Show statistics help cut accidents accidee ts point the way for traffic law enforcement and educational work CHICAGO the statisticians decimal point is the traffic safety experts stethoscope and is the master key to prevention of all motor vehicle ve hi 1 accidents pages of figures fractions ratios and summaries on how when where why and to whom motor vehicle accidents occur are arc vital factors in showing the traffic engineer how to reduce the hazards at a highway curve or a street intersection statistics on types of traffic conditions and drivers involved in traffic accidents point the way for traffic law enforcement activity and educational cat ional efforts the importance of statistics in the modern traffic safety program was thus described by R L forney chief statistician for the national safety council whose staff toils the year round collecting and interpret ng accident statistics to put a finger j m n every type of hazard and its rela ive importance the need for better traffic accident statistics becomes more and more acute as state and local safety programs eliminate the more obvious hazards and types of careless drivers mr forney said careless pedestrians drivers license laws are removing the grossly incompetent drivers from the highways improved street lighting fighting is reducing night accidents statistics which show that 40 per cent of all traffic fatalities are suffered by pedestrians has resulted in recent official action by the national safety council to reduce and eliminate the contribution of pedestrian carelessness to traffic accident causes but even after these more obvious causes are brought under control accidents will continue to occur and it will be necessary to probe deeper for the causes I 1 believe accurate complete statistics and records are the only means that will provide a clue to the less obvious but equally dangerous accident causes mr forney illustrated his point with reference to many studies and experiments going on in psychological medical and psychiatric laboratories to determine personal traits and physical defects of drivers and pedestrians that may provide the answer t to otherwise unexplainable accidents ci this experimental work he said will be relatively useless unless it is is reduced to statistics and records and made available to accident prevention organizations there is however mr air forney said no national pattern of a typical traffic accident each accident has a d pattern of its own peculiar because of the persons and vehicles involved and because of the location A aang dangerous erous intersection may require entirely different engineering treatment than an intersection in another city that produces approximately the same number of accidents statistics necessary local police and street engineers are handicapped severely if they do not have the statistical record and pattern of every accident that occurs at a given location As an indication of how little is known about traffic accident experience in some localities mr forney pointed out that several states and many cities do not even have laws or ordinances that require a traffic accident to be reported to local police coroners or anyone else records in every city and state should reveal to local authorities the answers to such questions as how many were pedestrians how many of the accident drivers had been drinking what is the ratio of accidents in business districts to those in residence areas how many occurred at night during the fog or rain how many came at intersections in in comparison with the total loal on straightaways what was the degree of traffic congestion was either car turning right or left armed with this and other sta information the police engineers and educators can proceed di to correct the trouble at its source |