OCR Text |
Show Narrow Roads Cause Of Traffic Accidents The death rate on the highways of Southern Utah continues, and it is time that something was done to curb this terrible slaughter. Sixteen people have already lost their lives this year on the highways of Iron county, and if that rate is maintained main-tained through the balance of the year, more people will have been killed on the highways than were lost In combat during the entire four years of war. State Road Commission statl-cians statl-cians have released figures purporting pur-porting to show Hiat very few accidents ac-cidents lu.ve been caused by the condition of the roads, and that a major portion of them are caused through the fault of the driver, or from mechanical defects of the cars involved. However all Uie statistics in the world cannot change the fact the narrow roads of this part of Utah are the cause of most of the accidents. True, there are other contributing factors such as drivers falling to handle their cars properly, proper-ly, but the fact remains that in most, of these cases no accident would have occured had the driver been given a reasonable amount of space In which to drive. The accident Sunday that co.st three lives resulted when Uie driver of one machine got off the oil and skidded on the soft shoulder, and the driver of the other car was un-able un-able to avoid a crash because he could not control his car when he got off the narrow strip of oil. There has been collision after collision on these highways when some little thing went wrong when drivers were attempting to pass each other with bearly room enough to squeeze by. Propeprty owners tnd wage earners earn-ers are paying the highest taxes In the history of the country, and It Is about time that they began to see greater benefits from their taxes. The State Department of Publicity and Industrial Development would do well to see to It that our highways high-ways are made safe for the visitor they attract to our state, before they seek to divert road money to other purposes. People from states with good wide roads are not safe on the narrow "trails" theji must travel through Southern Utah to reach the scenic attractions Hut bring them Into nir state. Lives ore too valuable, and this situation Is too serious to have the matter Ignored longer by those in t pohitlon to do something about it. |