Evening star., 1936-04-12
NEW DRIVE Opened
ON AUTO DEATHS
National Safety Council
MarshaIs Forces for
Traffic Campaign.

The National Safety Council. which
, has been instrumental IN reducing
industrial fatalities by about 60 per
cent, has marshaled all its forces in
an intensive drive to effect a COM
. parable reduction in the appalling
total Of automobile deaths.
When the council was organized in
1912, the industrial death total for
the year was $4,000. In recent years,
this has dropped to between IL and
IA thousand. Automobile deaths
numbered 666 in 1912, but by last
= year had reached peak of 36,400.
The council believes it can do the
same thing in the field of automobile
safety that was done in industry, and
1t is determined to prove it.
The foundation of the councils
drive is inter-city and interstate
safety contests. Thirty-siX States
already participate in the contests,
and it is expected that by the end
of 1886 all 48 States and more than
1000 eligible cities will have been
enrolled.
Palmer Is Pioneer.
Lew r. Palmer, founder and past
president of the council, is firm be-
lever in the value of these contests in
any safety promotion campaign. A
pioneer in this field. he started in the
steel industry, expanding into other
lines
In 1923 safety contest was started
among the Nations railroads, result
ing in a go per cent reduction in en-
ploye fatalities and an 80 per cent
reduction in injuries.
Encouraged the council then turned
to the automobile problem, starting
with contests among cities and then
introducing the interstate contests.
The States are grouped according
to populations, and the awards are
based on the fewest deaths per 100000
of population. Consideration also is
given the State with the greatest num-
Der Of eligible cities (those with popu-
lations of more than 10000 entered
in the inter city contest.
The States are grouped in three
classes and the cities in six, the
awards in the latter also being based
on the number of deaths per 100000
Of population.
Contest Idea Best.
ct believe the contest idea is the
best means of conducting a safety
campaign" Palmer said. 1T not only
arouseS interest in the project, but
maintains it-that is the important
thing. We have also found that such
a contest, once it is under way, serves
to put pressure on those responsible
for enforcing traffic regulations, and
in many cases has resulted in the
employment of traffic engineers"
The possibilities inherent in the
safety contest, Palmer said, are best
illustrated by the experience in Mil
waukee, where the council was
founded.
For the past eight years, despite a
steady increase in population, Mil
waukee has had consistent decrease
in the total of automobile deaths.
1t is estimated that sos lives have
been saved there during the nine
year period since the contest was
started.
Last year, Milwaukee. with a popu-
lation of 99,100, had IS traffic deaths,
a rating per 100000 Of 1085. In
Washington, the city with the worst
record in group population Of ESQ.,
600 to 50O,000O). 125 persons were
killed and the city's death rate was
20.5, almost twice that in Milwaukee,
larger city.
"Clean Politics" Helps.
Palmer said he is convinced the
foundation of Milwaukee's enviable
record is clean politics" He also
expressed the belief that one of the
principal troubles in Washington is
that of handling the nonresident mo-
torists.
They are unfamiliar with driving
conditions here" he said, and in some