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:
“It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; that they are showing the way when they are running away; that they see the light when they feel the heat; that they are chosen when they are shunned.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“As a man-of-war that sails through the sea, so this earth that sails through the air. We mortals are all on board a fast-sailing, never-sinking world-frigate, of which God was the shipwright; and she is but one craft in a Milky-Way fleet, of which God is the Lord High Admiral.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)