The Press FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1955. Time to Take Care On the Road

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27705, 8 July 1955, Page 10

The Press FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1955. Time to Take Care On the Road

The reporter who accompanied a plain-clothes traffic inspector on his! patrol this week (and described his , experience in “The Press” on Wed-.' nesday) did not see an accident. But: he did see, in the behaviour of some | motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians,! part of the reason why 25 or more • persons are injured on the roads of I this country every day, and why one i dies on eight days out of nine. | This was a “twilight patrol”—the time when, in mid-winter, dusk coincides with the heaviest traffic of the day. This is the time when common sense should warn road users to take extra care. If common sense is not sufficient warning, the accident statistics certainly should be. For nearly a third of the daily toll of accidents occur in the hours between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Yet although the reporter and the traffic officer found the traffic reasonably orderly and noticed no flagrant breaches of the law, they saw many instances of the kind of carelessness that brings about accidents. The woman who drove an ancient car at 45 miles an hour with two toddlers beside her and an infant in a cot on the back seat, and then left them to their own devices while she crossed the road to do some shopping, was perhaps typical of a great many of those who drive and ride and walk on the busy—and dangerous—roads: they either do not understand the dangers they run or, understanding them, take a gambler’s chance with their safety. Perhaps ignorance is more to be feared than recklessness at this time of the year. Too many persons ! simply do not realise that in winter 'the normal dangers of the road deepen and multiply. Not realising that eytra care is needed, they constantly expose themselves and others to unnecessary danger. The advice of the traffic inspector to drive 10 miles an hour slower than in summer was good advice, indeed. The low sun, early nightfall, the prevalence of mist, the probability of wet and slippery roads, and fogged windscreens, all help to make the driver’s task more difficult. They also impose on others besides motorists certain responsibilities. Cyclists who travel in the dusk without lights, or with overcoats flapping over their taillights and reflectors, are asking for trouble; and sooner or later will And it. Pedestrians can secure themselves by using authorised crossings and by wearing light-coloured clothing when t they walk on country roads at night. Parents may not always be able to keep children off the streets; but they should at least try to keep them off the roadways while traffic is heavy and the. light is poor. It has been said, many times, that accidents do not happen; they are made by human error. Most of them certainly could be avoided by the exercise of common sense. And if everyone on the roads took the little extra care in winter that common sense prescribes there would .be no such thing as a “seasonal” i increase m our dreadful record of killings and -maimings on the road.