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Show i Automobile Is Responsible fn spite of the fact that 31000 people were killed last year by auto-! mobiles, the general accident siu- J ation affords grounds for optimism.' Accidents among children of school age have increased less than one-tenth cf one per cent in the last seven years. Less than 100 ' passengers, were killed while tra- j veling on all the American railroads rail-roads in li):!0. Hundreds of ouvjj large industrial concerns have made S remarkable records in reducing their Accident rates both in frequency fre-quency and severity. A multitude of smaller plants are establishing one, two and even five-yeear "no-accident" "no-accident" records. Had it not been for the tragic increase of deaths and injuries due to the automobile, the national accident rate would now be 30 per cent lower than it was 17 years ago. The crux of the entire matter is that we have made good progress in preventing all kinds of accidents except those for which motor cars are responsible. Safety work and instruction in schools and industries, fostered and encouraged by casualty insurance companies, has been the means of saving thousands of lives in the last decade. This work is being carried on with increasing intensity and vast progress will be recorded in the future. The automobile accident record will not be reduced until we take decisive means to keep the reckless, the irresponsible, and both the mentally and physically incompetent incompe-tent from the public highways, where they menace the lives and j I property of all other motorists. |