The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-09-15

WASHINGTON, D. c., Sept. IS
When YOU see a straight stretch of
road in front of you, don't speed up.
You are going fast enough already.
Every time you decide to open the
throttle and burn the road for while,
you are in a measure risking your
own life and the lives OF other people.
At least, that seems 10 be the opin-
ion of soMe expctJ observers of auto
mobile traffic, who are trying to solve
the ever-growing accident problem. For
exemple, Harry d. Willar, assistant
chief enginee. of the Maryland State
Roads Commission, finds that most of
the accidents il that state occur on
straight stretches OF the best road, and
not at intersections or at curves. Pass
ing on such stretches is a leading
cause of accidents. Sometimes the
faulty driving or Judgment of the man
who is trying to pass another car is
the cause, and about IS often it is due
to the failure of the nan ahead to
give right of way.
Willars observations directly con-
tradict the statement which has often
been made that most accidents on
cul ldCCu lOduS DIE 'tNC W
They concur, however, with the opin-
ions of many other observers. The
danger increases in direct ratio as the
speed increases. Few accidents of any
moment occur in crowded traffic be-
cause everyone is going slowly, and
necessarily taking good deal of care.
Neither do many accidents occur on
rough country roads, where it is hard
to make more than Is miles an hour.
But when one car is making 80 miles
an hour on a long stretch of road, and
another tries to pass it, necessitating
speed of perhaps 40 miles, the scene
is set for an accident The man ahead
may not hear the signal, may veer to
the left after the other car is along.
side, forcing it into the ditch or over
an embankment. Then there is the car
coming from the other direction, per.
haps also at 40 miles an hour. It may
be out of sight around a curve a mile
ahead one minute, and less than a
minute later, it will be directly in
front of the two cars approaching from
the opposite direction. There are few
roads that will safely accommodate all
three cars in a row.
A Neglected Subject
1t is amazing how little this subject
of automobile accidents has been
studied. You can find nothing but
scattered and conflicting opinions on
the subject. And yet the problem is
most serious one. Automobiles kill
more people in a year in New York
state than have been killed by Mex.
lean bandits and rebels in years
according to one authority. In four
years the number of deaths in New
! York City annually due to auto acct
dents increased from 4S3 to 1918. All
over the country it is the same. Auto
accidents kill more people than rail
road accidents and more than robbers
Automobiles are the greatest single
cause OF violent death in America, and
worse than that, the number of fatali
I ties due to them grows steadily. We
are evidently approaching an intoler
able condition. Yet no one seems to
Lave found it worth while to make a
thorough analysis of the causes of &C.
cidents. so locating the chief factors
of danger. and providing a basis for
their control.
a study of what fo,1ra.;oo on thz
| subject can be found brings out
strongly two conclusions. In the first
place, the fundamental cause of most
accidents is speeding-the misuse oil
the enormous power which a motor
car puts in the drivers hands. In the
second place. the control OF accidents
IS best accomplished, not by elaborate
traffic regulations, but by imposing
teavy penalties upon a man when he
actually causes damage by his care
lessness, and, above al, by the revok
ing of licenses for repeated offenses