Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1935-10-03
Traffic Hazards
On Our Highways
Are Getting Serious
Public Health Official Says
Cooperation May Solve
Present Conditions

The following address was given by
DR.. R. H. Riley, Director of the State
Department of Health, as radio talk
under the auspices of the Baltimore
Safety Council in connection with the
campaign for reduction. in the
present hazards on our public high
ways from motor vehicle accidents.
''Like public health, and a great
many other things, traffic safety de-
ponds upon effective partnership.
Whether you are at the wheel or on
the highway, your safety and that of
the other fellow, depend upon both of
you.
Analysis OF causes Of motor We
hicle accidents and fatalities in Mary
land by the Baltimore Safety Council
shows that at least three out of every
four deaths or injuries in automobile
crashes in the State have been due
to certain specific violations of the
motor vehicle law. The charges most
frequently made were: Exceeding
the speed limit; failure to grant the
right of way to vehicles, or-at cross
ings-to pedestrians; cutting in on
the left when the way ahead was not
clear; failure to keep to the right
side of the road; failure to obey
traffic signals; failure to signal when
about to stop or turn to the right or
left; dangerous and improper park
ing; improper headlights; and in
cities-failure to stop five feet behind
a standing street car discharging or
taking on passengers.
"The case against the pedestrians
the other partner in this business Of
traffic safety-was most often stated
in these charges: Failure to observe
traffic signals, that is, crossing the
highway against the signal; cutting
across the street, or the road, between
intersections-in other words, what
we used to call jay walking; step
ping into the highway from behind
parked cars; walking on the high
ways on the right side with the
traffic, instead of facing it.; and when
the victims were children, playing on
the highways.
give hundred and thirty persons
lost their lives in automobile traffic
crashes in Maryland, last year, and
fifteen thousand were injured. To
bring this closer to each one of us. let
me point out that the latter figure
means that approximately one person
out of every hundred in the total
population of the State was injured in
some way during 1884 in an automo-
bile accident. Furthermore, estimates
based upon figures for the whole
country show that among those who
are injured in this way, one out of
every ten becomes permanently dis
abled.
"These figures give very personal
emphasis to the charge of RECKLESS
driving or of speeding or of lay
walking.
Maryland has record in many re-
spects, and particularly with regard
to public health, of which it is Justly
proud. But the record we now have
OF one death in some part of this
State, every sixteen hours from an
automobile traffic crash appalls every
one of us.
"The speed mania and reckless driv-
ing, and all that they imply, in the
lack Of self control, disregard for
laws and for the rights and lives Of
Others, are responsible for a large
part of these tragic deaths and this
unnecessary suffering. In the face of
the hazards involved, absent-minded-
ness on the part of the driver or pc
destrian, also becomes a vice, with a
notorious record for destructive con-
sequences.
Motor transportation has become
an inherent part of our daily lives.
To reduce the hazards for ourselves
and for others the least we can do is
to admit our obligation as partners
in the Safety Traffic business, and to
accept our responsibilities as drivers
and as pedestrians"