Evening star., 1924-12-17
7AUTO|[[S BLAMED
ON STATES LAX|Ty
Conference Here DiscIoses
Lack of Safeguards Thrown
About Licensing.
BY WILLIAM ULLMAN.

That the, picture of the automobile
as the modern juggefnaut, capable of
wholesale personal injury and prop
erty damage, is chief among the relics
likely to be discarded as a result OF
opinions crystalized at the National
Conference on Street and Highway
Safety which closed it's deliberations
here yesterday is the view of those
who are reading between the lines OF
the volumes of reports being circu-
lated regarding this vital national
subject.
The opinion prevails that the auto
mobile itself has been wrongly judged
a problem. and that the real problem
in street and highway safety lies In
educating the man who stands to
benefit by the automobile.
Particular exception is taken to
pen and word pictures which reveal
the motor car as a death dealing
monster. on grounds that the real
death-dealing monster is our national
ignorance of traffic and highway
safety
Education Is Remedy.
The remedy for the true problem,
reports would indicate. is the same
for the motor car operator as for
the Standardization So far AS
the automObilist is concerned, the
suggestion is made that he be helped
= to use his car safely
The more opinions were expressed
sand the more reports were read into
sthe conference the more it became
eevident that ignorance in. street and
khighway safety is not confined to
sfoolish drivers and iaywalkers, but
sto our system of licensing, our atti-
stude toward law and order and our
sappalling lack of oo-eperA tion. The
ssafety conference itself represented
"a determined effort to eliminate the
slast- mentioned and It is Believed that
swith this obstacle partly out of the
sway it should not be long before a
snumber of workable plans will be
Sdeveloped.
Motor traffic is not being properly
sused, to boil a thousand opinions
sdown to- a few words. Here Is a
svalua Bile, yet a dangerous, thing that
shas become q national danger and
"a public menace justr-sbecause- =, the
.American people have failed TO make
"a concerted effort to- learn how TO
suse it properly.
Asks Pointed Question.
Are all the wonderful inventions
for instant communication and quick
transportation to be defeated by the
a fact that we cannot use them safely
. because we will not use them prop
A
= those who worked with him In the
development Of the conference. Here
q is the prohle n in a nutshell.
The thing progressed TO a point
. whore even the automobile manu-
faCturers themselves have reached
the conclusion that il is to their own
: interests, as we'll as to the interests
Of the country as a whole. to dis
> courage the use of cars by those who
&. will not cooperate in the interests
= of the traffic safety at all. The i'm
= pounding law ADVOCATED by the Ma
a tiunal Automobile Chamber of Com
. merce, while. severely criticized, at
a least must he construed as complete
. proof that the American car, manu-
= fa facturers see the national problem in
= the broad way it must be viewed and
= are not actuated by selfish motives.
: Licensing systems are being vigor-
a ously attacked, and in this automobile
. departments OF the various States
: are held accountable for much OF the
= death and injury that are resulting
: from misuse of automobiles and OF
. the priviregss1 of traffic : Examina-
: tions Of drivers- are the exception
: rather than the rule and, even where
> conducted. are generally criticized as
. superficial 1t is estimated that a
> very alarming percentage of persons
: now driving cars are not only ig
> norant Of the fundamentals of car
, operation, but are not mentally fen='
Il. dowed to the extent that they learn
as they blunder.
= States Must Act.
= This is an alarming situation. and
: one that calls for imme diate action.
. + orty-two State Legislatures will be
= in session during 1925, and II Is ex-
: pected that many of the ideas formu-
. lated and agreed upon at the safety
: conference, will be offered for adop-
: ton by the States before the new
= year is out If the automobile manu-
: facturers have reached a point where
i. they are willing to sacrifice certain
: sales in order to render the automo-
.bile more useful to the Nation as a