Show ACCUSING FIGURES I r TP there were any indication that the tho Ameri- Ameri m ric ri- ri J. J c can n motorist was beginning to le learn r how to io drive in safety the figures on traffic fatalities I would io d not be so discouraging An analysis sis of 1933 auto accidents issued by the Travelers Insurance In In- company shows that driving is is- getting get ting instead of better Far Par from learnIng learning learn learn- I ing how to handle our cars in safety we are arc making aking a worse record now than six years ago In Iii 1927 1921 there were autos in use usei i iu in the United States In 1933 1033 the number was j f 23 an an an increase of only 26 per cent Jn 1927 auto accidents killed people in f 1933 they killed which which is a rise of 17 i per Der cent ent i I Th These sa figures can mean menn only one thing J That we actually are arc driving with less care to today toy to to- day y- y ythan than we were six years ago It is revealed for instance that nearly neary 33 per per cent of the people killed kille in 1933 died in accidents i in which drivers were exceeding the speed limit Eighteen per cent of the thc deaths came when when drivers went off the r road ad Thirteen per percent I cent were caused by v vehicles being on the wrong side Bide of the r ad adan an equal percentage ge c cams came mo fr from m some Bomo drivers driver's f failure to to give the I Bright ight of way to a vehicle entitled to it Those figures are arc damning They prove that our auto death toll is going up of f criminal carelessness and selfishness on the tho pa at t of the drivers he ho number of cars in use is only slightly higher than it was si six y years ars ago The cars t themselves are arc far fal safer they are solider their b brakes 1 esar aro better they stick to to the road better g jure m easier keep under control contro human element clement and it alone which has failed What are we wc going to do 1 It would be expensive expensive ex ex- pensive to increase the number of city and rural tra traffic ic police fivefold It would be a nuisance nuisance nui nui- sance sauce to require by law a the thc installation of or automatic governors limiting car speeds to 35 miles an hour or some such figure But it begins begins be be- gins to look as if we must find some way of protecting ourselves from our own o foolishness |