The Goodland republic., 1906-01-26
HAS TERRIBLE DEATH LIST
-AUrONGv FIVE TBEs as DAN
GEROUs As RAILROADTNG.
FIfty-Nine Persons We're KILLED Last
Year In AutOmOBiIe Accidents
What Causes Them

QGaLl-
1t is the new peril that menzees the
prosperous. Not one Of the danger i
Gus sports Of sOciety-pOlO, hunting I
big game, yachting, cross country rid
ing-has ever claimed a tfthe OF the /
sacrifices demanded by the automobile !
In the form Of human lives When 4
one person IS accidentally killed by a 1
gun or Wild beast, or BY fall from a 4
horse. or BY the loss Of a yacht there 4
are a hundred who die in autOmO-
biles
The percentage Of persons killed in 1
automobile accidents is five times 4
greater than the percentage Of per
sons killed in railway disasters The {
chance OF death on q railway train is I
one in two million per trip; the great I
er chance Of death in an automobile {
can be figured out approximately
In the last statistical year there
were us, 100000 passengers carried /
in railway trains There were Al Of
them killed, and many Of these BY try
ing to board moving trains or ia sta
tons Just $40 were killed riding on
trains. The chance Of death is, there I
fore, one in two million in a whole
year. Everybody in the United States
averaging nine trips a year, in given
trip 1t is one chance in eighteen mil
lion
There are $1,000 automobiles in
use in the United States. Last year
there were ffty-nine persons killed
while riding in automobiles Allow
ing one hundred trips a year for each
automobile, and three passengers
each time, then everybody in the
United States averages, roughly,
third Of a trip a year in an autOmO-
bile, or ne-twenty-seventh the num-
Der Of railway trips Then there
should be one-twenty-seve the
number OF deaths, or twelve deaths
But there are ffty-nine or five times
as many.
In other words, there is five times
the chance Of death in an auto as
there is in a railway train
Not a month passes that some rich
or we'll known man or woman does
not pay the penalty Of excessive speed
or faulty mechanism Almost from
the day that the automobile became
practicable thing it has been reaping
its harvest Of death and injury There
are poor men who must die, tOO-the
men who work as racing chauffeurs or
mechanics for the rich men who own
the cars. The Vanderbilt race Of 1904
claimed two; nearly every important
race abroad has its victims, as well
One French event which was pro
nounced a success in every way cost
six lives.
When De Quincy wrote his famous
Vision Of Sudden Death he wrote
in most vivid style Of the thoughts
that lean into ones mind when death
is close at hand-death in this case,
BY being killed by an OncOming stage
coach. How labored and slow it must
seem-this death at twelve miles an
hour and a chance to think, when the
death-dealing auto is dashing on at
sixty, seventy, perhaps eighty miles
an hour The twinkling Of an eye a
swerve, a crash-death!
And the transition, the suddenness
Of it all
One moment a merry party, filed
with hope and life and animation The
On-speeding automobile, the exultatiOn
Of speed, the glow Of health and
strength, the care-free passengers who
have everything that money can buy.
Perhaps at the end a merry house par
" or a lively supper or a formal dance
awaits the party Perhaps they are
sweeping homeward to a house hap
py families await them.
A rut in the road, an exploding tire,
the slip Of q bolt, a sudden turn, an
unsteady hand, an inexperienced eye
any trifle-
1t is overl
On the ground, tossed about like
| corzs, lie the bruised and broken
| bodies. Here a fractured skull, there
a crushed and broken limb. Here
mercifuI uncOnsciOusness there ex-
/ quisite agony. Death has been the
/ portion Of some; injury the lot Of
/ others The thing that did it all lies
/ somewhere about, a crushed, battered
/ mass Of steal and brass, pOwerless to
| do harm again. Such is the autO-death.
/ They have been dying this way for
| five years past and more. No one has
! been spared-the bride on her honey
moon, the mother Fastening home
I ward to her babies, the lover with his
/ sweetheart at his side, the rich man
/ keeping an appointment, the sports
/ man eager to win his race, the son
! taking his mother for a spin, the chill
dren out for their first ride, the nov
/ ice trying his new machine, the gray
beard physician hurrying to the bed
/ side Of his patient, the tourist seeing
| the sights. the millionaire out with his
friends for an afternoons pleasure
Is there a remedy?
For instance, there is speed regula-
ton. Unquestionably high speed
| causes many Of the auto deaths Tires
/ that run true at twenty miles burst at
the pressure Of sixty. AxIes that are
rigid at low gear snap when the race
i is on. stones that mean only a jolt
at low speed make a sOmersaulting
automobile when 1t is going forty
I miles an hour Ruts that would only
stop a machine going slowly upset 1t
! when it is going fast Brakes that
stop a machine running moderately
/ won't work in time to save dash
into a tree or telegraph pole when
the machine is eating up the road at
a fifty-mile clip
But all the speed regulations in the
world won't keep gasoline from ex-
pIoding- Speed regulations won Z stop
trains from running down the silent
machines that essay TO cross the
I tracks ahead Of the oncOming lOcomo-
tives Speed regulations won't stay
] the unsteady hand that turns the
steering wheel the wrong way and
makes a collision out Of what had
been meant to be perfect safety
speed regulations won't change the
hand that pulls the wrong lever, and
backs an automobile on a clih- Speed
Il regulations viii not stop steering
gears that Jam or brakes that fan OF
- IA