El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-10-28
SIMPLE TRAFFIC
RULES REQUIRED
Many Accidents Are Due
To Complicated Laws
of Present Time.

washington. Oct. 2S--We now have
10 much automobile law. The next trend
must be toward the elimination OF all
unnecessary requirements and the en-
actment OF a few simple rules and regu-
lations that may be easily understood
easily enforced. and. as nearly as pos
able. universally observed SUCH an
elimination would in many instances DO
av-av with about three-fourths Of our
present laws"
President H u. Rowe. Of the Ameri-
car Automobile association thus sets
forth the present problem Of the motor
ear owner. Continuing the head Of the
national organization says
Traffic rules and regulations are yet
an their formative period Much re-
mains 10 be done before avoidable ac-
cidents NAV be reduced TO minimum
The principal difficulty IS the unWllI-
fugness Of the public to accept and obey
such rules and regulations " ME mere
Tas been some change in its attitude
within the last year or 50. there sun re
mains n immense amount OF eauCd-
ffoual work before We can nope 70 Sc
r11re that cooperation from the pupllc
--hfrF, is necessary to the efficient
working out OF any set OF rules LOT tne
read and the government OF It's lraIIlc
ct is needless TO say that the motor
lists themselves deplore most keenly the
steadily increasing number OF accidents
end fatalities occasioned by the use OF
the motor car. but the people nave hob
ve+ come TO fully realize that these ac-
cidents are the result Of negligence on
the part OF the public to observe me
simplest rules Of personal saIety raliler
than neglect on the part OF the motor
ist The utter disregard OF his personal
safety shown by the average lndlV oas ~
-r~-r~ no ~
IT is a matter Of undisputed record
that between 80 and 95 percent OF al
the accidents that occur result from the
NEGLECT of the individual pedestrian ana
less than ; percent are caused by me
direct fault of the mOtorist or the reck-
less use of the motor car Lying De-
tween these figures somewhere are
from to ; percent OF the accluenls
where both parties are responsive
simple as II may seem . set or IraI-
ffc rules and regulations that VIII work
cut in practice are not easy 10 prepare
II follows that rules and regulations
which viii work out are those that VIII
permit vehicles and individuals 20 move
with the largest degree OF IreeuoIn
without coming IN contact with eacn
ether Through our legislative boaro
We have set bout cOdifrlng Such a
practical set OF traffic rules that may
be easily understood and enforced We
are hopeful that they will be generally
adopted. OF course. there VIII be rnool-
ffrations in different instances, and OF
course they Will be attended by varying
degrees Of success in their enforcement
and in promoting the purpose OF their
enactment; bat we believe that a sub
stantiaI uniformity can be established
throughout the country
with the fatalities caused by the
carelessness Of motorists now reduced
70 less than 5 percent Of the whole. II
the proper cooperation Of the public can
be secured. cannot we reasonably hope
10 reduce the 90 percent OF fatalities at
trfbutabIe to the carelessness Of indi-
viduals TO percent. In any event a
limited number of unavoidable acCi-
dents will occur but IL does not seem
unreasonable that OF each Zoe accidents
now occurring. 30 OF them may be
avoided. Surely such a possibility should
be a sufficient incentive for putting
forth our best efforts