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Show .,' Walk Carefully Sav. a Lifel 'THE new year Is only 10 days old, but already. I It's necessary for the people of Salt Lake I City and Utah to take stock of where they are heading in traffic safety in 1940. ! Wa won't even concern ourselves with a 1 comparison with Idaho's traffic toll so far this year In line with the safety competition inaugurated inaug-urated between the two states for 1940 because the comparison Is pitiful for Utah. Already Utah has seven deaths, compared with five at the same date last year. That's bad enough, but figured another way It Is much worse. If we are tn cl tnnggtorr In the state, we cannot average more than 13 deaths a month in 1940. Yet at the rate we are going so far in January, we will have 21 deaths this month. Salt Lake City lUelf, fountalnhead of the safety movement, Is the black sheep of the family with two fatalities, compared to none at the same time last year. If that average of two deaths in 10 days were maintained throughout through-out the year, we would have a record toll of 72 for the year, compared to 22 In all of 1939. It's something for citizens of Salt Lake to think about and to do something about. Unfortunately, atudy of the two 1940 fatalities fa-talities In tnls city Indicates that there Isn't much authorities could have done to prevent them. Both were pedestrian fatalities of elderly persons, and police investigation showed that in both caaes motorists were not primarily at fault. In one case an 81 year-old man was walking diagonally across a main-traveled street, not at . an intersection. He apparently was not on the lookout for the car which struck and killed him, and the motorist because of poor visibility , was unable to see him until he appeared sud- ' denly directly in the vehicle's path. In the other, a 61-year-old man was walking across a busy thoroughfare In. the middle of the ! block, and reportedly stepped from In front of a parked car into the path of an auto. Accord- big to the investigating patrolman, the deceased did not have the right of way and did not keep proper lookout. , Safety experts and police can do little to prevent such traffic fatalltfes. All the stop- ! lights and pedestrian lanes and motor law ere i foreement In the world probably wouldn't have saved their lives. The same thing Is true of I kali of the city's fatalities last year. Of 22 deaths, IT were pedestrians and the big ma- jorlty of those pedestrian deaths were primarily the fault of the victims themselves. It; is manifestly impossible to slow down automobile traffic to five or 10 miles an hour throughout the city In order to Insure safety I for careless pedestrians jaywalking blindly across dark streets. It is physically Impossible to light all streets sufficiently so that such Jaywalking pedestrians could be easily seen by motorists and even such lighting wouldn't pre- i vent death for a pedestrian dodging from behind be-hind a parked car. U S going IO lane more man engineering or enforcement of speed and driving laws to stop this pedestrian toll. One point of attack might i be a city ordinance against jaywalking, and j strict enforcement of such a law with arrest of pedestrians who violate it. But most important weapon In the drive for pedestrian safety, which statistics prove Is so badly needed, js education and more education pounding home to every resident ot the city the folly of walking carelessly .across streets. Pedestrians MUST accept their share of responsibility re-sponsibility for preventing traffic fatalities. They must cross streets only at painted crosswalks cross-walks or at intersections, where they have the right ot way. For their own sake, they should keep a sharp lookout even when crossing at proper Intersections especially so at night when visibility is poor and the motorist, no , matter- how careful, may fail to see the pe- destrlan in time. Salt Lake. City's traffic safety record for ; 1940 is In the hands ot pedestrians, more than i of motorists or officials. The record In 1939 proves that Whereas vehicle accident fatalities were reduced from 18 to five last year over 1938, pedestrian fatalities were reduced only from 25 to 17. Since August 21, last year, there has been NOT ONE VEHICLE ACCIDENT ' FATALITY in Salt Lake City. The last 12 deaths have ALL been pedestrians, and in most of them the motorist has not been at fault. ' Let's make our 1940 safety slogan In Salt Lake City: Save a life YOUR life In Salt Lake City, by WALKING carefully! |