| OCR Text |
Show TRAFFIC FATALITIES 1,000,000th Traffic Death Will Occur During December About the middle of December the 1,000,000th traffic death will occur in the United States. It is shocking to realize that since the turn of the century, since the first automobile chugged and hissed to the derision and excitement of a horse-drawn era, the lives of almost 1,0110,000 men, women and children have been squandered in one of the most senseless and tragic wastes of modern times. There are numerous reasons for this great accident death rate. While most states have a statute requiring examination for driver's license, only a few administer the law strictly enough to give it meaning. Thousands of drivers lack the skills, physical faculties and mental attitudes at-titudes for safe driving. Re-cxaml- nation or older drivers or those who have been involved In accidents or violations is virtually nonexistent. Only 13 states permit tests of blood alcohol to be used In court against the most reprehensible motoring miscreant the drinking driver. Engineering and road building have fallen far behind the demands of the motor age. Lack of funds is the common excuse. Automatic revocation of a driver's driv-er's license for serious misconduct is invoked all too seldom. Jail sentences sen-tences are few. The system of fines and penalties throughout the nation is a hodgepodge of improvisation, the temper of the court, and the stature and legal counsel of the defendant. de-fendant. These are but a few of the more obvious holes in the dike of traffic safety. They can be plugged, but only through the aroused interest and insistent support of people who care. Safety authorities report the most shocking thing about the accident toll is the inescapable fact that few Americans feel any real personal concern. As their fellows perish about them, they look on with a detachment de-tachment and complacency that is difficult to understand and even more difficult to alter. There rests the keystone of the entire traffic safety structure personal per-sonal concern. The duty of every responsible citizen is to strive for traffic safety as a voter, as a volunteer volun-teer worker in whatever capacity his interests and abilities direct, and as a driver and pedestrian. Even the relatively small percentage of accidents caused by mechanical failure fail-ure of moor vehicles could be reduced re-duced if owners would make sure their cars are in safe condition. The question remains: what will it take to spur the nation into action? ac-tion? Will it be 1,000,000 deaths? |
