The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-19
AUTOMOBILE NOW EQUALS TYPHOID AS DEATH EVIL
During The First Seven Months This Year $500
 Lives Were Sacrificed

NEW YORK, Oct. 1S.-As a killer of men, the automobile, we are informed, is more deadly than typhoid fever and runs a close second to influenza, says The Literary Digest. Except where saner influences and sounder laws are at work. it bids fair to run first. Up to August of this year, $500 lives were sacrificed. chiefly in preventable acci- dents. according to published report ot the National Automobile Chamber ot Commerce, which is in the forefront ot those engaged in attempting to lessen this waste of life, caused chiefly by careless, inefficient or reckless driving, and by ''jay walking"
 Since that news was disseminated score of other lives have been offered up to the speed god. It is grave sltu- ation, and some of the press and the agencies devoted to the preservation 0f life and health ponder it seriously. It is certainly discouraging for those en- gagged in public health work and pre- yentive medicine to find that the auto mobile is more deadly than the typhoid bacillus and that it even kills more people than alcohol does directly, de- spondently observes How to Live, the monthly journal of health and hygiene published by the Life Extension lnst- ute, New York. Millions ot dollars are being expended and there IS an I'm mense scientific effort to stamp out sUch plagues as influenza and typhoid fever and, we are told, the press IS filled with arguments as to whether alcohol IS killing more people under prohibition than it did in the days of the saloon. I of fo hot Ic n matter of prevention. It is no exag- geration, says How to Live, that 90 per cent of the deaths chargeable against the automobile are due to carelessness, stupidity, self-indulgence and ill no small degree to an exaggerated sense of i'm portance on the part of many people Life is sacrificed for speed; yet, ob- serves this little health mentor, there are actually only three good and sutfi- eient reasons for speeding-flre, accl- dent and illness.
 Speed Not Justified
 The fire department and the physician should have full right of way to speed for the purpose of saving human hie or relieving human suffering. There IS no other business occupying human De- ings so important that a speed on the hlgnWay or more IuuIl 1A'S mn hour is necessary. There is no hu- man being in this country entitled to risk human life in speeding simply be1 cause he desires to speed. There IS no niece of work any human being can possibly be engaged in, apart from the saving of life or the relieving of human suffering, that justifies driving pom derous vehicle over the public highway at il speed which is automatically pro ,!uctive of q tremendous death and accl- dent list.
 The importance of the problem IS suggested in the following tabulation, showing the number of deaths in 192l from various causes in the United States registration area comprising at that time S2 per cent of the population, pre- pared by the Life Extension institute :: Jnflenza ............. IO,l9o Automobile accidents .....'.'. .1O,IOo Typhoid fever ............s.'. S'OOt Angina pectoris .............. o,O3I CirrhOsis of liver .......'''''.' O'oSo Alcoholism .'..'' 1'oAA
 The Mounting Death Rate
 The death rate per 100000 from auto mobile accidents in 190O-191O was 1.9 By steady progression 1t has increased Tn lJZZ 10 1Z sO, or HOFe lHdh IWOl'S times the first rate quoted. Among in dustrial policy holders of the Metropali- tan Life Insurance company, we are told again, the death rate for 1923 from automobile accidents was 15.2 per 1OO,- 900, indicating that the fatalities from this cause are increasing at an alarming rate" In an examination of 3,331 motor fatalities in the first seven months of 1924 by the National Automobile Cham Der of Commerce, major responsibility was fixed in 1,554 cases. In 536 of these the fault of the motorist was major factor; in 727 the fault of the pedestrian was a major factor; in 291 cases physical conditions, such as de- feet in the road, blinding lights, or de fects in the vehicle were major factors. Yet in those cases where the pedestrian is at fault, the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce advises that the mOtorist must be ever alert, saying, Safety, alertness and courtesy, rather than insistence on right-of-way, should be the motorists rule"