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Show WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER PERMITTED A few months ago a great passenger liner burned at sea, with a loss of life totaling about 150. Recently a crack Canadian passenger train tore onto a siding and telescoped a "holiday special." A score of people died. Each of these tragic incidents was headlined in newspapers news-papers throughout the civilized world. Millions of people were literally horror-stricken. Public and private bodies immediately im-mediately started inquiries in an effort to fix the blame and punish those who were guilty. The whole force of public opinion, backed by the authority of the law, determined that everything be done to make certain that there would be no more similar accidents. Yet those killings, horrible as they were, were infinitesimal infinitesi-mal compared with a form of accident which the public accepts ac-cepts with complete indifference the automobile killings. Last year, incompetent, reckless or careless drivers and pedestrians pe-destrians accounted for a killing every 15 minutes, and an injury every 31 seconds. The year showed a record killing in the United States of 36,000 and an injury total of 1,000,-000. 1,000,-000. What would the public have done if the railroads and steamships had killed 36,000 persons in one year? Practically every accident, whether it resulted in killings or only in scratched fenders, is the result of the human element. ele-ment. Ninety per cent of automobile drivers are safe, careful care-ful and competent. Ten per'cent are reckless, careless or incompetent. in-competent. And that ten per cent menace the lives, health and property of us all. If one steamship accident or a bad railroad accident, killing comparatively few people, causes revolutionary legislation legis-lation to protect the public, what should be the safety program pro-gram resulting from 36,000 automobile killings in one year? |