Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1938-07-23

NV responsibilities with reference
to highway safety convinced me some
time ago that prevention of accidents
is as much problem of highway I'M
lrnvement as it is of revAntion Of
CARELESS and reckless driving
Some time ngo 1 presented t. rough
;be lress sone Impressions az. the
r,e.d of high way imp; .vrrnents in the
Interest of safety and the smooth
e. w of traffic. That ',r''ile dealt par
Ii .rlarly with the need for hard-sul :
faced shoulders for nur hard-surt a'cd
rirhwavs. and more conspicuous
r. arkings of rural highway crossings
ans intersections.
In this article I wish to call atten-
ton particularly to the need for re-
constructing or relocating hundreds
of sharp curves that in the early days
of road construction were built en-
tirelv flat, without any banking to
assist motorists in making their sharp
curves; and 10 dangerous narrow
bridges.
The top picture above is of curve
on highway No. "a, about four miles
west of Rockingham. There have been
five fatal accidents On this curve in
the last eighteen months. 1t is in
evitable that such accidents will con-
tinue to occur at this curve until
something is done to remove the
hazard. Note that the roadway around
this sharp curve is perfectly flat, with
no elevation from the outside 10 as
sist in making the sharp turn.
Property damage alone at this
curve. without taking into account
the value of lives lost and personal
injuries sustained, is probably su1rl-
cient in money value each year to pay
for its reconstruction. On an average
we have about seven accidents involv-
| ing property damage and personal IN
iurv to each fatal accident. The above
picture was taken soon after recent
| fatal accident
Unfortunately we have a great
manv hazards similar to this all over
the State. We began heavy ROAD
building program in 1921, and for
several wears we built roads all over
the State of this type with unbanked
curves. Some of them actually slant
the wrong way In that building pc
Rod we were also very generous IN
the use of curves to achieve grades
that motorists could make Wlthout
changing gears. They were built With
out any thought of the power or
speed of present vehicles and with
out contemplation of present voiume
of traffic They represent legacy OF
hazard that will keep on killing peo-
ple and destroying property until
| thev are reconstructed or relocated
Thev are entirely out of adjustment
with present highway needs. We can
cramp motor traffic on these roads
| within the speed limits in mlno
| when these roads were built 1t will
| of course cost money to DO TINS Jop'
| but it.. will cost as much i've Year,
| from now and i'm the meantime we
are killing people every day ana arse
I slowing up the movement OF traIIlc
I on such roads. 'Sss'
| The second picture on the left is OF
| a section of u. S. No. 264, one mile
| west of Greenville. It is a section OF
| 16 #. road approaching sharp curve
| with no banking. The patrolman SEND
| ng in this picture makes TINS com
| :nent: ~" ~ "" i5''s '+'
"This is a scene that is common on
Ill 16 it.. roads. Traffic runs OF tne
sdge of the pavement while meeting
ind passing, causing a deep rut DE.
tween the edge of the pavement and
the shoulder. This is responsible TOT
many accidents. People that live near
these unmarked curves will shake
their heads while telling of horrible
accidents and say something ought
to be done'"
I pass that admonition on to the
people of the State for their consid-
GRAFTON. Something ought to be