Evening star., 1928-03-22
Continued from First Page.)

Continued from First Page.)
| is entirely his own affair This is not c
law enforcement campaign. The laws
are well enough, so far as they so. but
hundreds of tragedies result from no
violation of the letter of the trafflc code
This is purely an effort to induce each
driver 70 put himself in the other fell
lows place.
The following figures for the past
five years were furnished today by the
Police Department:
ls23-Total number of accidents
8.4ie: children under IL years injured
556; fatalities, 81; children under II
years killed, Is.
| l924-Total number of accidents
| 9.444: children under IL years injured,
sos: fatalities. i03; children under II
years killed. 20.
| ig24-Total number of accidents,
| 1881; children under IA years injured,
| IT'S; fatalities, IS; children under IA
years killed, 49,
1926-Total number of accidents,
7,II6: children under IA years injured.
TAI; fatalities. n; children under IA
years killed. 81.
1s27-Total number OF accidents,
4,945; children under IA years injured
GA: fatalities. s8; children under IA
years killed. Is.
Fatalities Were Not Intentional
These fatalities. of course, we're not
Intentional Many of the motorists re-
sponsibie for them were eStimable per-
Sons. loyal 10 their families and chari-
table TO their neighbors. Most OF them
were doing their best--in the blunder-
Ing, lazy way common 70 most OF us
trS
wisli the supreme law OF human con-
dut1 expressed in the Golden Rule.
But they killed the 90 children.
The motorist knows his brakes are
bad when he starts from home in the
morning. He is pressed for time. He
| knows that there is only chance In a
| thousand, II he drives carefully, that he
will get into trouble. It Is extremely
unlikely that he viii be stopped by a
policeman. Everything is in favor Of
| his success In this minor and conyen-
! lent violation of the law. He reasons
out the situation, but purely from the
standpoint OF his own probability Of
escaping injury or the embarrassment
of an appearance In Traffic Court, He
assumes, Of course, that the other man s
| brakes will be good. He doesn't reason
! it out In the light Of the Golden Rule
| the f1eart-breaking possibilities Of the
thousandth chance.
He approaches a school safety zone.
He sees no children on the street. There
is no policeman near at hand 1t Is a
short cut TO his destination. He dashes
through without moderating his speed
A hundred chances to one nobody will
be injured and he will not be caught
but every now and then the bare possi-
bility becomes an actuaiity and some
little body is loaded into the ambulance
Chance 10 Save Heartache&
II is in tust such situations that the
application Of the golden rule would
save many a day OF heartache and
bitter repentance.
Means Of avoiding traffc accidents
constitute a problem Of major impor-
tance. There has been no very ef'
fective solution up 10 date. Here ano
there the figures have been cut down
trifie for a year, only 10 mount again
the next year. II is not likely thai
there ever VIII be a legislative solu-
ton.
The only solution was given early
1000 years ago in the Sermon on the
Mount.
Considered from this point of view
IL is extremely simple.
All traffic legislation Is simply =
| clumsy efTOrt To reBLhtc the RoIden rult
In terms Of a particular problem.
Ninety per cent Of all traffic acci-
dents are due 10 violations OF the golden
rule
II every motorist and every pedestrian
conducted himself In accordance with
the golden rule, ali traf7lc codes could
be thrown away Even most Of the
unavoidable accidents" would dihap-
pear from the newspaper columns.
Sermon in Motors" Planned.
II IT, with this thought IN mind that
The Evening star will launch on Sat
urday the city-Wide campaign 10 i'm.
press the old, old truth on the people
Of Washington IN terms Of autOm0.
biles Fundamentally, so far as human
relationships 60 there is no difference
between the high powered car Of today
and the ass of ancient Judea.
The gold~plsted automobile, specially
processed from roof 10 Tenders III ground
metallic gold and plate. Will start ita
tlye~day tour If Washington streets
promptly st noon Saturday. II Ia IN"
tended ~ a sermon In motors" Criiia-
ing quietly shout the streets Of Wash i