Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1936-11-05

drivers are being brought down sharp
ly. Organized and continuing educa-
tional programs have proven their
effectiveness in this field beyond any
doubt whatever.
Ii 1t were possible to exercise the
same control over drivers as a whole,
and to carry on the same educational
activities among forty million motor
lists of the country, it could be as
sumed that the highway accident pro-
blem would no longer be of first rank
Importance.
Not the least of the encouraging as
poets in the safety problem ia the
change Of pace" in accident-preven-
tion methods that has been effected
in recent months.
Effective attacks are now being
made on the fundamental and UNDER
lying causes of highway deaths and
property damage. While the problem
Is made up of the sum total of local
lied surface Invitations, we have
found that the most pronounced re-
suits can be obtained by striking at
the sources rather than immediate
manifestations of the problem.
There is no single answer to the
problem of highway accidents. High
way mishaps, whether serious or
trivial, spring from a complexity of
factors and combinations OF circum-
stances that do not lend themselves
to relief through any single panacea.
AS a matter of fact, wherever thew
have been applied the so-called cure
alls have failed miserably.
Immediately involved in the situa-
ton as pedestrians is the entire popu-
lation of the Unite:l States-one hun
drcd and twenty seven million people.
Drivers. or p"tentia, drivers number
approximately forty million
The daily operation of twenty-six
million motor vehicles is conducted
over more than three million miles of
open highway of widely varying de-
grees of Improvement, and two hun
dred and sixty thousand miles of city
streets. Total daily mileage reaches
totals that resemble astronomical cal
culations.
Thus, the driver, the car, the peds-
train and the road are the four basic
factors. The maladjustment of these
factors creates the highway accident
problem
Six Essentials of Accident
Prevention
There are six fundamental prin-
ciples, of proven effectiveness, thro-
ugh which the problem may be at
tackled. They are Education, En-
forcement, Engineering, Training, Re
search and Legislation.
The whole philosophy of the great
national movement for accident pre-
vention is predicated upon those prin-
ciples. Specific projects under way,
or being undertaken, relate directly
to at least one of those principles and
while immediate relief is sought in
each instance, the long-range program
is regarded as being of the greatest
Importance.
Adequate Fatalities Necessary
Removal of sources of congestion
and accidents must be effected by
providing adequate facilities for the
free movement of vehicular and pedes
train travel. This is admittedly a long
range task. The education of new
generation of drivers and pedestrians
is something that cannot be done
overnight. Specially trained personnel
in the engineering Job of regulating
and controlling traffic, must be pro-
vided. and this also takes time.
Thus. with the accelerated national
neutrality-suspicious. movement under
way less than year, it is obvious
that the full effect of our effort can
not be felt at this early date. IT can
merely be said that by adding twenty
billion safe car miles to high totals
of the previous year, we are assured
that we are on the right track, that
our principles are sound and that
satisfactory ultimate results are