TOLL OF THE ROAD

Taranaki Daily News, 10 June 1930, Page 7

TOLL OF THE ROAD

LONDON’S DEATH ROLL. OVER 300 IN THREE MONTHS. The appalling toll of life and limb that street traffic takes of London’s citizens is growing to terrible proportions and the last quarterly report on street accidents shows an increase of, roughly, 25 per cent, over the figures for the corresponding three months last year. Statistics show that 251 people were killed in the streets of London in January, February and March of 1929. It was estimated by Scotland Yard that the figure for the first quarter of this year will be at least 320. That is the worst record in our history of traffic tragedies. Lieut.-Colonel J. A. A. Pickard, score . tary of the National Safety First Association, stated lately that apparently 1930 would set up a new record of casualties. New motor vehicles are coming on to the roads at the rate of thousands a week to swell the stream in London’s crowded streets, and a very large proportion of the 2,000,000 new vehicles that it is estimated will be on the roads this year will be registered in London. It is difficult to assign any reason for the increase in accidents this year. It may be that with less wintry weather more motorists kept their cars on the roads instead of laying them up for the winter. Conditions of ice prevailed during the early months of last year, and there was noticeably fewer cars about. The National Safety First Association has made a careful analysis of the statistics, and this has revealed that 83 per cent, of accidents are due to the human element on the part of pedestrians and motorists. Scotland Yard keeps a watchful eye on the sections of London where the traffic is densest. A giant map that has been made showing the greatest casualty areas is a maze of little crosses, each one of which marks the site of someone’s death. The death map shows that Charing Cross is the worst spot in London, with a death rate of nine persons per furlong. It is followed closely by Newington Butts, with 7.5 per furlong, and High Street, Camden Town, with 7.3. Year by year the figures go up. In 1920 there were 638 deaths. The figure rose to 1003 in 1926, and 1362 in 1929.