Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-09-23
Grim Fate Is Lying in Wait for Mr. One Million This Fall
By Hugh Humphrey


An unsuspecting person is marked
for death within the next few months
as the millionth American automo-
bile traffic victim of the goth CEN
fury.
This millionth victim may be an
old woman, struck by hit-and-run
driver as she crosses quiet village
street. It may be a 6-year-old boy
trying out his new bike on Christmas
Day. The number, "One Million"
may be stamped on an unidentified
passenger burned beyond recognition
in spectacular bus collision with
speeding auto this New Years eve.
The only sure thing is that the
million mark is about to be reached.
On August /, the grand casualty
total had slightly less than 1900
to go. The recent Labor Day toll
cut that figure by 461, and the
average daily rate Of automobile
deaths so far this year has been 96.
The Thanksgiving and Christmas
holidays are still ahead.
peace is reached in the war of the
highways" No. / million will
be joined in Immortality by No. 2
million in about 80 years, the
National Safety Council says. And
the third in this procession of mil
lionth men will die before the year
1000. if the current accident rate
continues.
Fomous First
When and where did this highway
slaughter begin?
On September day in 1899, H. H.
Bliss stepped from New York City
streetcar and turned to help wom-
an passenger alight. He didn't see
the "horseleSS carriage" swinging in
between the streetcar and the curb.
He was struck by the vehicle and be-
came the Nations first auto traffic
fatality when he died the next day.
Seven years later, the District Of
Columbia recorded its first fatal auto
accident under almost identical cir
cumstanceS. On Christmas morning,
1906, a 14-year-old boy hoped from
q streetcar at Eighteenth street and
Columbia road-into the path of a
big automobile. He was killed Instant
~. An interesting sidelight on that
era is drawn from newspaper stories
of the case. While no record of an
earlier District automobile death can
be found, the accounts Of the 1906
accident did not say it was the first.
The Capitals second auto death oc-
CURED in May, 1907, and received the
same treatment. 1t seems the "gaso-
line buggy fad" was not considered of
much historical significance then
even as a killer.
The first three years of this GEN.
fury failed to SurpasS the 1851 Labor
Day death toll, but by 1909 total
of 1000 fatalities had been recorded
in the Nation. Thousands more were
killed in Europe as pioneer auto de-
signerS "souped up" their cars for
greater speeds. The Europeans had
the edge on American builders in
building fast cars before 1910. Old
newspaper files are crowded with
lurid stories of fiery crashes as the
continental nobility raced across in
ternational borders.
No Thought for Sofety
Then Americans learned how to
pep their cars up. In the next dec
ade, more than $4,000 were killed as
they sped along. Mechanical safety
didn't get much consideration in those
days. Brakes were poor. cars were
top-heavy and hard to control, and
shattering glass often turned minor
collision into tragedy. But those cars
were fast. ....
Modern designers are concentrating
on safety. Intricate braking systems
can stop today's heavy car quicker
than light cars would be stopped in
the old days. Autos are put through
tests of stability that would wreck
car of 80 years ago. Old-type glass
has been replaced with SKATER
proof" material.
Yet the death rate continues to
rise. Why?
Highway experts and police have