Evening star., 1924-09-11
Article ".

Article ".
1t is a tradition in Washington that
the solution of any problem must be
preceded by a period of 'surveying"
and "collating." The available data
must just be gotten together, and it
just must be collated, and then it
just must be redistributed; and
presto. you have the solution. This
formula provides an excellent occu-
patton and living for the professional
secretary who. when he isn't a news
a near economist, who ought to know
better. Quite number of our great
national problems have been solved
in this fashion.
A survey Of the available data
with regard to the traffic situation
and accident prevention, however,
leaves our former newspaper man, or
our near economist high and dry, so
to speak. There is, as a matter of
fact, mighty little of it, and what
there is is rarely comparable. At
States which might be called really
advanced in this regard; they are
the States of Massachusetts,, Con-
necticut and Maryland. True, other
States are following their lead and
passing legislation which will make
the data necessary to successful
accident prevention program obtain
able, but these three States easily
lead the rest in recognition of the
situation. AS a result. Stoeckel of
Connecticut, Goodwin of Massa-
chusetts, and Baughman of Maryland
are as popular as topics Of conversa-
tion among students of traffic as the
eighteenth amendment is in the
smoking compartment OF any Pull
man. These lads have succeeded in
producing figures which at least indi-
cate trends if nothing else.
But much as we may dislike the
statistician who moves in an atmo-
sphere too rarefied for minds of COM
mon mold, statistics. and uniform
statistics at that, are a necessity to
solution of the traffic problem and to
a national policy of accident preven-
ton. 1t can easily be shown that
uniform system of reporting acci-
dents is an absolute fundamental in
any program having that end in view.
AS in everything else. accident pre-
yention is dependent on past accident
experience, and the information must
be comparable.
Accident statistics develop the
cause, location, frequency and sever
factors in the equation known, the
solution is perceptibly nearer. They
are, for example, essential to the
preparation of a spot map. This is
a large map of the city or State, on
which every accident is recorded.
1t establishes geographic areas of
frequency. With it the authorities
know where to look for causes which
in many instances can be eliminated.
Yet, curiously enough, the spot map
often shows the greatest frequency
to be located on straight level
stretches. There is only one answer
to this-increase the traffic police pa
troll and bring in the speeders and
the reckless drivers.
+ X X X
Accident statistics in States like Con-
necticut, where they have been gath
cred from every conceivable angle,
tell us all sorts of things. They
tell us whether legislation should be
directed at maximum speeds or at
reckless driving. Apparently more
accidents occur at low rates of speed
than at high. One can be quite as
reckless going Is miles an hour~*as
at 40 miles an hour. Also 1t seems
that more fatal accidents occur out
side the cities than in them.
Available figures tend to establish
the fact that. although traffic may be
about the same at the peak hour
in the afternoon as at the peak hour
in the morning, there will be from
two to four times as many motor
vehicle accidents during the after
noon as during the morning. The
only answer to this seems to be
fatigue, as 1t is in industrial acci-
dents. Neither the motor vehicle
driver nor the pedestrian is as alert
in the late afternon hours as he
is in the morning hours. It is a bad
combination.
In Connecticut 35 per cent of all
accidents occur during the three