The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-07-23

Waterbury's fatal traffic pedestrians. Caution, conSi pave the way for pedestrian the famed three "E's", Engineering, Education and Enforcement have paved the way to 8 reduction in physical condition causes in acci- dents," he said.
 Statistics
 Superintendent Roach comments that pedestrian requires but one step to halt his progress, while vehicle travelling 20 miles per hour requires about 20 feet. His com plete statement is as follows:
 Last year, 1887, 88 per cent of the people killed in Waterbury in auto accidents were pedestrians. These were, of course, the result of a car and person colliding and it is interesting to note that the next highest percentage of fatalities in- volving autos amounts to only 12 per cent of the total casualty. Let us compare this with national f1g- ures and see how similar the facts are: 43.2 per cent of the people killed in accidents in the United States during 1897 were pedestrians and the next highest total, the col lisions between autos amounted to only 26.3 per cent of the total cas- ualty rate. A total of 4O,300 dead in 1887 and 17,410 of them pedestrians. In Waterbury, total of 16 dead and IA of them pedestrians. We must face the facts. It is not only the driver, who has heretofore been generally blamed for the accidents occurring, but eevry man, woman and child who must cooperate in re- ducing the auto-pedestrian type of accidents which accounted for 88 per cent of the fatalities in traffic accidents during 1887 and five or 100 per cent this year in Waterbury.
 No Defense
 We are not defending driver care- lessness. We are in quest of cooper ation with the driver. We must re- alize, however, that in solving any problem we must find and elimin- ate the major difficulties and defi- ciencies. Without question, the ped- estrian in addition to the driver, is involved in the majority of acci- dents. Why therefore, should we not educate the non-driver as well as the driver? The pedestrian cannot be hit if he is not there when the auto arrives! Certainly this is com- mon sense. A person walking re- quires one step, approximately 30 inches for 8 full grown man, in or der to come to a complete halt. The driver at 20 miles per hour requires at least 20 feet. The average speed of travel of the pedestrian is 2.5 miles per hour which is accepted as normal marching time of troops The average speed of a vehicle in traffic is generally in the vicinity of 20 miles per hour and seldom less than 10 miles per hour. The pedestrian must control 150 pounds on an average of human machinery -reacting instantaneously and per- fectly to his very command. The driver, in contrast, must control 5000 or 4,000 pounds of iron and steel monster, aided and abetted by centrifugal force, which is not an always docile servant. These facts should make the pedestrian realize that he can save himself, his life by taking the initiative in a drive to help the motorist and reduce the high percentage of pedestrian fatal ities and accidents. Moreover he is in a position to contribute more aid, more prevention and more safety to the highway than the driver, because of his additional ad- vantage of mobility, vision, speed and size. He does not have to shift gears, or apply brakes to start or stop out of danger zone and thus prevent an accident.
 The Three C's
 CAUTION, CONSIDERATION and COOPERATION will pave the way for pedestrian safety in the same manner as the famed three "E's", Engineering, Education and Enforcement have paved the way to a reduction in physical condition causes in accidents. Let us join in citywide reduction in physical condition causes in accidents. Let us join in citywide adoption of caution, inwalking along highways, in crossing streets, in every case where thought in time may save your life or mine. Consideration of course of our actions and their pos sible consequences, to the end that we may avoid accident situations by recognizing them in advance and f1nally-last, but greatest-coopera- tion with the driver, the traffic en- forcement agency, the police and the traffic laws so that auto-pedes- trian accidents will be reduced to a minimum. So let us drivers keep the