ROAD ACCIDENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 200, 25 August 1936, Page 7

ROAD ACCIDENTS

IMPORTANT ANALYSIS MOST DANGEROUS HOURS SUNDAY’S GOOD RECORD, [British Official Wireless] RUGBY, Aug. 22. i A report has been published by the Ministry of Transport giving an analysis of over 6300 road accidents in 1935, involving the deaths of nearly 650 people. The inquiry, which has been undertaken as part of the campaign for road safety, followed the same lines as that of 1933, except that for the first time publicity was given to the ascribed causes of the accidents on the basis of the police reports. Perhaps the most surprising fact revealed is that Sunday is the day or the week with the least accidents. Saturday has most. Thirty-three per cent, of the accidents were the result of collisions between moving vehicles, and 47 per cent, of collisions between moving vehicles and pedestrians. Thirty per cent, of the accidents occurred at road junctions, and 62 per cent, on straight roads or open roads and bends with good sight lines. From Monday to Friday the hour of the day with the largest number of accidents is between 5 and 6 in the evening, and the second most dangerous hour is between 10 and 11 at night. Tables in the report show how the death curve among pedestrians descends rapidly after the age of eleven until it reaches its lowest point at between 20 and 25, and then gradually rises again, steepening beyond the age of 50. Ten per cent, of the pedestrians killed were under the age of five, while more than 50 per cent, of those killed while crossing roads were aged 60 and over.