Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-09-20
MOTOR CAR FATALITIES.
THE Lancet's" Proposal for Re-
ducinu Them in London.


The number Of street accidents is
rising day by day, and the pedestrian
in crowded city has to keep sharp
lookout in order to cross the streets in
safety. Traffic in London, for exam
pie, says 1.-THE Lancet" is becoming so
complicated by diversity of speeds that
the foot passenger often finds it diff
cult to adapt his pace to that of the
different vehicles. 1t is easy to avoid
an approaching motor vehicle when it
is seen, but the adroitness with which
this can be done may be entirely de-
feated by the sudden appearance of
bicycle darting silently in and out of
the traffic. The fast service cyclists in
the city of London are thus Indirectly
very fruitful source of accident, and if
any scheme of fresh control of the
traffic of the streets is meditated-an
we think it is urgently called for-we
believe that the first important step
would be to regulate the presence of
bicycles in congested thoroughfares
and at busy cross points.
We believe that this view is shared
by the police. who, after all, must be
regarded as our best authorities on the
subject. The introduction of motor
vehicles has produced, of course, COM
plete revolution in street traffic, and it
is obvious that the streets which an
swered the purpose of horsedrawn
traffic, even with its enormous eXpan-
sion, are i'll adapted to the excessive
demands placed upon them by motors.
Their lines, their narrowness and their
sharp intersections, together with the
potential speed of the motor vehicle,
are, generally speaking, inconsistent
were constructed to help the pedestrian
when there was not motor vehicle on
the thoroughfare, and it is conceivable
that a reconsideration of the function,
position and plan of these safe islands
nights lead to a reduction of the ter
rors of the street.
A large proportion of the motor traf-
fic of London consists of motor omni-
buses. Since the improvements that
have been made in these vehicles, by
which they are less offensive on ac-
count of noise and smell and more COM
Portable to travel in because vibration
has been reduced, the public have ap
preciated them, and to many, no doubt,
the motor omnibus is a great conven-
means of getting about, their speed ad-
vantage is often source of annoyance.
There is some force in the suggestion
that motor omnibuses, like tramcars
should have compulsory stopping places
at certain points, and it would be a
great gain to the public safety if at all
stopping places refugees were placed
in the road, since, when the omnibus
stopped there, the opportunity of cross
ing the street with safety at that point
would be great. In the immediate
neighborhood of these stopping places
motor cabs would soon find it necessary
to slow down, and in this way two sets
of dangers would be removed. We re-
alize the difficulties which the various
kinds of vehicles using crowded streets
have introduced into the problem of
urban traffic, and the faulty also of
making suggestions without complete
knowledge of the complex circum-
stances which surround the question,
but the fatality toll of the motor vehi-
Gle is becoming a very serious matter.
The time has arrived, we think, when |
close consideration should be given to
the fact that there is now running in |
our streets a fast and dangerous traffic |
for which these streets were never con-
structed. The metropolis bids fair to
excel the other cities of the country in |
its risk to the life and limb of pedes-
TRANS, and for this reason the question
should receive practical consideration in
London. Again, any remedial meas
ures which prove effective in London
will certainly work well in less crowded
places and under simpler conditions.
Fatal jump from Automobile.