, 1923-06-21
MISHAPS BLAMED
ON PEDESTRIANS
Greatest Number of Victims Of
Accidents Are Children in
Congested C~enters.


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"It may not be so far-fetched as 1t
might at first appear, to say hat since
motorists enjoy the advantage of swift
transportation as compared with the
facilities enjoyed by the pedestrian, a
good deal of the responsibility for In
%structing the pedestrian might proper
iy become, II not exactly our duty, then
at least a ask of chlvalry or %good-fel-
iowship, or whatever you chose to call
It."
If an Illustration were needed of the
truth that very much depends on the
point of view, you have only to remem-
Der that when you drive you are an
noyed by and displeased with the pc
destrian. But when 1t happens that
you, yourself, travel about the city on
foot, don't you frequently lose patience
with the motorists who compel o to
walt at street corners or splash mud
on your immaculate spats?
Honest Indian, now, don't o often
feel really n thoroughly peeved at
them? An hour later you are yourself
seated behind the steering wheel of
your own machine and now 1t is again
the pedestrian who comes in for your
actions.
Danger to Children.
In New York city, not long ago, the
police department, in investigating T.
327 automobile accidents involving
passenger automobiles driven either by
their owners or by ~chauffeurs, ascer-
tanned that only in 450 cases was the
driver to blame. In 3,16S cases 1t was
established beyond a reasonable doubt
that the injured person was RESPONSE
BILE for the mishap-and in 300 cases
the cause of the accident remained I'M
determined.
After this the department carried on
an investigation of 1,209 accidents in
which taxicabs were involved. Here
the responsibility was placed oil the
driver in 81 cases, while in 437 cases
the responsibility was traced to the In
jured person, while in 721 cases 1t was
impossible to settle the question of re-
sponsibility.
One feature that renders the contem-
plation of the list of automobile acct
dents a particularly depressing affair
Is that, In the cities at least, by far the
greatest number of victims of automo-
bile mishaps are children who thus pay
the penalty that life in ~congested cen
tiers exacts from the young. In the
child's mind play Is just as important
as the business mans errand Is to the
business man or the physicians hur-
ried trip to the patient. 1t Is not only
futile, but unreasonable to expect a
child to act with the mature judgment
of a grown-up. Rather the motorist
must think for himself as well as for
the unframed mind of the youngster
who has no idea Of a cars speed or of
the dangers that threaten him when
he runs In front Of n rapidly moving
vehicle.
one thing Is certain, however. IL the
casualty list is not substantially re-
duced n maze of restrictive laws will
he enacted which will hamper every
thing and everybody connected with
motoring.
Fatalities Intolerable.
at Is the plain opinion OF the ordi-
nary citizen and of most civic authGrl-
ties that something will have to be
done to keep motor mlshaps within rea-
sonable bounds. and the sooner we all
agree on safety measures that lend
themselves to universal application, the
better served will be the cause of mo-
toring,' says a writer In Motor Life.
Let us be reasonable all around. If
such an attitude Is fair for the motor
list, It would help If 1t were also more
generally adopted by the pedestrian"
When the motorist is told that he is
not entitled to preferential treatment
on the highway, the statement. secure
ly hammered into every motorists con-
seriousness, simply must induce greater
care on he part Of the driver.
Any one of n dozen minor things-a
wet spot on the pavement. the sudden
swerve of another car, n mere slip on
the part OF the pedestrlan-and anoth-
er accident is chalked up against the
automobiles account.