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Show The Road to the Cemetery When the final and official figures fig-ures are tabulated, it will probably be found that the automoible death tell in 1937 reached a new-all-time record, exceeding the 1936 slaughter with its 37,000 vic-ims. vic-ims. Ther is no reason for being surprised sur-prised at the continued increase. Each year cars are made faster and mere powe:ful and a dangerous danger-ous percentage of them become the property of drivers who couldn't be trusted to operate a bicycle safely. saf-ely. Roadways and surfaces are improved, thus offering a new temptation to excessive speed. And the nuT.ber of accidents in which John Barleycorn is a factor tends o rise steadily. This doesn't mean, that the auto-rrabile auto-rrabile accident toll cannot be reduced. re-duced. It can be but it is going to ke action, not words. The individual responsibility of each motorist when he slides behind the wheel of a projectile weighing a ton or two and capable of doing eighty miles an hour, must be driven driv-en home. Law enforcement must be s'rengthened. The "fixer" of traffic violations must be eliminated elimin-ated It must be realized that driving driv-ing a car on. the public highway is a privilege, not a right to be abused abus-ed and license laws must be more I stringent. Finally, tnere must be I swift and sure punishment for the reckless or drunken driver. There are seve.al hundred thousand thous-and graves in this country that constitute mute testimony, of our past laxity in controlling the automobile. auto-mobile. Unless public demand forces for-ces a change, you 'may fill one of the thousands of new graves that, figuratively speaking, will be dug by motorists in the years to come. |