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Show 'The Luckless Legion' Gives Statistics on Perils of Driving Considerable food for thought on the part of the driving public is contained in a little booklet titled "The Luckless Legion." Its pages are filled with statistics ' regarding the perils and dangeirs of driving on America's highway's and the foolish things continually continu-ally done by the drivers themselves. them-selves. A brief summary might bs interesting to the readers of the Review. In 1958 there were 36,700 people killed in automobile accidents in the United States. Nearly 50 percent per-cent of them were killed in collisions col-lisions with other automobiles and only 3 per cent killed in collisions with railroad trains. Last year in the United States 2,825, 000 people were injured in accidents involving automobiles and collisions with other automobiles auto-mobiles oaused 73 per cent of them. Collisions with pedestrians caused 9 per cent of the reported injuries. Drivers who violate the traffic laws killed 29,700 people in 1953 ' and injured 2,414,000 others. Exceeding Ex-ceeding the speed limit caused 41 per cent of the deaths. In second sec-ond place was "Did not have the right of way," with 25 per cent and reckless driving caused 10 per cent of the deaths. As far as pedestrians are concerned, con-cerned, 2,700 were killed while "jay-walking" iand 610 met their death while coming from behind parked cars. Only .3 of one per cent were killed while standing on a safety zone. Young drivers are the best candidates can-didates for the "Luckless Legion" Those between the ages of 18 and 24 caused 18 per cent of .the accidents. ac-cidents. And contrary to common belief, drivers 65 and over oaused only 3 per cent of the reported vehiclar mishaps. No attempt was made in the report to estimate 'the comparative compara-tive number of male and female drivei-s; but 84 per cent of the accidents were causd in 1958 by men and only 16 per cent by women. Eighty-six per cent of those who died were riding in passenger passen-ger oars and only 9 per cent in trucks and other commercial ve-Qiicles. ve-Qiicles. In 1958, 96 per cent of the fatal and non-fatal accidents were caused by oars in good condition and only .5 of one per cent by blowout or tire failure. In 1958, 31,000 people were killed kill-ed when the weather was clear and only 690 in fog. More people were killed last year on Saturday than on any other day of the week, Friday was the next fatal day and then Sunday. Weekend holidays were the most fatal. Of the 24 hours of ibhe day, more people were killed during .the period 4 to 5 p.m. In conclusion the writers of the booklet sum up the lessons to be learned as follows: A, study of the tables should convince you that the great majority ma-jority of casualties occurred in accidents for which the driver was directly responsible. We cannot can-not blame slippery roads or bad weather. We cannot blame inexperienced in-experienced drivers or decrepit vehicles, nor can we blame the (horsepower of the vehicle itself. We can blame the driver who misuses the horsepower, who uses clear weather 'and dry roads as an excuse to "step on it," who refuses re-fuses to recognize! the rights of others on the highway and who uses his car to bully pedestrians. |