shooting out in their motor cars

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

And even now, at this hour, discreet old dowagers were shooting out in their motor cars on errands of mystery; and the shopkeepers were fidgeting in their windows with their paste and diamonds, their lovely old sea- green brooches in eighteenth-century settings to tempt Americans.

shoot = to pass over or through swiftly = rash/ flash

Thanks for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

[Ouisch]

"Shooting out" means they accelerated quickly. "Pass through swiftly" would be correct.