LAW ENFORCEMENT

Evening Post, Issue 86, 11 April 1936, Page 23

LAW ENFORCEMENT

NEW YORK REDUCING

ACCIDENTS

In the detailed accident report on New York City for October last year, prepared by the State Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a total of 4998 accidents are listed. These resulted in 114 deaths and 5815 injuries. Nearly three-fifths of the accidents involved a pedestrian, and most of these were at street intersections. Of the total, more than 25 per cent, resulted from perceptible law violations on the part of the driver, and more than half occurred at street crossings. , Traffic Court records and accident records agree in throwing the spot-

ight on the driver who fails to obey

signals. The Motor Vehicle Bureau statistics reveal that more than half of all motorist violations in accidents were for "ignoring the right of way." The bureau's table lists the following three major causes of accidents during October:— Ignoring right of way 609 Speeding 179 On wrong side of road 124 It is stated that these figures are in striking similarity with the tabulation of traffic Court accidents and Magistrates and police are assuming, therefore, that they are on the right track in . maintaining pressure .on traffic violators. Results have been encouraging. In the face of a nation-wide increase in accidents and fatalities,. New York City reduced its accidents from 37,558 in 1934 to 29,905 last year, and its fatalities from 1097 to 1032 in the same period. The Police Commissioner (Mr. Valentine) has credited much of this decrease to the widespread publicity given to the national safety campaign.