Evening star., 1925-08-11
AUTO DEATH TOLL
FOR YEAR GROWING.
ReckIessness at Curves and
Crossings Blamed for Most
Fatal Crashes.
BY ROBERT T. SMALL.

While official figures are not yet
available here, there is 40 longer any
doubt but that 1925 wiz outstrip all
it's predecessors in the metter OF auto
mobile deaths. This staste of affairs
Is said not to be due 50 much to in
creased recklessness In the handling
of cars. but to increased traffic on
country roads and city streets. Motor
lists associations having ttleir head
quarters in Washington Insist that
traffic is better regulated Fhls year
than ever before, and also asa5ert that
the skill of licensed drivers iSa more In
evidence, but thus far no MEANS have
been devised of dealing with ithe un-
precedented number of new ma chimes
and new operators.
Already in the District of Columbia
several thousand more machines have
been registered this year than for the
entire year of 1924, and the heavy
registration season is still To GJme.
The same condition is said to be strue
in the various States.
Travel Breaks All Records.
There never has been a SUNNI er
like the present one for tourists. The
roads are fairly black with them.
Secretary Hoover of the Department
of Commerce, returning recently from
a trip through the West, said that fhs
y
The same reports come from the
South and the East. Hotel proprietorS
say their business from overnight
tourists this year is more than double
that of & year ago.
Improved road conditions, greater
prosperity of the people as a whole,
the presence of what may be called
easy money" and the increasing de
sire of the average American family
q NJ 8 =
factors in the heavy auto travel TO be
observed everywhere.
August is the real vacation month
in the United States, and the railroads
are reporting heavy travel on their
lines in all directions. The increase
Of train tripping" however, has not
kept pace with the multiplication of
vehicles on the roads.
The latter traffic is resulting in far
more accidents than were recorded in
1924 and the toll of deaths is mounting
daily. There are not only the deaths
of pedestrians caused by automobil-
| lists, but the appalling toll being taken
of the riders themselves. Despite all
the precautions and warnings at grade
crossings the tide of death in this type
| of crash is running steadily at the
flood.
Reckless driving still is apparent on
the roads everywhere. The most
amazing thing the authorities have to
deal with in policing the roads is the
persistence with which some drivers
insist upon driving on the wrong side
OF the road. This is particularly true
at dangerous curves. The percentage
Of fatal accidents due to wrong side
| driving is both startling and discour-
aging, for this at least is one fault
| which seemingly could he remedied
| overnight by the motorists themselves.
| In many of the States particular
attention is being paid TO statistics
on this wrong side driving and when
the reckoning finally is made for 1925
| the figures are likely TO cause a sen
sation. No one knows just why a
| driver should hug" the inside of a
curve when turning to the left, or
| the outside when turning to the right.
but they do it in all too many cases
| and machine coming in the opposite
direction is too often encountered with
| disastrous results.
Roads Too Narrow.
There is very general and very
| just complaint among motorists that
| the American roads are not wide
| enough. States and counties have
made an effort to pile up mileage in
| road construction and in this way
have made their highways as narrow
as possible so as to string them out
| as long as possible with the same
amount of money. The unwisdom of
| this course is being realized at last,
and widening work is in process in
many localities. But no matter what
I the width of the road, certain drivers
will drift just as certainly and just
as disastrously to the wrong side as
a moth hovers about a fame.
State traffic authorities are just
| about at their wits ends to handle
| the horde of Summer motorists. They
say the most discouraging thing in
the world is to read the daily records
| of new car outputs. Where all the
machines are going no one can say.
| There is bound to be limit some
| where.
| Copyright. 1925.l