The Press Junior THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1936. Road Accidents

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Press Junior THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1936. Road Accidents

This time last year, during the August-September school holidays, many motorists complained of the carelessness of girls, and boys In crossing streets. From to .time such complaints are made during school terms; and verf mflen it is the other way round: motorists are criticised for their careless driving. As, in wwt things there are two sidesto this question of carelessness; acute motorists are careless, some children and other pedestrians are careless. But arguing does not help; the facts, very tragic ones, are these: during the last seven weeks there have been 50 deaths in New Zealand road accidents; during the 'last, seven years there .have been 35,000 people injured and 1250 killed in motor accidents. Many of those killed or injured were motorists;’ otfaers were pedestriaas, In a few cases there may have been no carelessness butnearly always this was the chief cause of the accident. 'Now that the holidays are near we ask our readers to be particularly careful and .thoughtful in town and country streets or roads. It' is c little thing for' a person to stop thinking about the subject in bis mind at the moment he crosses a road, yet it may very well save his life. For whoever crosses a street or a road has an equal duty with the cyclist or the motorist to watch to right and left of him and to look carefully where he is going. The man who crosses the . street against the signal, the. boy who kicks a football across a road and dashes after it, the girl who with her head down walks from footpath to, footpath in a day dream—these are all as dangerous to traffic as the intoxicated driver or the selfish cyclist riding with his hands off .the handle bar. The street is not'the place to indulge in freak riding or speedway thrills, or to indulge in day dreams or games or petty rulebreaking. If .there are red, yellow and green lights at an intersection, It is only fair to obey them and..stop for red, wait for yellow and go ahead for green. If everyone obeyed the lights strictly there could be no accident at lighted intersections. And if everyone, pedestrian, cyclist or motorist, followed ' sensible rules at every crossing and at every corner the accidents would miraculously drop -in number. There ate playgrounds in- which to- indulge the whim “Go fast!” They are the right places for kicking and running and rushing. But the : streets are the places for “Go-Slow!? for *Stopl~ add tor "Look!” These ad* .very good words which we commend to our readers tor ail mam ahd espedaily tor the comiof