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Show Walkers Note: Shorter Days Shorten Lives Ten thousand Americans literally liter-ally walked themselves to death m 1947, the National Safety Council Coun-cil says. That was the pedestrian traffic death toll for last year. Since the total traffic death toll in 1947 was 32,300, the figures mean that almost al-most one of every three persons killed in traffic was a pedestrian. In addition, pedestrian accidents injured 220,000 persons. 1 "Heads Up Don't Be Struck Down" is the watchword of a nationwide na-tionwide effort by the Council to emphasize pedestrian hazards this fall as more hours of darkness double the danger. Pedestrian deaths reach a peak in the late fall, when they are as high as 42 per cent above the monthly average for the whole year. Why? The Council says the most important single reason for the seasonal jump in pedestrian deaths is darkness. Earlier nightfall night-fall plus the fact that many communities com-munities go off daylight saving time, brings the evening rush hour of homeward bound workers into the hours of dusk or darkness. Drivers contribute to the death toll, according o the Council, because be-cause hey fail to adjust their speed to the gradually changing visability as days grow shorter. A motorist accustomed throughout the summer to making a rip in 25 minutes still thinks he should maintain that schedule even though he may be driving with his lights on. Se he hasn't the I sam-a chance of avoiding an unexpected un-expected act by a pedestrian that he had in full daylightv Night accidents, especially those involving pedestrians, can be reduced re-duced by strict control of speeding speed-ing and drunk driving on the part of motorists, and by more intensive inten-sive education of pedestrians on the limitations of night vision, the Council believes. |