The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-06-24
MOST AUTO
ACCIDENTS
ARE NEEDLESS
Long Would Have doc
tor of Safety" Degree
Conferred

24-"If every club woman in the
United States would confer on
herself the degree of Doctor OF
Safety, traffic accidents would
soon be virtually done away with,
said John c. Long, of the Nation
al Automobile Chamber of Com
merce, speaking before the Gen
eral Federation of Women's clubs
here today.
"Most accidents on our high
ways are needless, said the
speaker. "The conditions which
cause them are preventable. TWEEN
ty-eight cities lowered their traf-
fic fatality records in 1921. D&
troit and ST. Louis nearly halved
their previous highway mortality
figures. Credit for this decrease
belongs to local doctors of Safe
ty' who diagnosed the trouble and
then applied strong remedies to
bring about cOnvalescence.
"The increase of motor vehicles
to the number of 100000 in use
today has come about so rapidly
that we have been staggered by
the traffic problem, and have of
ten been led to handle in pan
icky manner d condition which
will yield to normal treatment.
1--WE have passed stringent laws,
cried for punishment of the speed
er, and demanded that traffic rule
violators be put in jail. This is all
well enough, but it is not funda-
mental. Persons who spread dis
ease should be quarantined but
that does not necessarily stamp
out the source of the malady.
Among the causes of traffic
accidents are careless driving,
children playing in the streets,
poor parking accommodations, in
sufficient Fairgrounds, bad street
lighting, lack of signs, narrow
street limits, inadequate police
force, unintelligent traffic regula
tions.
"If a boy or girl in your COM
munity is taken i'll, the doctor is
called in and makes his diagnosis.
He decides whether the trouble is
Group, or scarlet fever, or what,
before attempting to prescribe d
remedy. If child has typhoid
fever the whole water supply sys-
tenn of the town may need inves-
tigation.
'1f child is injured in an au-
tomoble accident, however, some
one may be arrested, the. police
may insist on all motorists carry
ing special cards, lew more or
dinances may be passed, but in
most communities there will be no
exhaustive examination of why
that accident occurred.
"If the club women of the
United States would confer on
themselves the degree of Doctor
of Safety, accidents would soon
be virtually done away with.
"Any woman's club can make
safety diagnosis of its own town,
and cure the accident evil. Make
a map of the city. Place a white
pin at every point where a child
accident occurred during the past
year, and a blue pin for every
adult accident on the highways.
There you have a basis for deter
mining accident causes:
care there many pins concen-
trated at certain points? Perhaps
better lighting, more signs, and
more police are needed there. Are
most of the pins in the middle OF
blocks rather than at intcrscc-
tions? Then a campaign to urge
crossing at the crossings is need
ed. Are the child pins prevalent?
Then more attention is needed in
school instruction, in home train
ing, in local Fairgrounds.
"Following this anatomy study,
which should reveal the worst of
the sore spots, should come a
study of the police records on ac-
cident cases. At what time of day
and year did these occur? Special
traffic police relief at peak peri
DDS might help. What was the APP
parent immediate cause of the ac-
cident? If speeding and careless
ness are coming more in evidence,
campaign on public opinion on
the part of the mother would be of