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Show SO THE PEORI MAY KNOW Exactly on year ago today Th. Telegram In "So the People May Know" editorial declared: "Salt Lake City starts Ike new year with a trifle hangar, tnf(t record am ehaaaefal tkaa that at aay ether city la the United State. This ity not ealy au tehee the heaviest death toU la Ita history, hat It hlda far the shasac el leading the nation In per capita traffic deaths. "In 1131, 41 men, women and children were killed hy ante-aaablle ante-aaablle aeeidenta la Salt Lake City. That In fWe mere than were killed during the preeedlng year. It la almost twice the number killed In 19Z6. It hi It am than the average ' the preceding II years. "While the country aa a whole recorded a decrease of tc per cent, aa compared with the year before, Salt Lake City hawed aa Increase of II per cent. "Such a record should shock any city Into action. "Last September, Mayor Wallace and the city commission. In response to an Insistent demand by The Salt Lake Telegram, made the moot substantial approach to traffic aalcty that has yet been made. It centralised and concentrated aatety responsibility respon-sibility In the hands of a traffic safety committee, which evolved Into a traffic safety commission. It la unfortunate, but true, that this committee has done little more than place itself in position to do something about traffic slaughter. It has not begun to approach the problem of making your streets safe for " nedeetrlans snd motorists alike. . . . "Last September The Telegram set down a list of general hasards to traffic safety la Salt Lake City. Each of these general gen-eral groupings embraced or surgested smaller hasards which must bo eliminated before traffic safety is attainable. These hasards still exist, will exist until the traffic eommlssloa and the law enforcement agenciea wipe them out by sound public practice ..." That, then, wai the situation as to traffic safety in Salt Lake rity . v..r ..n today. Let ui look at the record of 1939. in the , light of the situation pictured in The Telegram editorial at the first i of last year. Instead of 41 traffic deaths, we nay. 22 almost a M per cent reduction, and a M-year low. . Instead of one of the most shsmeful traffic records .1 any elty la the United States, it la probable that when national fatality fa-tality records are completed Salt Lake City wUl bay. a better than average record. Instead ef aa Increase In deaths ever the previous year, compared with a national decrease of 2. per cent. Salt Lake City In 1939 had almost a 5. per cent decrease, compared with a national decrease which probably will amount U not mora thaa X per cent That li a record of safety accomplishment of which Salt Lake City can be proud. It proves that the traffic safety commission, which a year ago had "not begun to approach the problem, has during 1930 not only approached it, but. in large meaiure. so lved It It proves that public officials have accepted their responsibility for achieving traffic safety and have cooperated in the effort to ecure it .... The close of the city's safest traffic year since 1925 a year In which traffic deatha were cut almost in half calls for personal congratulations to a number of officials and citizens whose interest - and effort has made possible the city's outstanding safety achieve- menThe Telegram, on its own behalf and on behalf of the people of Salt Lake City, offers its thanks to the following: John M. Wallace, who Tuesday retired as mayor and chairman of the traffic commission, has made traffic safety his official and personal concern. . .... Chief of Police William C. Webb, who has been directly responsible re-sponsible aa head of the police department for traffic law enforcement enforce-ment and, to a considerable extent, for engineering improvements. Sergeant Harvey C. Peirce, who, as head of the police traffic division, has been directly responsible for enforcement C. G Woolley, assistant city engineer, who has been largely responsible for safety engineering work in the city. Judge Reva Bock Bosone. who, in the handling of traffic cases In police court, has given the whole-hearted judicial cooperation which li essential to successful enforcement George French, secretary of the traffic commission, who, through personal contact and public talks, has carried on a worthy program of safety education. City Commissioners George D. Keyser, William Murdoch. P. H. Goggin and John B. Matheson, who have cooperated in the safety effort by providing finances for better engineering and enforcc- i Last, but not least, the following membes of the city traffic commission: B. C. J. Wheatlake, Fisher Harris, Charles N. Fehr, Clyde L. Van Wsgenen, Mrs. Arch J. West, Julian Bamberger, and Fire Chief Walter S. Knight. So much for the year 1939. It has been a good year In safety j and, although everything that might have been done has not been done and there are still hazards to be eliminated, the record is good I and The Telegram will not pick to pieces in this editorial of con-I con-I .,... i.tinn. ih. wnrk that has helDed make it possible. (Suffice It to say that there IS still a Job to be done. There , ARE hasards still to be eliminated, measures for safety still ta be placed la effect. We can and must have yet better enforce- ment, engineering and education and when we have them we will have a better record for safety, a greater saving la lives, k , In injuries and In property damage, la Salt Lake City. ' The Job of traffic aafety is a continuing one. Here In Salt ' Lake City the program la weU begun and ahonld bear greater I fruit in 1940. In the state as a whole, the program Is barely, started; this year, it should get Into full swing, achieving a record rec-ord for 194 comparable to Salt Lake City's record in 1939. Salt Lake City and Utah are starting a new year In which new achievements In saving lives must be realized. Each of us must renew the pledge of safety oa our streets and highways for the coming year, firmly resolved as officials and public to do the things and apend the money which will reduce the tragic toll of death and suffering. The Salt Lake Telegram again pledges itself to cooperate, to the limit of its ability, in the continuation of the traffic safety program in Salt Lake City and in Utah during 1940. |