The Times MONDAY, MAY 24, 1937. Causes of Motor Accidents

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 121, 24 May 1937, Page 6

The Times MONDAY, MAY 24, 1937. Causes of Motor Accidents

The efforts of the Minister of Transport to less&u the incidence of motor accidents are to be commended. Already his efforts have secured a considerable decrease in these, and quite properly he strives for their further elimination. The Road Safety Campaign is ol interest to every citizen whether a motor user or not. Three factors are involved in motor traffic; the roadway, the vehicle and the driver. All three are being improved. Two are inanimate, and therefore lend themselves most readily to control. The certificate of road worthiness required of vehicles secures that these shall be in good order. That has been achieved. Roadways are an infinitely bigger job. There improvement cannot be done overnight. This is a gradual process. Year by year, however, roads are being improved. But mere roadsurface improvement itself does not make driving safer. -If anything, the reverse is the case. Climbing speeds and driver relaxation mounter the improvements. Experience proves that highway safety is largely a matter of minor details. For example, danger signs aid in the prevention of accidents; their warnings are invaluable. Then, too, clearing the view at blind corners is a sound improvement. So, too, is the marking of road halves on corners, as is seen in the Alanawatu Gorge. These markings arc wonderfully well obeyed by almost all motorists. A much-desired highway improvement would be the invention of some means to light up wet bitumen at liiglit. Travelling on such a surface in heavy traffic is the bane of all motorists. At present this must remain as a hope for the future. Over against all other factors involved in road accidents the predominant one is the driver. A skilled and careful driver can, if needs must, take a uon-roadworthy vehicle safely over a dangerous road. Xu such hands accidents do not occur because of the condition of the vehicle, provided the driver knows of its condition. A remarkable fact is the fewness of accidents on obviously dangerous stretches of road. Where the danger is impressive, the instinctive caution of drivers will safely see them through. The lulling of the sense of caution is the supreme cause of motor accidents. Admittedly, a cautious driver may become involved in an accident through lack of caution on the part of another. Were all drivers to exercise full care, accidents would drop by fully 70 per cg^it. The human factor is far and away the most important and also the most difficult to control in a road safety campaign. Control piay be applied in two ways: by education to better driving standards and by fear of punishment for breaches. In the tradition of the schoolroom this may bo stated as control by means of the strap for offenders and freedom for the good. Certainly the “strap” has had a most salutary effect during the past year. This applies particularly to drivers in regard to the use of alcohol. Fear of fines, loss of licenses, and possibly imprisonment in extreme cases, has played a considerable part in making the roads safer. This policy has now been invoked to the full limit—indeed in the minds of many, with overseverity. Officially this is recognised, for now the Stress is laid upon educating the motorist. Certainly there is here a great field for good work. There are motorists who have driven for hundreds of thousands of miles on all sorts of roads in modem and oldfashioned vehicles for upwards of 20 or more years and have never caused an accident worthy of notice. Such drivers are worthy of study. Every district has its examples. They are by no means a slow-moving lot on the average. To use' an apt Americanism: “They have got what it takes.” They have a sense of speed and balance, the imagination to picture hidden dangers, skill in manoeuvring and are attentive to their driving. The example of such records is evidence that accidents do not “just happen.” On educational lines mainly must further improvement in our road safety be looked for. Far too many drivers have no true understanding of the force they control. By some means, probably by many, this knowledge must be brought to them.