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Show TIME FOR REASON At first glance, the statement by safety authorities that speed is the Number 1 cause of highway deaths and injuries has a far-away sound of no particular immediate significance. signifi-cance. The picture of an America gone speed-crazy has been exaggerated by alarmists ever since the "flapper" days following World War I, and a good many people will find it hard to believe that our highways are a teeming chaos of , careening speed demons. As a matter of fact, most of us in the course of a day's driving, have encountered one or two insanely reckless speeders, seldom more. Certainly the pro portion is nothing like one out of ten. What, then is all th. shouting about? A careful analysis of what safety experts mean by' "speed" clears up the mystery, although it affords us little cause for complacency. Far from relieving us of personal responsibility re-sponsibility in the matter, we find the finger of accusation pointed directly at Mr. and Mrs. Average Motorist. For if speed means, as we learn, not only such clearly dangerous speeds as CO, 70 and 80 miles an hour, but also speeds of 40, 30 or even 20 miles an hour under adverse conditions, then in effect the tragic toll of , highway accidents means that a substantial proportion of us are lacking in good judgment . , That is a harsh indictment. It hits us in a very tender spot pride in our native American commonsense. As a nation, we are individualists and proud of it. We are proud of our freedom of choice, freedom of initiative, freedom to make our own decisions. Let us hope that the Number 1 highway killer is not due to our inability to exercise exer-cise good judgment, but rather to our ignorance of the conditions con-ditions affecting safe driving speeds. Let us set about correcting cor-recting this ignorance and thus halt the killing. |