Evening star., 1939-10-22

Mai z. ". Brown. was killed, but
any of them could have been-for
every accident, no matter how SEEM
ingly trivial, is potential fatality.
When two vehicles collide, or when
. pedestrian is struck by a vehicle,
what the results will be is known
only to the One who directs the des-
tiny of the world and its people. Un-
der one set of circumstances, the re-
suits may be of no consequence
whatever; but under circumstances
only slightly different, they may be
death, Disagreement, changes in the
whole lives of the victims, perhaps
even in the lives of their relatives.
It would be foolish. therefore, for
us to congratulate ourselves on the
fact that, out of "a accidents, none
proved fatal. After all, that is an
accident for each hour of the day
and, under slightly altered circum-
stances, could mean death for each
hour.
Analysis of Record.
Anaiyzlng this days traffic record
In another way, let us consider the
fact that the "a mishaps resulted in
injuries to II persons, five of them
motorists, the seven others pedes-
trians. Even if we eliminate the
accidents in which there were no
injuries, we still have day on which
q dozen persons escaped death only
because they were lucky enough not
to have been hit a little harder or
a little more squarely, or because
they or their autos were little more
able to take it," as the popular say
ing goes.
In the regular routine of my po-
lice work, 1 have investigated thou
sands of accidents. have seen cars
so badly smashed up that it was in
conceivable that anyone could have
come out of them alive-and yet the
occupants. through some trick of
fate, were virtually unscatched. And
I have seen other machines with
scarcely a dent. damaged 50 slightly,
In fact, that it was practically a
certainty that their occupants had
escaped injury. And yet those same
occupants, for some inexplicable rea-
son, were lying in the District
Morgue-dead.
Thus, it follows that the way to
reduce traffic fatalities is to do
everything that we possibly can to
prevent even the most minor acci-
dents. Over the years, one step
after another has been taken with
this purpose in mind-trafflc lights,
one-way streets, parking restrictions,
pedestrian control, inspection Of We
hicles. All these things have helped
to keep the accident toll from rising
higher than 1t has risen; but, as I
said at the outset of this article, in
spite Of everything, mishaps continue
to occur.
Courtesy Is Keynote.
OF course there is no way to elm
mate accidents any more than there
Is any way to eliminate old age,
death or taxes. Safety measures,
such as those mentioned above, tend
to reduce mishaps, but in the final
analysis 1t is the motorists and the
pedestrians on whom the real re-
sponsibility rests. If every driver
obeyed the traffic regulations, if
every walker observed the So
called pedestrian control law &C
cidents would be reduced to a min
imum.
The Metropolitan Police Depart
ment, the Department of Vehicles
and Traffic, The Star and other
newspapers, the radio stations,
safety-conscious motorists-all have
done and are continuing to do ev-
erything possible to educate motor
lists and pedestrians alike in the
Importance of abiding by the rules