The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1918-06-11
Lawbreaking On Part OF Ped
estrians And Drivers
Is Cause
INFRINGEMENT OF POLICE
REGULATION IS COMMON
Public Safety Demands More
Strict Rules OF
Traffic

accidents in Mt. Vernon in which the
lives of both pedestrians and motorists
have been jeopardized are causing To-
cal citizens and officials to consider
more thorough measures for the pro-
lection of the citizen, whether he
walks or rides, with more serious
thought than ever before in the his
tory Of Mt. Vernon.
While the ancient saying that all ac.
cidents could have been prevented is
undoubtedly true 1t is patent fact
that many accidents are not prevent
ed, and the average man wonders how
1t happens that there are not more au.
tOmObile accidents in Mt. Vernon than
there are under conditions as they ex-
list at the, present time.
Recent accidents and their causes
have created a great deal of discussion
whenever men get together on the
streets and many and varied are the
plans offered for eliminating the fac
tors that contribute to the danger of
accidents.
ACCIDENTS ARE COMMON
A local man declared Saturday that
more automobile accidents occur in
Mt. Vernon than in Columbus or other
cities much larger. In making this
statement he pointed out that the rea-
son for this condition is that there are
perhaps more automobiles operated in
Mt Vernon than there are in the aver
age city in proportion to the size of
the population.
Taking this statement as fact, and
observations of the Mt. Vernon streets
seems to bear out it's truth, the rea-
son for the accidents is plain. Mt.
Vernon has a large number of auto
mobiles. Knox county is one of the
first counties in Ohio in the number
of automobiles owned in proportion to
the total population and while other
cities prescribe certain traffic rules and
regulations and enforce them Mt. Ver-
non has been rather lax in this re-
spect. For example speeding is a
daily occurrence in Mt. Vernon des-
pite the existence of city ordinance
against it.
STOP SPEEDING
There Is no doubt but that the num-
Der of accidents would be materially
diminished If speeders were placed un-
der arrest and handed a stiff fine for
the first offense and more serious pun
ishment for subsequent cases of "burn-
ing the bricks" There is little use
to warn the "first time" speeder of i'm
pending trouble from the authorities
in case he repeats his offense because
any man with enough intelligence to
grasp the mechanical part of operat-
ing motor vehicle knows that fast
driving Is dangerous not to himself
alone but to the, pedestrian the child
that unthinkingly dashes out in the
street while at play or the older per-
son who becomes confused upon see-
ing machine approaching and is un-
able to hurry out of the way.
AID THE POLICE
Briefly, as summed up by the man,
who declared Mt. Vernon leads other
cities In the number of accidents,
speeding can be eliminated and if the
streets are to be made safe, must be.
There Ia one thing that should be born
in mind, however, concerning the
speeder and that is that Mt Vernon's
police force is not large enough to de-
tect all cases of speeding and as a re-
suit the speeder will often escape a
trip to the office of the mayor until an
aroused public conscience causes pri-
vate citizens to enlist as aids to the
police force to the extent of taking the
number of the speeding car and max
ing an affidavit against the driver.
1t is patent fact that the man, who
deliberately drives an automobile in
fast and reckless manner upon the
streets of city is just as dangerous
and criminal as the man who would
fire gun pointed down the same
street and both deserve the same pun
| ishment.
CRIMINAL PRACTICES
A brief survey of the business section
OF Mt. Vernon Saturday evening re-
suited in .uncovering the following
facts: That there were over 400 au-
tomobiles parked along the curbs on
Main street between Gambler street
and the square. on East and West
High street, while cars moved in an
almost steady string through this sec
tion of the city; that large percent
age OF these cars were not complying
with the law regarding the elimination