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Show STILL WORSE THAN WAR! About a year ago the fact that more persons were killed in automobile automo-bile accidents during an 18-month period than were killed in the A. E. F. in the World War, was extensively commented upon. Now, according to a booklet issued by the Travelers Insurance In-surance company, automobile accidents acci-dents are still worse than war. During Dur-ing 18 months of the World War, 50,510 American soldiers were killed in action or died of wounds, and 182,-674 182,-674 were wounded, not mortally. In the 18 months ending December 31, 1931, 53 650 people were killed in automobile au-tomobile accidents and 1,576,840 were injured. The Travelers' booklet emphasizes some information that every motorist and pedestrian should know. During 1931 deaths increased 3.3 per cent over 1930, in spite of a reduction in the total- number of accidents. Severe injuries likewise increased, despite a reduction in the total numbers of persons per-sons injured. This apparent contradiction contradic-tion is laid to the increasing speed with which we drive. Cutting in, violation vio-lation of the right-of-way laws, driving driv-ing on the wrong side of . the road, skidding and driving of the roadway, were likewise responsible for many deaths. More than 42 per cent of deaths were caused when a car struck a pedestrian. pe-destrian. Collisions with fixed objects ob-jects accounted for 12.1 per cent, and collisions with other cars, 24.9 per cent. In the case of injuries, 53.1 per cent occurred when cars struck each other, and 29.8 per cent when they struck pedestrians. These facts are of immense value to the thoughtful motorist. They show the primary causes of accidents and, consequently, suggest means of eliminating elim-inating them. Drastic steps must be taken if we are to lower the horrible and steadily increasing toll of traffic traf-fic deaths and injuries. |