| OCR Text |
Show SAFETY ON HIGHWAYS AND IN TOWNS SOUGHT That traffic accidents on highways, as well as on crowded city streets are happening too often, and with too serious results, is the conclusion reached by automoitve interests after careful study of the question. To aid in clearing up a difficult situation and finding a remedy for the trouble, the Traffic Planning and Safety Committee of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce is enlisting the interest and support of newspapers all over the country, asking ask-ing that in reporting motor accidents they endeavor to ascertain the cause and forward a weekly summary to the headquarters of the committee in New York. Newspapers already render a public service in reporting highway catas-trophies, catas-trophies, but that service will be more constructive when facts are developed de-veloped showing why accidents occur, oc-cur, so that the public may know where the weak spots are. In a general way, motor accidents are caused by carelessness in driving, improper traffic regulation, jay walking, walk-ing, insufficient lighting of street or vehicles, physical obstructions to view, too little playground space for children', and so on, but to what degree de-gree these factors operate has yet to be determined for most communities. communi-ties. Jn this connection, a recent statement state-ment by Thomas H. McDonald, Director Di-rector of the Bureau of Public Roads, is significant. Mr. McDonald said: "One of the big needs of the road system today is proper policing. County roads must be as well policed as city streets. Sooner or later the states will see it. And eventually the more than 2,000,000 miles of feeder feed-er roads, now under the jurisdiction of local officials, should be put in charge of the state highway departments, depart-ments, whose officials konw about road building and road maintenance." |
