MOTOR FATALITIES

Evening Star, Issue 21217, 26 September 1932, Page 12

MOTOR FATALITIES

A MARKED DEGREASE FEWEST FOR FOUR YEARS A great deal has-been said recently of the alarming increase in the number of motor fatalities in New Zealand, but happily such statements arc incorrect, for in place of an alarming increase last year there was a substantial decrease, as is shown in the annual report of the Government Statistician, the figure being the lowest for four years. There is little doubt that this decrease was mainly due to the fact that there were fewer motor vehicles on the road. Still, the accident rate is far too high (says the Wellington ‘ Post ’). The total number of deaths from motor accidents last year was 180, whereas in 1930 the total was 252. These figures include the deaths of Maoris as the result of motor accidents, and thus are larger than will be found j in the general table below, as the ! deaths of Natives are not taken into j account under the general heading; I and they include also deaths which : resulted from level crossing smashes. The record of traffic fatalities (level crossing fatalities being listed under railways and motor tramway fatalities under tramways) for the past ten years is as follows;

The total number of accidental deaths last year, states the annual report of the Government Statistician, was 926, compared with 773 in the previous year, the substantial increase being duo to the Hawke’s Bay earthquake of February of last year; 249 deaths were registered as duo to that cause. Excluding deaths due to the earthquake, the accidental deaths last year numbered 077, a figure 96 below that for 1930. The total reduction for 1931 in’ the number of deaths in which motor vehicles were involved (excluding Maoris) was 76. The more detailed comparison of motor fatalities for the last three years

15'J 223 180 To those figures have to he added level crossing fatalities, of which there were eleven last year, twenty-lour in 1939, and seventeen in 1929. No inotortramway fatalities are shown in the report of the Statistician for last year, neither were there any in 1930, hut there were two in 1929. The deaths of Maoris numbered ton last year and sixin 1930. , , Though the total is at last much below the figure for the previous year something which lias not occurred lor many years past—the position is still exceedingly serious. New Zealand was stirred to the depths by the appalling loss of life and bodily injury which resulted from the Hawke’s Bay earthquake, 249 deaths and possibly 1,000 cases of serious injury, yet the 1930 total for motor fatalities was only two deaths below the total lor the earthquake tragedy, ami the number of cases of serious injury was probably very much greater. Last year’s 159 motoring fatality deaths and probably 2.000 cases of injury requiring protracted hospital treatment still call for search for a remedy for so disastrous a record, whether it bo in the education of road users, in flic application of much stricter control of roads and traffic, or the removal of physical faults in the dominion’s reading which may contribute to the still far too high accident rate.

1022 ... Railways. Trams. 45' 0 Motor. Vehicles. 01 1923 ... . , ... (19 14 59 1924 ... 40 in 04 ] 925 ... ... ... ... ... 48 8 108 1026 ... 58 17 140 1927 ... 42 8 188 1028 ... I ... .. 44 10 170 1929 ... 40 5 17H 1930 ... 08 8 1931 ... ii - 150

is as 1'ollows : — 1020. 1931. 11)30. Overturning of moloi vehicle ... 2G 34 23 Running over bank, cliif, etc. y 1!) 0 Drowned by m.v. falling into G 1 stream ... l Collisions — i * Between lorries ... ... — — Lorry and Car .. ... 3 1 Lorry ana motor cycle ... ■ (i 4 Lorry and bicycle . ... - 1 3 3 Lorry and pole ... 1 — Bus and motor cycle ... ... ... — 1 “ Bus and uicycb ... — — <w Bus and car Car and ar ... 2 13 1 Car and motor cycle ... ... 25 31 12 Car and norse-drawn vehicle or — - Car and bicycle ... 7 10 0 Car and pole, bridge, etc. ... 5 7 G Motor tycl. ami mot -r cycle y 7 1 Motor cycle and bicycle ... Motor cvcle and pole etc. ... l 2 1 1 Motor cvcle and horse-drawn vehicle * ... — * * Falls from— Lorries - ... 1 y 1 z Motor cycles ... 13 8 14 Buses ... ... .• Killed by— G 0 14 ;;; ... 1 1 54 3 G2 Motor cycle ... 5 3 8 Killed by tractor ... ... _ 1 X 1 Other and undefined ... 7 — —