is a narrow step fitted under the side doors of a car or truck. It aids entry, especially into high vehicles, and is typical of vintage cars, which had much higher ground clearances than today's vehicles. It is also used as a fashion statement on vehicles that would not otherwise require it.
Running boards may also be used to stand on while the vehicle is moving. The name running board is also given to safety appliances for walking on rail cars.
Gangsters in the early 20th century used running boards to get a good aim at police officers, and rival gangsters. They stood on them while the getaway car was moving at high speed.
Read more about Running Board: Railroad Usage, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words running and/or board:
“I don’t think that a leader can control to any great extent his destiny. Very seldom can he step in and change the situation if the forces of history are running in another direction.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)
“Midway the lake we took on board two manly-looking middle-aged men.... I talked with one of them, telling him that I had come all this distance partly to see where the white pine, the Eastern stuff of which our houses are built, grew, but that on this and a previous excursion into another part of Maine I had found it a scarce tree; and I asked him where I must look for it. With a smile, he answered that he could hardly tell me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)