Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-10
THE SHAME OF 1T

A N ASSOCIATED PRESS dis
"A patch from the city of Butte
tells a sad story of a man walking
along the highway toward Anacon-
da-that the unfortunate man was
struck by an automobile and hurled
fifty feet into a ditch. And this is
not all. The driver is reported to
have continued at high speed re-
CARELESS of the fate of his victim.
Whether the story is true or
not, incidents just about like it are
happening all over this country and
our people are doing little to stop
the terrible loss of life which is
resulting day by day.
Jazz automobile drivers and
reckless speeding are causing aw-
full results. The shocking figures
which give totals of automobile &C
cidents in the United States ought
to cause immediate action in a
thousand communities and in every
state in the Union. In the year
1921, automobile accidents caused
the death of 1880 persons. One
person was killed every AZ minutes
day and night. More than 100000
persons were injured. The fatali-
ties on our highways last year were
more than the American dead in
the Spanish-American war, while
the injured far outnumhered our
ri, 900 wounded in the world war.
That our people are constantly be-
coming more reckless is shown by
the further fact that although acct
dents on our railroads are decreas-
ing, automobile smashups in 1921
increased four per cent over those
of 1920.
Interesting figures are given OF
an investigation made by the Balti'
more & Ohio railroad. 1t placed
men at crossings where large num-
bers of automobiles pass. These
observers took down the machines
crossing, including the license mum
bers of those who failed to take
any precaution. In 1920, these OBJ
servers recorded $4,000 vehicles
and according to their records, u.s.
900 drivers failed to take any pre-
cautions at highway crossings. II
one month of this year, 1917 au'
tomobiles were checked by the
railroads observers and 1872 driv
ers were reported as having failed
to stop, look or listen before cross
ing the tracks.
Of course, the American people
will stop this wholesale killing aft
er a while. Why there is so much
delay, no one can tell.
There are movements under way
but they seem to proceed slowly
The Highway Education Board o:
Washington has just issued invita-
tions to fifty representatives from
each of seven groups concerned II
highway safety and it is reported
that there are coming in a delug'
of suggestions for incorporation il
a national safety campaign plan tc
retard the accident and death toll
of the country due to traffic mis-
haps. 1t is said that almost with
out exception replies indicate al
e~agerness for such a campaign
Groups requested to offer sugges
tons include students, teachers, su
perintendents of schools, automo
bile clubs, chambers of commerce
police officials and automobile
dealers associations. The observ
ance of Seven days of safety" ant
the distribution of pledges o
carefulness" among pedestrians
and drivers is one of the sugges
tons that has come in. Octobe
8 to IA is named as a date for tn,
observance of these days of safety
The people of Montana are sure
ly interested. W. have speeding
upon the streets of Great Falls ev