SAFETY FIRST

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 35, 9 August 1930, Page 10

SAFETY FIRST

(By "X.")

TALKS AND LESSONS

WHO MOST NEEDS THEM?

SURELY THE DRIVER

The Wellington Automobile Club has decided that a series of safety iirst talks is necessary, and the Broadcasting Company has agreed to give its assistance by allowing the talks to be broadcast. It may not be a bad idea to look back upon some figures published in "The Post" a few days ago to ascertain to whom the talks should be particularly directed.

Safety first talks, lectures, poster campaigns, films, slogans,- all sorts of ways and means have been tried all over the svorld, and always, or nearly always, t) | y have been campaigns planned especially and almost solely for tho pedestrian, the butt of 99 per cent, of the motor accident jokes, but by no means the cause of most of them. Perhaps on consideration of the figures which will be re-qucted later, the Wellington Automobile Club will widen its talks considerably and endeavour to reach those who are in fact more responsible. MOSTLY PURELY MOTORING. Of the 134 deaths which resulted from motor accidents during the first seven months of this year, 27, or a trifle over 20 per cent., were deaths of pedestrians, so that, even supposing that in every case the pedestrian was wholly to blame (which, of course, was not so) there were still SO per cent, of fatal accidents in which tho poor, foolish pedestrian was in no way concerned. The safety first talks, then, should be one-fifth advice to pedestrians and fourfifths advice to motorists, but will this be so, or will the Wellington Automobile Club's speakers follow the good old convention of giving fatherly counsel to the school child to mind his crossing, to the adult to mind his crossings also, to avoid "jay walking" as he would the dcvil —a most unfortunatelyconvenient term, that "jay walking"— to walk with great care on these far too many roads where there are no footpaths lest he eollido with a motorist at a corner, to watch drivers' signals with J an eagle eye, or will a word or two of | wrath be spared for the careless, the reckless or the merely stupid motorist (of which there are some), who breaks tho first rule of the road, disregards safe speeds, lets his brakes go to the dogs, plays at the showy game of cutting in, and generally proves that all "cloverV drivers are not, not all of the time, at any rate? If they can do this, then, they will have broken right away from common safety first campaign style, and may, incidentally, do a lot of good. A CASE MUCH IN POINT. Before "X" as he writes is a copy of the "Cape Times" (Africa) of recent date, in which plans for a great safety first campaign are set out at length. There is a list of rules forj "when walking," for "when cycling," and for "when alighting from a tramcar." But none for "when driving." There are to be lectures to school children, posters for school children, films for school children, policemen are to talk to children in school hours, information, counsel, advice, warning, for all, all but the motorist. And then, at the foot of. the nrticlu are some figures: Motor-car accidents (six months), 254; motor-cycle accidents, 302; persons knocked down, 77. And so it is that in South Africa, too, the pedestrian, -who is mixed up in just over 10 per cent, of the accidents, is getting 90 per cent, of the lecturing, whereas surely it should' rather be the other way about. WHERE ADVICE IS NEEDED. By all means let the Wellington Automobile Club slam-banging the pedestrian who is knocked down, or may be knocked down, through his own foolish ness or-not, but lot not the Automobile Club bo so enthusiastic over this point as to lose sight of other factors. Too fast driving, too little luck, too much trust in gravel on bends, too glaring headlights, and too great a hurry re-i suited in seven months in 45 deaths, from motor vehicles capsizing over banks, far more than of pedestrian fatalities.

Collisions between motor vehicles resulted in. 38 deaths, far more agaiii than pedestrian fatalities.

More than twice as many deaths took place on country -oads as on town roads where there are pedestrians.

Let us then hope that when the president of the Automobile Club stands before the microphone he will speak from notes which recognise that it is not merely the poor, puzzled, puffing, and puttering pedestrian who places New Zealand's motor fatality and accident rate so appallingly high, as bad, town and country taken together, as that of London City. • ,