MOTOR FATALITIES

Taranaki Daily News, 3 May 1930, Page 4

MOTOR FATALITIES

SURVEY FOR LAST YEAR.

FIGURES -CLOSELY ANALYSED.

A survev by the Government Statistician of the causes of accidental death in the Dominion last year shows that more than half the fatalities involved motor vehicles. The classification definitely attributes 178 deaths to motor accidents, but the total of 49 deaths in railway accidents includes level crossing accidents, in which 10 occupants of motor-cars, five passengers in lorries, and -two motor-cyclists lost their lives. The remaining deaths were due to falls from trains, walking on the pctmanont way, or accidents to railway employees. Tramway, accidents last year caused .five deaths. . - ’ ' The 17.8 deaths attributed t.o /he motor comprised 140 males and 38 females, and -.they are classified into 27 groups, .according to the and the agent. Pedestrians are not specifically separated from victims, who were passengers in motor vehicles, bill collisions between vehicles of various types and accidents in which motorists have run into. obstacles or driven ovei banks were responsible for 75 deaths. Falls from motor-cycles, a past from collisions included in the la* I figure caused 14 deaths. The balance of 89 deaths mi e e fied as “general or indefinite, ami they relate to people killed by cars lorries, buses, tractors and motor-cycles. It appears that this figure relates to .victims who were not users of vehicles, and it secins that the great majority, if not all, were pedestrians. This woiud mean that of the 178 deaths the.Lol. was approximately equal between pedestrians' and users of vehicles. I'ie fio-ures form a very instructive study, and the collection of the statistics myplves an'extensive scrutiny of " ponce reports. . . ■-