Evening star., 1935-11-09
ACCIDENTS TRACED
. TO LAZY DRIVERS
Egocentricity and Selfish
ness Also Blamed by
| Research Worker.

selfishness are major factors In the
average traffic mishap, it is pointed
out by Mayer B. Stone, research work.
er at the Library Of Congress, in q
letter to The Evening Star Safety
Council.
"One cannot fail to be impressed" !"
Mr.. Stone said, by the altruistic ap-
peal to motorists in the daily news
papers to drive safely in the streets
of Washington. Resorting to idealism
helps to a degree; be 1t in the nature
of pledges, or the citation of grue-
some details of a recent accident.
However, when the issue involved is
one of life and death, there Is need
of q positive and determined step to
be taken"
Positive action should be in the
form of a police patrol system which
would keep motorcycle policeman
almost constantly in the range Of
vision of the individual motorist. At
least, Stone said, there should be
enough police on traffic patrol so that
when a motorist is picked up for o
violation, he should feel that he is
not the lone wolf on an isolated trail"
makes for Habit"
Constant supervision he said.
will finally make for habit, and
consequently the pedestrian will be
decreed to live.
IF motor traffic cannot be controlled
under the pretext of the costs being
prohibitive, then we are defeated by
our own means; by the operation Of
instruments of destruction made
quately controlled. The advent Of
the automobile has carried with it a
challenge to life and limb, and it
Is incumbent upon the authorities to
fully realize that we are dealing-not
with fictitious values, but one OF life
and DEATH
The letter from Mr.. Stone is one
of hundreds received by The Star
Council dealing with the local traffic
situation and the safety drive. Ex-
cerpts from some of these letters fol-
low:
"A large part of the traffic deaths
here are due to pedestrians getting
hit and killed, and I think you will
aggree with me that the biggest per-
centage OF times 1t is the pedestrians
fault and not the fault o. the driver
of the car or truck. Therefore I would
suggest that you include in your
safety campaign pledges for pedes-
trians to sign, promising to walk in
. careful and sane manner, and look
in both directions when crossing
streets, and to obey traffic lights the
same as cars,
'LARNE WILLIAM JOHNSON"
"Since the inception Of the safety
campaign in Washington, have been
in hopes that something will be men,
toned to protect the people who still
enjoy horseback riding on the va
rious bride paths throughout tn city.
Popularity of this sport seems to
be growing, and the motorist should
certainly give the equestrian some
consideration as to the right-of-way
when he or she Is forced to cross
highway.
HARRY C. wECHsLER."
Last week was home at Fairport,
N. Y; while there I brought up the
subject of safety and told what your
council was doing, with great deal
of success.
MY friends were quite enthused
with it and wondered whether they
were eligible to join and display the
windshield sticker, as they all do quite
q bit of driving. happened to have
a few pledges and had them sign
that they reached you and if they
were eligible, they would receive the
windshield stickers in a few days.
EDWIN M. KNIGHT"
" have observed the growth of
your campaign for safety on the
streets of Washington and I am
convinced that you are rendering a
public service of the highest order.
ALFRED K. CHERRY"
"Your safety campaign is good
deal like the League o. Nations, ex-
cellently conceived. but practically
inpotent because of lack of police
power. The situation is as it is largely
because of the lack of intelligent
planning of arterial streets or boule-
wards anf also because of lack of sufi-
ut officers to form a traffic squad
large enough to cope with the prob
lem. There Is too much attention
focused on brakes; too little on OBJ
servance of traffic rules that minimize
the necessity of emergency applica-
ton of brakes.
ut is probably impossible to do any,
thing about the layout of streets, but
adding a dozen or so officers to the
force would help great deal. What
would small sum like $50, 900 amount
to against even one life? We can't
exr ct to have pedestrian control until