ACCIDENT RISK

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 145, 16 December 1933, Page 27

ACCIDENT RISK

DANGER IN NORMALCY

DRIVING RESPONSIBILITY

If motorists vrefe not normal human beings accideat prevention would- be easier, says an American writer. .If all drivers responsible for highway casualties were abnormally vicious individuals, law and public opinion would have a relatively easy job with them. But many cars are wrecked by responsible business men and conscientious clerks. Pedestrians are killed by kind fathers and reasonably devoted husbands. It has been established that, in almost every accident, someone is to blame. Too 1 often the culpable driver is essentially to blame for Ucting like a normal human being. A recent analysis of accidents in country districts adjp.cent to Detroit, for instance, has revealed the fact that three-quarters of them occurred on wide, straight' highways and involved city drivers temporarily' out of town. Explanation is easy here. City drivers.in a city are hemmed in, aad held back

by traffic. Their movements are controlled by lights and policemen. _ They are inhibited by metropolitan circumstance. But inhibition is not agreeable to normal human brings. They escape from it whenever.they can. And, as motorists, they can escape when they find themselves beyond the limits of congested areas. Seeing an'open road ahead of him, the city driver enjoys a feeling of release. It is a joy. Eelease is always enjoyable. There is nothing now to stop the escaped prisoner of traffic. He is free to. go—and he goes. Until he is stopped by something that seemed nothing to think about. Undeniably the accident is the result of reckless driving. But, in these conditions, it is natural for a driver to bo reckless. This does not mitigate the damage and suffering, of' course. It merely makes it harder for safety workers to reduce the number and consequences of accidents. Many accidents occur because people drive as they walk. They are naturally impulsive in both. They start, stop, and go ahead without thinking of the starting, stopping, and going ahead Of others. On the sidewalk, this doesn't matter so much. If a man on foot stops abruptly to hail a iriend, the man behind may bump 'Into. him. It is seldom, however, that serious damage results. .': If the "driver o±' an automobile as naturally makes a. sudden turn or,stop, however, the collision incident tHat follows ,i* seldom closed "with" a polite apology or a passing snarl. .The immediate result may be anything from bent fenders to broken bones. And this is the beginning Tather than the end. It may take: anything from. a\ minor, repair •bill to death, damages, and civil punishment to wind up the incident. All because of human: impulsiveness in the driver's seat of a car. ' "The first.thing for human beings to realise, therefore, is that it is not intelligent to be .blindly, natural, Natural: ness of impulse is shared witii apes. 'Jionkeyg would* be/reckless in automobiles because they haven't the mental capacity to reftfcon,. ■ Walking on the sidewklk and driving a motor-car require different setsVof habits, and the man who docs not cultivate the habits i necessary for safe driving fails to rise to the higher humanity that is supposed to distinguish him from the animals he is pleased to designate as "lower."''. Impulsive, instinctive action in human is refreshing* A" wdrld of consistently careful and calculating men would be dull. Intelligent control of all human behaviour would leave no room in life for poetry and parades. But a degree of intelligence really should be exercised by a man entrusted with the control of a ton or two of animated steel. •

| far side with the good motor roads at Aosta, an infinitely more simple route would be made available. It is estimated, that at least'6oo,ooo vehicles would take advantage of this facility every year and that the considerable revenue obtained from reasonable toll charges (a fee of '25 francs or about six shillings per person is'suggested) would soon offset the enormous cost of tho construction work—reckoned to be in the neighbourhood o>' £7,500,000. The proposal1 is-to make the tunnel a double one, so that fast one-way" traffic •can make the eight-mile trip with / the minimum of delay. Ventilation presents.one of the chief difficulties in a: project of this sort, but the experts hold the view that the atmospheric differences between the Chamonis valley and that at Aosta would automatically keep the air fresh to a very great extent. A special power station would ,be needed to provide lighting. France, Italy, ,and Switzerland would all be financially interested in the scheme, and it is suggested that the capital should be raised by the issue of 7 per cent, shares and bonds declared taxrfree by the respective Governments. The Italian Government, it is understood, has already giver its consent to this condition.