The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-11-08
Fatal Auto Accidents
 Show Decline In 1888
Safety Experts Expect Final Figures to Show 5000 Fewer Deaths Keep the Fifth Man Alive Slogan

Chicago; Nov. e-'Keep the fifth man alivel"
 The National Safety Council went to the drivers and pedestrians of the country with that appeal today in an effort to pull down the usually super-heavy November and Decem- Der trafac toll.
 The goal is to cut this toll 20 per cent and thus keep pace with an linbroken reduction in traffic deaths that prevailed the first three quar- ters of the year with a saving of 5,820 lives. This drastic drop has come in the face of the fact that automotive travel has increased slightly in the same period.
 2O% Reduction
 If the 20 per cent reduction rate can be maintained the rest of the year, the council said, the 1898 traf- f1c toll will be approximately 5000 below last years total of 39,5O0 and this year will go down as the most encouraging in the nations history from the traffic safety viewpoint.
 A uniform 20 per cent drop in fatalities means, the council pointed out, that one out of every five per- sons doomed to die in traffic this year will be spared.
 The nationwide campaign being conducted by the council, and par ticipated in by g other national or- ganizations, is prompted by the fact that November and December an- nually are bugaboo months for traf- fic safety. Last November traffic deaths totaled 3.750. The December toll was 3,730.
 Over five year period the No- vember toll wasj20 per cent and the December total 30 per cent greater than the year-long monthly average.
 The reasons for this, council en- gtneers say, are bad weather, more hours of darkness and the Christmas holiday rush.
 In only one other year since traf- fic fatality figures first were com- piled nationally in 1906 has there been a reduction in the annual toll, the council said. That was in 1892,
 The extent of the recent gains is more impressive because of the fact that the period of unbroken reduc- tions began in November, 1897.
 The council is taking its nation wide campaign straight to police chiefs, motor vehicle administrators and other public officials, to com- munity safety council officials and safety contact men in thousands of cities.
 This year, for the first tine," said D. D. Fennell, president of the Na- tional Safety council, i've have fine chance of effecting really sub- stantial reductions in traflc fatali- ties. Everything depends on this final two-month period-the period when normally we pile up huge death totals.
 "Sleet, ice, snow and fog soon will make roads and highways doubly dangerous. Darkness comes earlier. There is the Christmas rush, with its hurry and hustle and spirit of conviviality, and the natural ten- dency by police and trafic officers to be lenient because of the geniality of the times.
 "This year. more than ever before, we must clamp down on careless drivers and pedestrians. A sub- stantial drop in trafflc deaths this year not only would be 8 fine achievement in itself, but would be a powerful stimulus to greater gains next year and in the years to come.
 Too many of US have felt that a steady increase in the tfaffic toll was inevitable. We now are proving that it isn't"