"WORSE THAN WAR."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 27, 2 February 1932, Page 14

"WORSE THAN WAR."

MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS. AMAZING AMERICAN STATISTICS. 32,500 PERSONS KILLED IN 1930. (From A New York Correspondent.) Told for the first time in all its irrational detail and its revelation of mtajudgments, the story of the motor vehicle accident in the United States during 1930 presents an amazing series of paradoxes. It shows that the greatest number of accidents do not occur where the danger is greatest. Not children, who might be expected to figure m the oreatest number of accidents, but those of maturer years are the worst sufferers. Nor are the very old seriously harmed to any great extent by street traffic. It is not the inexperienced driver who causes the most damage, but the person who has had a year or more of driving experience. Sunday is the day of the week on which the 'must traffic accidents occur, though one- might expect it to be another <iay when the swift pace of modern business life penalises caution. And so it goes, an unending procession of paradoxical facts that makes motordom stand amazed at the apparent illogic of its actions; if making a mistake according to rule may be considered logical. An Eighteen Months' Comparison. These interesting results of the statistician's use of his microscope on motordom are catalogued in a report of nation-wide scope prepared by the Travellers' Insurance Company under the title "Worse Than War." The title finds its explanation at the outset in the revelation that while 50,510 members of the A.E.F.'were killed in action and died of wounds during the 18 months of American participation in the World War, 50,900 persons were killed in automobile accidents during the last IS months. Fatalities are tabulated by years beginning with 191 li, when the total was 8104. Last year they numbered 32,500. The grand total for 15

years is 282,799. The increase from 1921 to 1925, inclusive, was 09 per cent over the preceding five-year period, while another 09 per cent incrcv.se occurred during the succeeding five years. Deaths in 1930 increased 298 per cent, or were three times as many as in 1910. Accidents in 1930 reached the staggering total of 835,250, an appalling number. The statistician, in his detached manner, analyses this figure and makes it tell an amazing story of the way they occur. The number injured exceeded the number of accidents, the former being 902,325. Analysis further showed that in each 1000 motor vehicle accidents last year in the United States, an average of 1191 persons were injured or killed. Specifically the number of injured was 1152, while 39 were killed. The Suffering Pedestrian. The pedestrian suffered most heavily. Further, drivers of motor cars were responsible for more than three times as many traffic accidents as pedestrians, more than twice as many fatalities, and about four times the number of personal injuries. It is in connection with the analysis of violations of the law that the motorist learns something of a side of his nature that he might wish to amend. Three specific offences stand out —exceeding tJic speed limit, driving on the wrong side of the road, and failing to grant the right of way. The last was the greatest single cause of accidents. It accounted for 31 per cent of the recorded mishaps. Excessive speed was involved in 21.4 per cent, and. driving on the wrpng side of the road in 16.1 per cent of the accidents in which law violations were concerned. These three violations figured in nearly threeliftlis of the deaths in motor vehicle accidents caused by improper driving, and this disobedience of the law was the cause of 69 per cent of the total number of injuries.

The motorist, however, may experience some satisfaction that he is not the only traffic offender. Pedestrians were injured in 373,382 accidents, largely as a result of their own mistakes. The injury of more than 150,000 persons was due to their errors .as pedestrians. Pedestrians' blunders caused the injury of more than 45,000 motorists, while more than 110,000 of both classes were injured, with the responsibility divided. Of the pedestrian - accidents, .14.9 per cent comprised children playing in the street and an even larger percentage, 20.3 was involved in fatalities of the same character. The percentage of nonfatal injuries or deaths caused by coming from behind a parked car was approximately the same, being 10.4 and 11.1 respectively.—-(A.A.N.S.)