The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-02-25

The importance of the establish ment oe effective safety commissions ln tho larger communities of the state 10 emphasized by tho 1885 traf. 10 accident experiences of Con. aectlcuts four largest cltles-Hart. ford, New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury.
 while tho states trafic accident problem cannot be said to be local- ised in the four large cities--or even in the twenty.one incorporated municipalities - nevertheless, the contribution of just the four cities mentioned is startling.
 Consider that, out of Q total of 1B,0D0 trAfilc accidents recorded in Connecticut last year, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury contributed 4,DO7 traffic mishaps or SIS per cent Of the total. The twenty.one municipalities of the te--including the four cities nAmed--were the locations of e,Sl6 tsafiic accidents or b3,3 per cent of the total for the state.
 lsi Persons Killed
 Connecticuts trafiic fatality rec. ord for iDSb has reached 4e2 and nf this total tho municipalities of tho state--as listed in the tabula- ton concluding this Btudy-were the scenes of Fnishaps killing 10l per. sons. tho four large cities rolling up death total of i08 lives or better than 2i per cent of the total. Out Of iS,0D0 persons injured, the four biz cities were responsible for 30e6, Of thirty per cent while the Injury total for the twenty.one cities reached 0,0i3 or Q percentage of b0,4 which again illustrates the great i'm. provement possible in tho creation of safer trAfile conditions on the streets os cities in Connecticut.
 Of course, where there Is popula- tion density and consistently heavy trafilc How, the record will always show Q corresponding per. centago of trafiio mishaps unless and until stern and practical meas. slreg are made effective for constant tFafilc supervision and penalties for those whose carelessness or reckless way of driving causes accidents, Theoretically, trafilo can How over streets and highways of oil types good, bad and indifferent--K the natural impatlenee of drivers can be restrained. To educate operators to accommodate themselves to the pre-. vailing conditions as regards street capacity, trafflo flow and weather conditions is tho problem.
 To ho fair to the cities many drivers causing tratilo n1ishaps within tho incorporated limits of the communities arc visiting operators. out of tho 7,Db8 operators involved in municipal trRfifo accidents 4,B02 were local operators, leaving Q dif- terence of 3,074 representing visiting OperAtors- of this total 6bb were from out of Connecticut altogotl or, However, better traiiie controls and AnforeementS of traffle ordinances can control tho visiting operator as well aB tho home driver; 50, in the last analysis, the burden Of trafiic accident responsibility in the cities docs rest on tho shoulders or those charged with traftio supervision and enforcement.
 Cities Break Down
 Tn the tabulation which concludes this study, only the statistics relat. ing to tho four largest cities are broken down extensively It is fair to assume that about the same pic. ture would bo presented for each of the other seventeen cities, proper tlonately, of course, and with due consideration for location of aeei. dent. Through trafiio Is generally . hurried flow and, therefore, likely Co be somewhat of Q hazard to the