Evening star., 1937-01-07
BY BLAIR MOODY.

DETROIT, Mich, January 6.-The
S7,50o men. women and children who
gave their lives In the traffic slaughter
Of 1885 may not have died In vain.
Their tragedy. and that Of their
families. and thousands of others
whose lives have been twisted by Sc
rious injury. has set in motion ris-
ing tide of horror and alarm, sweep
ing from coast to coast, which prom
ises to do what professional safety
men" have been seeking to do for
years-jolt the public into a new at
titude and emphasize to Mr. Average
Driver and Mr. Everyday Pedestrian
that this problem Is not matter of
far-of theory. but stark fact which
may strike him personally at any
moment.
No part of the campaign to reduce
traf1c deaths is more important than
education. The public's attitude. as
reflected in the individual attitudes of
armies Of drivers. pedestrians and
school children. is all-important.
Good" Drivers Guilty.
More accidents are caused by good"
drivers, who are momentarily mat
tentive, or careless, or just plain
smart-aleck, than by defective or
perennial wild men" who should not
be licensed at all. In many pedestrian
deaths, investigation reveals the victim
was at least partly at fault. If public
opinion in a city winks at drunk driv-
ers and other wilful violators-or If
they merely are mot important
enough" to do much about-that city
will have high accident and death
rate. But community determined
that massacre shall not continue on
It's streets can do something about it.
No better example is at hand than
the precipitate drop in deaths in De-
troit after bloody Christmas eve,"
when 10 persons were killed, followed
by Is more deaths in three days. It
became a major issue in the city
Judges have been sending drinking
drivers to jail for 90 days. 1t was made
plain that holiday or Saturday cell
ebrants, If arrested, could expect to
spend week end in Jail waiting to
Gee the Judge.
The improvement has been marked.
Accidents have dropped sharply. The
city, temporarily at least. is paying
attention to traffic dangers, and that
Is saving lives.
But how long will it last? Not long
ago a furry of traffic deaths induced
. 30-day enforcement drive" in Chi
cago. Speeding was the key offense.
Careless drivers were "socked."
Record Jumps Again.
What happened? Traffic deaths
dropped so per cent in 80 days. But
Is the number Of deaths fell of and
the number of drivers spending time
In court (and some in taiD mounted,
public clamor arose. 1t was "persecu-
ton" "The heat" was put on the
politicians and the enforcement cam
paign was called of. Up jumped the
death record again.
An enforcement campaign won't
last unless the people are ready for
It" comments Sidney j. williams, di-
rector Of the National Safety Council.
Intelligent police work. to be effec-
tive, must be backed by an educational
campaign which will make the pub
lie realize what safety means-and
what lack of it may suddenly mean to
any home in the city,"
This job of educating the public to
protect itself has many phases and
Is being tackled by many organiza-
tons, some Of which have developed
healthy rivalry among themselves.
The American Automobile Associa-
eion. the National Bureau of Casualty
Il Surety Underwriters, the National