THE TOLL OF THE ROAD

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 29, 3 August 1933, Page 5

THE TOLL OF THE ROAD

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Your article concerning the toll of the road prompts me to quote some statistics compiled by the Travellers* Insurance' Company, and some comparable figures which I have added for New Zealand. We all start with the knowledge that the more cars there are, and the denser the population, the greater is the likelihood of accidents and fatalities.- Since the1 U.S.A. has by far the largest number of cars and the most densely populated cities, one naturally expects the worst results there. The figures are as follows for the totals killed in 1931:—U.5.A., 34,400; Great Britain, , 6691; New Zealand, 247. On the basis of per 100,000 of population the result is: U.S.A. 27.7, Great Britain 14.9, New Zealand 16.4. But the U.S.A. has three times the population of Great Britain ; and sixteen times,the number of cars. If the fatalities in the U.S.A. had been, in strict proportion to those in Great Britain, they would have been 1X0,316 instead of only 34,400. If we look at it from the standpoint of number of. vehicles per, death we get: U.S.A. 750, Great Britain 234, New Zealand 79.4. That is to Bay, it takes 750 cars to kill one person in the U.S.A. and only 80 to kill one person in New Zealand, despite our fewer cars and scattered population. . , Now, I am far from saying that all motor accidents and fatalities are due to liquor, but there is surely some significance in the fact that in 1931 there were no legally licensed liquor bars in the U.S.A., while in Great Britain and in New Zealand they did, and do, exist. Coupled with this is the universal ignorance about the effect of small doses of alcohol on the faculties of judgment and co-ordination of mind and muscle. The liquor problem in regard to motor traffic is not principally that of the obviously intoxicated driver. It is the problem of the driver whose finer faculties of alertness, judgment, and rapid coordination have been dimmed by. even a single drink of alcoholic ljquor, or whose j normal caution has . been reduced or eliminated by the cocksurenesa induced by a spot or two.—l am, etc., J. MALTON MURRAY.