Evening star., 1928-12-09
583 CLEvELANDERS
KILLED BY TRAFFIC
"Gross CareIeSSneSS" in 80
Month Period Held Largely
Responsible.

Reckless and drunken drivers, most
Of whom are irresponsible youths under
IS years Of age; gross careleSSness on
the part Of pedestrians, and playing
children, whose propensity it is to dart
into traf1c-laden thoroughfares-these
are the three outstanding causes for
ClevelandS traffic death toll of 583 per-
sons during the past 80 months.
The Cleveland Automobile Club and
the Cleveland Safety Council, interest
ed in determining the chief causes for
the fifth city's tremendous traffic death
toll, have just completed a careful anal
ysis of each of the 583 traffic deaths
occurring here during the past two and
one-half years. The three conclusions,
enumerated in the order of their i'm
portance in the foregoing, are revealed
by the Automobile Club-Safety Council
analysis.
Full findings e the traffic death
study were annou ny by Fred
H. Galley, secretary o. ,.e Cleveland
Automobile Club, and DR.. H. L. Rock
wood city health commissioner and vice
president OF the Cleveland Safety
Council.
High Lights of Study.
Here. briefly, are some Of the high
lights of the study:
Forty-three per cent of Cleveland's
583 deaths during the closing 30
months span were caused by reckless
and drunken automobile drivers; 81 per
cent by careless and drunken pedeStrf-
ans, and 81 per cent by playing chill
dren.
The most dangerous hours to traverse
Cleveland thoroughfares are between
pm. and midnight. During this pc
Rod 258 persons, or A per cent of the
80 months total death toll, were slain.
More people were killed crossing thor
oughfares between intersections than at
intersections.
On this point the Automobile Club
Safety Council analysis shows that 323
persons were killed between intersec-
tions, against 25T killed at intersections.
Eight main traffic arterieS-St. Clair,
Woodland, Euclid, Superior, Kinsman,
Lora1n, Broadway and Cedar avenues
and one heavily travelled crosstown
thoroughfare-EaSt Fifty-fifth street
claimed 204 lives, considerably more
than one-third Of the entire 80 months
traffic fatality total.
During the past 215 years 38 persons
were killed in st. Clair avenue "a in
Woodland avenue, "a each in Euclid and
Superior avenues, 81 in KinSman road,
IL in Lorain avenue and IL each in
Broadway and Cedar avenue. In East
Fifty-fifth street % persons were killed
The most dangerous spot in the en-
tire city-that is to say, the spot where
the most people. were killed during the
past 212 years-was at Bulkley boule-
ward and West Twenty-eighth street.
The total at this point was deaths.
Seven other intersections claimed a
! total of lives each. These interSec-
tionS were East Fifty-fifth street and
Cedar avenue, West Twenty-fifth street
and Denison avenue, Lorain avenue and
West Ninety-eighth street, Madison ave-
nue. and West 112th street, st. Clair
and Marquette avenues, Woodland ave
nue. and East Twenty-eighth street, and
Woodland avenue and East Thirtieth
street.
1t Is interesting to note that not O
single traffic death occurred at the in
terSection Of Euclid avenue and East
Ninth Street-said to be the third buSi-
est street intersection in America-nor
on the high-level bridge, over which
upward of 81, 900 automobiles pass daily,
nor at Euclid avenue and East 1O5th
street, another of the city'S busiest
street intersections. Carnegie avenue,
where the daily passage Of travel Is
close to $4,000 automobiles, recorded but
y 0C6CAo 0O4 Liz t14O Poob az ySNASs
Signal Lights Effective.
The fact that traffic fatalities have
been negligible at the busy and con-
rested points enumerated is attributed
By the Automobile Club and the Safety
Council to effective traffic signal light
operation and rigid police supervision.
Passenger automobiles were involved
Rn 451 of the 5S3 fatal traffic accidents,
or about " per cent of the total Trucks
were involved in 81 accidents, or about
is per cent Of the total Taxicabs and
street cars were involved in IA fatal
accidents each, or about 21a per cent of
the total for each This finding, the
Automobile Club and the Safety Council
pointed out, indicates quite clearly that
the great problem of making the
thoroughfares safe Is largely one of
dealing with the passenger car, both
from the standpoint of its drivers and
from the standpoint Of the pedestrian
in danger Of being run down by the
passenger car operator.
Ninety per cent of the drivers in
volved in accidents were male. Five
per cent of them were female. The re-
naming five per cent were hit-skip
drivers who made successful getaways
and consequently their sex is unknown.
Three hundred and fifteen of the 531
male drivers who figured in fatal acci-
dents during the past two and one-half
years here were irresponsible youths
under Is years Of age.
Gross carelessness on the part Of
both the automobile driver and the
pedestrian stands out as the biggest
single cause for traffic deaths.
Careless drivers caused 90 deaths,
careless pedestrians-that Is to say pc
destrians who were killed as a result
of their own thoughtlessnesS-we
victims in A other fatal accidents. The
total death toll, then, laid at the door
of driver and pedestrian carelessness Is
136.
Intoxication, both of the driver and
the pedestrian, stands second in the
list Of fatal accident causes.
Drunken drivers figured in So fatal
accidents, drunken pedestrians who
staggered into the path of oncomine
traffic, were victims in 80 additional
fatal mishaps. The total death toll
then, laid at the door Of drunken drivers
and drunken pedestrians, was 81.
Fifteen drivers who crashed" traf-
nc signal lights killed Is persons, sc
: pedestrians who attempted to cross
thoroughfares In diSobedience Of traf1C
signal lights and police warning. were
killed as a result.
One striking finding Of the study
was the fact that $50 of the 583 per-
sons killed In traffic during the past
80 months caused their own deaths
That Is, police, after investigating these
$50 deaths, said the victims were al
fault.
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