TOLL OF THE MOTOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21297, 26 September 1932, Page 11

TOLL OF THE MOTOR

DECREASE IN FATALITIES NEW ZEALAND FIGURES 180 VICTIMS LAST YEAR Motor vehicle accidents in New Zealand during 1931 accounted for .180 deaths, a decrease of 23 per cent on the unfortunate record of 252 fatalities in l'JiO. The statistics include fatalities resulting from the running down of pedestrians as well as deaths involving passengers in motor vehicles through crashes and collisions with railway trains and other vehicles. The total of 180 deaths last year embraces ten Maoris who lost their liv£S in motor accidents, but a more detailed analysis • prepared by the Government Statistician excludes Maoris iroin the classification. For statistical purposes deaths from collisions are usually attributed to the heavier vehiclo when the crash is between different types of vehicles. With the exclusion of the ten Maori deaths lasr year there remain 170 fatalities, and the.-e include 11 deaths attributed to railways and thereby including level-crossing smashes with motors. The following figures cover ten years:— Motor Railways Trams vehicles 1922 . . .. 45 ' 9 fil 1923 .... 69 14 59 1924 .... 40 10 94 1925 .... 43 8 108 1926 . . . . 53 17 149' J9'27 .... 42 8 138 1928 . . . . 44 10 176 1929 . . . 49 5 178 1930 .. . . 63 8 223 1931 .. ..11

Of the 159 classified motor deaths last year about one-third were motor-cyclists. The report says: "Though the total is at last much below the figure for the previous year—something which has not occurred for many years past—the position is still exceedingly serious. . . . Last year's 159 motoring fatality deaths and probably 2000 cases of injury requiring protracted hospital treatment still call for search for a remedy for so disastrous a record, whether it be in the education of road users, in the application of much stricter control of roads and traffic, or the removal of physical faults in the Dominion's roading which may contribute to the still far too high accident rate."