The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1940-12-12
Drink Moy RivoI
Bombs AS Killer
On New Yeors Eve

The New Year celebrations with
which Americans greet l94l may be
married by as many, or possibly
more, motor vehicle killings and
maimings than the bombing casual.
ties of total war in European CAPT.
tails the same night, warn safety
authorities of the National Conser-
walton Bureau, accident prevention
division of the Association of Casu-
atty and Surety Executives.
ut seems certainty that unless
many of our New Years Eve cele-
brants radically mend their ways
this New Years Eve, hundreds OF
Americas drinking drivers and pc
destrians who are alive on Decem
Der 81. 1910, will not see the dawn
of January |, 1941."
This peril is so great that /,
should be forcefully impressed upon
the minds of all persons who are
prone to overdo their farewell to
the old year and their salute to the
new. The year-round statistics
dealing with drink and traffic ac-
cidents are CHASTITY enough-bu,
those averages are multiplied many
times during the few hours on New
Years Eve
Traffic Fatalities and Drink
Here are a few facts concerning
the casualties that result from mix.
ing alcohol and gasoline.
In one of every four fatal motor
vehicle accidents during 1889, either
a driver or pedestrian had been
drinking. One of every seven pedes-
TRANS and one of every nine drivers
had drunk too heavily. These sta
tistics do not include the passen-
gers, either drinking or non-drink-
ing, who also lost their lives. Those
Iunfortunates were omitted because
they were presumably not culpable
Their number is legion.
As New Years Eve rolls on and
reasonable restraint begins to dis
appear. Death elbows into his place
as ringmaster of many parties. In
one of every three fatal motor We
hicle accidents occurring at night,
the drinking driver or pedestrian
turns up as member of the cast
But it's during the wee small hours
Of the morning that the old gentle
man with the scythe really begins to
get in his best ticks. Averages Tor
the year show that in the single
hour between two and three o'clock
in the morning there are about IL
times as many fatal motor vehicle
accidents per mile of travel as there
are during the sober, busy-bee hour
from eight to nine A. M!
Rules That Save Lives
The notion that two or three
quick ones" don't impair driving
ability just doesn't hold water, the
National Conservation Bureau
warns. Those people who blandly
believe that little alcohol sharpens
their vision and speeds up their
ability to make split second decis-
ions are just inviting the undertaken
when they put that theory into prac-
tice on the highways. The safety
specialists point out that they are
not trying to moralize and do not
suggest that people should not drink
il they care to. They only advise,
out of past records, that celebrants
should observe common rules of
safety for their own protection and
that of others.
So, on this New Years Eve, OBJ
serve these tried and tested for
mulae.
If you have had a bit too much
cheer and are going to walk on
the streets or highways, wait until
you have command of your fac
ulties.
IT. you are going to drink on your
round of parties, don't drive. Let
somebody else who isn't drinking do
the driving.
Those are old, old suggestions"
say the men who know the causes
of accidents THE reason they're
repeated now is because they work"