HEAVY DEATH ROLL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 19 April 1922, Page 2

HEAVY DEATH ROLL.

DUE TO MOTOR CARS

A human life every half-hour, day and night, every day in the year, will be the toll n£ automobile accidents in 1922 in the united States if the deathrate from such, accidents remains approximately the same this year as last. Officials of the .National Safety Council estimate that nearly 1*5,000 persons were killed the United States'last year, an increase of about 400 over 1920—-figures which led one editor to remark that "our highways are as-dangerous as the field of battle." In JNew York City automobiles caused that deaths of 835 persons—a 60 pe.r cent increase over 1919 fatalities. In New York State, we are told by officials of the National Highways Protective Society, 1981 persons were killed in automobile accidents. This is the highest number ever recorded in the State. And for each fatality there are twenty accidents, observes the Mew i'ork Herald; "each year the streets become more dangerous. Killings in the metropolis now average more than two each day of the year." And these accidents continue to hap- ' pen • the country over, observes the Omaha World-Herald, "despite the demands for more care, better training for drivers, and increased vigilance of traffic officers." Moreover, believes the Pittsburg Gazette-Times, "it is likely every such, fatal accident was avoidable.'' In commenting upon the large number of fatalities in New York State, the New York World says: "These 'accidents' may be minutely classified. There is for most of them only one class—carelessness. And the State is doing little to put the careless i driver out of the business iri which he is an hourly menace. It licenses reckless and incompetent drivers, and when their recklessness or incompetence leads to the inevitable tragedy it does nothing to prevent a recurrence. "It is not as it there were no instructive examples showing" how traffic accidents could be diminished. Massachusetts has greatly lessened .them by suspending the licenses of offending drivers, even when their offence has had no tragic results. New York is lenient to all carelessness. "The necessary development of the motor-truck lias added to the street? menace. Far more dangerous than a freight locomotive, which has to follow its tracks, driven at a speed often as great, the heavy truck kills where it strikes." ' | Approximately 10 per cent, of the fatal automobile accidents throughout [ the United States, it is pointed out by - Baltimore and Ohio Railroad safety . officials, occur at grade crossings. "It j ought to be a very simple thing for the driver of an automobile to keep a sharp lookout as ,he approaches a railway crossing,'* remarks the Dayton News, "but in the simplicity of the thing lies the greatest danger." Then, too, it must be admitted, the careless or absent-minded pedestrian adds to the list of fatalities. As we are told in the Providence Journal: "Pedestrians often leave the side- ■ walk without looking for approaching vehicles; the person who steps directly in front of a car can hardly expect the driver to stop within a distance of two feet, even if the rate of speed is moderate. It is important to remember that neither pedestrians nor car-drivers have exclusive privileges on the highways; it is the duty of all who use the streets to be vigilant and to take no chances of accident. ' 'Perhaps- it is impossible to bring about a hundred per cent, improvement over last year's accident record, but it is certain that a better showing can be made by general observance of a few plain rules of safety." Other editors list inadequate equipment, glaring headlights, improperly adjusted brakes, drunken drivers, perfunctory examinations of applicants for licenses, youthful drivers of both sexes, and the, lenience of traffic court magistrates as other contributing causes to the enormous death toll from automobile accidents. Says £,he News: "Officers who have had dealings with the flagrant- violators of traffic regulations have come to know that a small Enie (has k>nly Jflttle effect upon the speeders. Some of them even think they are justified in boasting of the number of times they have been fined for speeding—it is assumed by them to set them apart from the common kind. ".Thirty days in gaol or another corrective institution, with the requirement that they devote regular working hours to scrubbing or some other menial employment, would probably do more to break up /fche dangerous business of speeding than a succession of fines such j as are usually imposed in such cases."