SAFER THAN MOTORING

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1930, Page 3

SAFER THAN MOTORING

AEROPLANE DEATH-RATE. Although the death rate from aeroplane accidents has not increased so rapidly as in the corresponding stage in the development of automobiles, it was not only higher in 1929 than in 1928, but twice as great last year as iu 1927, according to a survey made recently by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York in the United States death registration area. The discrepancy in the rates of increase in the two lines of transportation is attributed largely to the fact that the expansion in the use of aeroplanes has not been comparable with that in the use of automobiles in the early stages of their development, says the New York Tinies. In spite of this, the survey has concluded that the time when planes may become a significant cause of death may not be far distant.

Complete data regarding aeroplane deaths in 1929 are not yet available, the survey states, but the National Safety Council has reported 485 deaths from civil aviation accidents and 91 in the Navy and Marine Air Services, making 576 deaths for the year. No figures for Army Air' Service are yet available.

In 1928 there were 473 such deaths iu the registration area, compared with 214 in 1927. while the death rate per 100,009 population increased from 0.2 to 0.4 persons. In California alone 96 such fatalities occurred iu 1928, against 27 in 1927.

“The sudden doubling of the. death rate in 1928 suggests that, with more and more planes manufactured and used, the aeroplane death rate may bo about to take an upward course,” says the report