MOTOR ACCIDENTS.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17814, 13 July 1923, Page 7

MOTOR ACCIDENTS.

CAUSES NEED CAREFUL STUDY,

There are two ways in which automobile fatalities are usually discussed (states a writer in an American ex change). Either they are generalised by stating that a certain number of lives were lost as a result of careless, accidental, or inexpert operation of motor vehicles, or individually described in horrible details. Neither extreme is of practical value in safeguarding motor-car transportation and human life. There must be a happy medium wherein every accident can be presented so as to carry some definite suggestion to the average driver. There, is too much generalising about autonrobile fatalities. Being advised of the annual fatality figures for a city, a State or the nation, the average person immediately thinks in terms of the population. Finding the number of accidents per 10,000 population, he concludes: "It's unfortunate, but the great wonder is that there are not more accidents than there are." The matter has no further significance to him. ' When a motorist takes the matter so impersonally it naturally carries no special lesson for him. He proceeds through traffic and repeats all of his usual errors of judgment and automobile operation. The other extreme ii equally ineffective. Accidents and fatalities —with or without automobiles —are, to a certain extent, unavoidable. g Effect on Driver. In discussing emotionally the details of a bad accident a driver declared that such matters upset him to a point where he actually dreads driving in the city and prefers riding in a street car. The accident had been presented to him in such a way that he was led to discount his own ability to prevent accidents. Undoubtedly he is just as much of a hazard when at the wheel of his car as the man who regards accidents in terms of percentages. A motorist came nearer the truth when he said that an accident near at home has a pronounced effect on the mental attitude of the driver. ''News of accidents in general have but little effect on the driver's atti ; tude toward the responsible work of driving a car, but when it comes right home to him —that's different!" He • is near the facts, but not quite | near enough. The accident that comes j too close to home, presuming that some personal. acquaintance has been the victim of an accident or responsible for one, is as likely to produce negative results as that which is regarded as a generality. The only way to turn the details of fatalities into procedure I that will help prevent a repetition of ' them is to subject every accident to : a careful analysis, of the actual, causes, for only by knowing how accidents actually happen can motorists and pedestrians know how to avoid them., Speeding, skidding, day-dreaming, confusion and the like are causes far too general to be effective. , There are i various kinds of speeding, skidding, day-dreaming and confusion; and knowing how to avoid one kind does not necessarily insure the driver against trouble. Each accident that is analysed develops facts peculiar to itself, and to catalogue the basic cause under some general heading simply means keeping other drivers in the dark. I Good judgment, cautiousness, alertness, and sooorp r are all prerequisites to good driving, but something more definite is required to enable the averj age driver to lift himself out of the average level of driving ability. Information arrived at through a. careful analysis of each accident which comes to the attention of a driver, mjgejfcs this demand. It is better for the motorist to conduct his own investigation of accidents rather than to depend upon the published conclusions reached by the courts and police officials. These are valuable to him in arriving at conclusions, because they help him to s'ee all sides of a'case; but the basic reason i for an accident will carry, the import- | ant message for him. If he discovers I it himself he is not likely to repeat jit. Analysing Causes. Suppose, for example, an accident were described as the result of "confusion on the part of the driver." The first thing to ascertain in analysing the case is whether the driver saw the pedestrian in time to attempt to stop. If the position of the fatality is off the normal course of traffic it is obvious that the driver was aware of the danger, otherwise he would not havo attempted to avoid it. If there are no marks on the paveI ment where tyres slid that is no indica- | tion that the brakes were defective, as ' they might not have been used at all. i One should ascertain from witnesses as | to whether the brakes on the car were i sufficiently effective to lock the wheels. ; This information ought to be obtained ! from the local garage where the car is } Btored, as the case was probably disI cussed there with the insurance adi juster or witnesses. If it can be established that the brakes were not used and' that th'j driver did see the danger and attempted to avoid it, it ought to be possible to reach a conclusion which will add a valuable idea to our collection of safety rules. What is discovered is that-the driver failed to avoid the mishap because he depended upon his ability to steer out of the way. Effective steering can | be used as a safety measure, but the chances of an accident can be materiali ly lessened by stopping while steering out of the way. Only in rare cases is the driver justified in maintaining or increasing his car's speed when steeling to avoid trouble. If motorists would study every accident which comes to their knowledgo | the causes which they discover would j give them working suggestions. | Merely regarding accidents as so ! many bad debts in motoring induces a 1 fatalistic view of automobiling, tfie ! driver feeling that as long as luck is I with him he has nothing to worry i about. It fails to warn him that he ; is doing the very things which have pro-red fatal to others. I The most effective preventive of automobile accidents is knowledge of the causes of accidents; and this can ; only be gained through a complete in- ; vestigation of each esse. Don't be i satisfied with the general causes; get sit the roots. This may some evidence of ignorance from whieh the trouble gTew. It may be this small j bit Of ignorance of which the driver cQnstan.tlj- guilty}