PEDESTRIANS MUST TAKE CARE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 198, 19 May 1936, Page 8

PEDESTRIANS MUST TAKE CARE

Wise advice to pedestrians was given in Auckland yesterday by Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in his capacity of coroner at the inquests into the death of two old people, each of whom died from being knocked down by a motor-car when crossing a street. In , neither case was there any suggestion of negligence on the motorists part.. In both the unfortunate victim had failed to take proper care. As Mr. Wilson said, the age of slow-moving traffic has passed. The motorist enjoys no divine right of the road; and as the power and speed of his vehicle have increased so has his responsibility to handle it safely and keep it under control. In this sense the motorist s duty is primarily to his fellows—to the community. He is more liable to hurt others than to be hurt himself. The pedestrian’s duty of safety, on the other hand, is primarily to himself. Others may be hurt in accidents of which he is the cause, but he is likely to be hurt worse than they. Often he is killed, as a result of his own carelessness or lack of watchfulness. . The human walking pace remains what it was fifty years ago; the human mind, although possibly better informed, works no faster than it did fifty years ago. Yet whereas then the maximum speed of vehicular traffic was ten or twelve miles an hour, it is now seventy or eighty, becoming faster every year. Twenty years ago crossing the street was a pleasant experience; to-day it is frequently a perilous adventure. That is why no one should attempt jo cross without thinking what he is doing, and why as far as possible he should not cross except where special facilities are provided.