The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1938-10-15

accidents only, the proximate causes
Of many OF these are: faulty brakes,
drunkenness OF drivers, mechanical
defects In the machines, physical
defects In the drivers and careless.
ness and ignorance In observing and
knowing the traffic rules" mo
automobile has ever caused On Ac-
cldent nor will any accident DO due
10 an automobile alone. An auto
mobile has no brains, no nerves, no
muscles. No automobile Is capable "
starting itself continuing TO run or
ceasing TO move. Automobiles are
made by human agency and BY this
agency are they operated. This being
Fire Prevention Week, items In re.
gard to fire loss and waste are
given out, and we are told that over
00es OF the annual Ares which In.
Volve losses OF O billion and half
dollars each year ore preyentable'
A large part OF the 20fS which re.
mains Is represented by lightning
as q cause. That 500 OF oil fires
were preventable yet not prevented,
means that human careleSSheSS or
human selfiShneSS Is directly re-
sponsible for these losses. Applying
the same remarks 10 the automobile
accidents, we find that 10000 lives
snuffed out last year that personal
injuries are received by the million
and damages TO property run into
millions Of dollars annually" IF
we say that the proportion OF pre-
ventable losses through the agency
Of the automobile Is eoqS, II may DO
thought that we are indugling IN
strong statement. The dictionary de-.
fines accident" as follows; IAN
event which 10 unexpected, or the
cause OF which was unforeseen; q
contingency, casualty or mishap; 0
property OF O thing which IL not
essential TO H." This definition, as
will DO seen, defines the occurrence
only, no thought being given 70 the
cause, except TO state that II was
unforeseen. Let US dwell for o
moment on the word unforeseen,
Few OF US claim 10 DO able 10 see
into the future, and still fewer OF Us
would likely DO anxious 10 develop
such psyhic powers, In spite OF this
we do continually and actually
look into the future as well as the
past. For most OF Us, what IL "un.
foreseen" Is 80 only because II Ii un-
looked for and also, for most OF US,
what affects at the present had It's
causes In the past. The direct con.
nection between these statements
and automobile accidents should be
obvious but the mortality statistics
show that we often refuse TO think,
When we do think we stop short Of
complete thinking" when we say
an accident was unforeseen" we are
telling only part OF the truth and
fail 10 state that II could have been
foreseen. When two automobiles arc
speeding along, approaching an in
tersection from different directions
and both drivers thinking about
business, neither Of them can fore.
see the crash that involves them
within O few seconds, though either
or both OF them could have done 80
and prevented the crash, Perhaps
when testimony Is taken, one Of the
drivers will say that he did see the
other car approaching and tried TO
stop, but his brakes would not hold.
II he lives after the wreck. he may
learn something and perhaps have
his brakes fixed. but the point We
wish to stress Is that the faulty
brakes were not responsible for the
accident. Brakes have no brains,
they cannot do any thinking" "As
final concrete suggestion for In
telligent accident prevention let me
offer this. which Is as old as human
nature. We recognize In each other
only those qualities which we our
selves possess. We can apply this fact
to accident prevention by keeping
our eyes open and our minds alert
while driving on our city's streets
and highways. We can observe the
drivers whose actions annoy us, the
road-hogs, the one-arm drivers, the
excuse my dust" drivers, the dodge
or get sideswiped" drivers-we can
observe these drivers and resolve 10
expunge these sources Of annoyance
from our own natures. We can copy
the actions Of those who call forth
pleased response from our own
natures, the "r'll wait for you half
the road" sort of fellow. to our adj
vantage and theirs. Remember. when
we think Of automobile accidents,
that this latter type is responsible
for the fact that accidents are no
more frequent than they are nov"
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