EDUCATION FOR SAFETY

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 48, 24 August 1935, Page 8

EDUCATION FOR SAFETY

The inauguration of a national road-safety campaign, to extend over a term of years, by the North Island Motor Union Conference at New Plymouth yesterday will be welcomed by all sections of the community who use the roads. The scheme, which has for its 'object die saving of the public from injury and death in motor "accidents, so. tragic a feature of modern life, owes its origin to Mr. E. A. Batr, of the Wellington Automobile Association, who jflaeed it before the conference with the plea Lhat the avoidance of an enormous economic loss by the education of the people in correct safety-first principles was ample justification. Seeing that last year's toll of the road was 7000 casualties and 182 deaths, everybody will agree. Mr. Batt considers that by spreading the education in safety over a long period—he mentions seven to ten years—the new generation will grow up with the principles firmly established in their mind. The arrangements for financing the campaign through contributions from motoring, insurance, and other organisations specially concerned, with a subsidy from the Government, appear to be practical, as also the system "of control by a 'council representing the various interests. This method of tackling the problem .by 'education from within instead of drastic regulation from without, severely hampering traffic, appears likely to be productive of more permanent results because it is aimed directly at the personal factor in conduct on the road which is reckoned as responsible for all but a small percentage of accidents. For this reason the movement is deserving of the warmest support by the general public.