DEATHS ON ROADS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 10

DEATHS ON ROADS

COLLISIONS REDUCED

, , TOO MANY "ONE-CAR" CRASHES

"Twenty-four fatal accidents have occurred on the roads in the last two months since 'Road Safety Week' commenced, compared with 42 during the same period last year," said the Minister of Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) today. "This is an achievement of which we may all well be proud. However, two 'off-the-road' accidents in the past two months have taken a tragic toll of seven lives, and as a result the total death roll for the two months has been reduced only from 44 to 30.

"While all road-users will be pleased with the absence of fatal car collisions and the growth of a spirit of greater) co-operation and courtesy on the roads, we cannot but be dismayed at the loss of life in these 'one-car' accidents. The 'over-the-bank' tragedies since September have been exceedingly serious. Each of the last three or four months has been marred by an accident involving three or four lives. Fifteen lives have been sacrificed in four recent tragedies. Ten out of the fourteen deaths during January resulted from cars running off the road, and there were a number of cases where only good fortune prevented 1 drivers and their passengers becoming statistics." REASON FOR ACCIDENTS. i Mr. Semple said that one of the reasons for the increase in this type of accident was that city drivers were i now going further afield and were getting on to roads, the danger of which they did not appreciate until the#. took a corner too fast. They endeavoured to drive on unfamiliar roads or roads bordering steep inclines in the same way as they drove on metropolitan highways. As a result, their first mistakes were often •their last. The modern motor-car was so easy to steer on a modern highway that drivers did not - realise the different technique and, especially the greater caution necessary on roads that had not yet been remodelled. "__