Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-11-24

1T is more hazardous to walk the
streets of Washington than to ride the
skies in ZR-3," declared an officer OF
the aeronautic branch of the Navy. He
was discussing the voyage Of the great
dirigible airship which IL to be chris
tened tomorrow at Boiling Field by
the first lady Of the land" Perhaps
the officer was pre3udiced in favor of
the great airship. for he was familiar
with its mechanism and its powers to
| ride the wind Familiarity. breeds re-
spect-especially after the brilliant fight
of the Shenandoah against the angry
storm which tore il from its mast and
swept It hundreds Of miles out OF its
course, only to be conquered at last.
But the intimation of the super
hazards of the brave. who. having no
ticket for IRIS, are obliged to trust to
automobiles or to their unaided feet in
wandering amidst the perils of wash
fngton streets arouses questions of how
much we are prone to exaggerate the
dangers of what is unfamiliar, and how
woefully we underestimate the more
imminent perils
More people have shown foolhardi-
ness when looking out of bedroom
window or leaning over a porch railing
than have been injured flying the night
airmail across the continent. 1t is the
80 much safer than walking. 1t is the
overseeing of foremen and inspectors
which makes It safer to work in ma
chine shop than to rock the cradle at
home Some accident insurance COM
panies agree to quadruple the indemnity
| for an accident when 1t occurs while
| the victim Is a paying passenger upon
either a railroad train or an ocean
! steamer. ,rLandsmen who have no Ia
miliarity with the ocean think OF sea
voyage as filled with most dreadful
perils. That awful window at home. on
a calm day, is far more dangerous than
an ocean steamer in a storm.
Perhaps II the traffic police could rise
to the superb efficiency of railroad and
steamship crews in protecting automo-
| bile riders and pedestrians some enter
prising accident insurance company,
| basing action on scientific computation
of chances, would insert a clause in
| their policies to the effect that accidents
on city streets would be Unidentified
| three or four times the face Of the
| policies.
1t has been enormously stated that
the pedestrian is in greater peril than
| the driver or passenger In the deadly
automobile. Insurance statistics do
not bear out this claim. Indeed, so
much greater is the danger to the
occupants of machines. that instead
OF sympathizing with the pedestrian,
the sympathy belongs to the occu-
pant Of the car. One insurance oom-
pany shows that In 10 years 1t paid
S3,0l0,S76.1s indemnities for deaths
| OF occupants Of automobiles, and only
$1S5,5e1.31 for disabilities and $21S,
| s54 for deaths of pedestrians.
We have been SO familiar with the
| horse that we have learned to take
his kicks and bites with serenity. as
compared with the fear OF the horses
| succ essor, the automobile. This same
insurance. company paid for 2.20o
kicks last year, and for $3.50 acci-
dents while driving carriages or
wagons. The total accidents due to
horses Just about equals those due to
] automobiles. although. today, there
are many more automobiles upon city
streets than there are horses.
|
Dogs! Everybody loves dog. But
1.-The Insurance company remarks dry.
lily, "His owner always knows he will
not bite, but better-1s.sure the dog