The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-11-12
BLACK TALKS OF ACCIDENTS
CONTINUED from Page IL

been criticized for licensing so generally
without more careful investigation. 1t
would be impossible to investigate every
application. when the licenses are re
newed every year.
However. operators are kept very close
watch of these days, and if anything
arises TO show that a driver is not fit to
operate a car he loses his license very
quickly and it is hard to get it back.
Another difficulty which the department
encounters is the rush to register ears and
get licenses at certain seasons of the year
If the weather is bad in the winter, very
few applications for licenses are sent in
until along in April. Then they all begin
to come in at once and everybody expects
to get his license within day or two.
Mr.. Black explained that it is physically
impossible to take care of all applicants
at once when they come in a rush like
that In order to be sure of having mum
Der plates and licenses when wanted, they
should be applied for at least 10 days in
advance.
Taking up the matter of accidents, AIlr
Black said 70 persons had been killed or
died of injuries received in automobile
accidents in Vermont thus far this year.
He read the list and showed. so far as
possible what was the cause of each acct
dent. In several cases, the accident was
caused by the driver attempting to do
something else while driving the car, such
thing on the car. etc. Several small chill
dren were killed, and it was hard to fix the
blame. where the child ran into the road
i'm front of a car. Reckless driving on
a curve, speeding and driving while in
.toxicated were other causes. In most
cases there was pure carelessness some
where.
Mr.. Black said that it was hard to de-
eide what to do in all cases, but what he
had tried to do was to use everybody
alike. He refused to let personalities en-
ter into the matter in the least He tried
to be fair. and to deal out justice just as
much as though he were judge upon the
bench. Two arbitrary rulings he had
found it necessary to make ID In case
a person operating an automobile kills
another person the, operators license is
automatically suspended and remains so
for at least long enough tlnte- TO NIX the
blame, if it can be fixed; % whenever
person drives an auto on to a railroad
and strikes a train, or q train strikes the
car, the drivers license is automatically
suspended. Mr.. Black said he was not
sure that this rule was responsible for
the fact that nobody has been killed on
railroad track in Vermont this year, but
he thought it might have something to do
with it.
The speaker said that he did not make
these drastic rules for the sake of punish
ing people, but for the effect which it will
have upon other drivers.
Each driver who has an accident is re-
CURED to report it to the secretary of
state. except those of such minor char
acter that they really don't amount to
anything, and the speaker created laugh
ter when he remarked that it was sur
prising to note in the reports how few
cars were going over u to 10 miles an
hour. In most cases, however, detailed
reports are received from reliable sources,
SO that nobody is fooled by an under
statement of the rate of speed
The publicity department, Mr.. Black
said, is handled. largely by Walter H.
Crockett of Burlington, who acts as state
publicity agent. This department, de-
clared the speaker is accomplishing much
for Vermont, and would ACCOMPLISH mnch