Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-08-02
OFFICIAL URGES
FAIR PLAY FOR
AUTOMOBILES
Secretary of State of New
York Declares Motor Car
Drivers Are Wrongly
Blamed for Accidents.

Every one must deplore the waste !
of life and limb as result of highway |
accidents and would welcome any |
practical suggestion by which it is
likely to be reduced" said Mitchell May
secretary of state of New York, the
other day. But no good purpose is
served by attempting to throw the
whole blame on motor car traffic. 1t is
true that Of the total accidents, fatal
and otherwise, last year nearly IS per
cent were attributable to motor We
hicles and that the proportion is con-
siderably higher than 1t was the pre-
ceding year. But it is equally true that
horse drawn vehicles were responsible
for 80 per cent; and that fact suggests
that just as the evil is not confined to
motor vehicles so the measure to be
taken to remedy it must not be consid-
cred with reference to them alone.
1T further suggests that since horse
drawn vehicles mainly fall under the
category Of slow traffic, the remedy is
not to be found in the wholesale impo-
sition of speed limits as is often sug-
gested. The fallacy of the speed limit
is that it acts as a sort of license per-
hitting the drivers to drive up to the
speed it specifies in places at which it
is in force, whereas the safe speed is
often, perhaps generally, function not
so much of the place as of the circum-
stances existing at the moment.
Speed limits, in fact, tend to make
the driver suspend the exercise of his
own judgment and act under the sane
ton of a supposed authority, and the
way to stop accidents is not to estab-
fish artificial restrictions which cannot
meet every case, but to allow the driver
free scope for his own judgment and
hold him fully responsible for what
ever happens in consequence Of what
he does. Relentless prosecution should
follow every example of dangerous,
reckless and even grossly inconsderate
driving; and for really serious offenses
that are proved beyond doubt the cul-
prits should be imprisoned without the
option of q fine and should be prohib-
tied from driving either for a substan-
tial period or perpetually.
Difficult to Convict.
mo doubt, as many persons COM
plain, 1t is more difficult to obtain a
conviction for dangerous driving than
for exceeding the speed limit, because
in the one case it is a matter of opinion
and in the other it is or should be a
question of fact; but that only max es
conviction of the former kind, when
obtained, more valuable and effective
, than one for an offense which is COM
monty looked upon as purely nominal
and which is committed by most mo-
florists habitually and probably by all
occasionally.
Those who think that speed is the
great cause of street accidents might
do worse than considering the posi-
billy of establishing their case by
facts, instead of relying upon vague
denunciations. There is room and there
should be material for a systematic in
vestigation of the subject. Presumably
coroners' inquests were held on each
! of the hundreds of deaths that were
recorded last year as the result Of
street accidents; and a critical scrutiny
of the evidence given and the verdicts
returned at those inquiries ought to
show how far the accidents were rea-
sonably Attributable to the speed at
which the vehicles concerned were
| travelling.
inserted in the law because obviously
vehicles must be allowed to move at
one speed above walking pace If they
are to serve the needs of the COM
munity and IL the roads are not to be
hopelessly congested. Otherwise, an
easy method of abolishing street acct
dents from vehicles would be to abolish
traffic.
| HOnn vyl1a nP Il,
the number of accidents caused by
motor vehicles is the increase in the
number of such vehicles. Whether the
ratio by which the mischief wrought by
them has increased is or is not greater
than that by which their numbers have
increased 1t is impossible to say in the
absence Of proper statistics. But even
If II Is greater, nothing is thereby
proved as to their great intrinsic dan
gerousness in comparison with horse
drawn vehicles.
ITO be worth making, the COMPARE
son must be upon equal terms and
must take account of the important
factor that the mileage of which motor
vehicles are capable in a given time is
far larger than that which can be ac-
complished by horse drawn vehicles;
motor vehicle has much greater oppor-
tunltifs OF doing damage than any
single horse drawn vehicle. What is
wanted is a statement Of the number OF
accidents causeG by the two types per
1000 or 10000 miles run.
IF the data required for this pur-
pose were forthcoming year by year II
would become possible to make some
thing like a fair contrast between the
dangerousness of animal and mechan-
ical traffic, and to say whether the
danger is increasing in either case, con-
ceivably it would be found that when
account were taken of distance travel
by the motor vehicle is the less harmful
of the two.
In New York City last year 2O2 ia
tai accidents were caused by horse-
drawn vehicles and 420 by motor We
hicles.
1T has recently been stated that in