MOTOR ACCIDENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 80, 1 October 1931, Page 19

MOTOR ACCIDENTS

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The interesting, statement, by. the officers of the Wellington" "Automobile Club, on the subject of "motor'"accidents is more remarkable;;for its:omissions, than its actual facts. Figures and statistics are adduced in profusion with .the idea 7 of., arriving at 'the primary origin of motor; accidents, yet the report does not even, mention the main causa?, three in number,i of, these distressing becurrencesj though: tliey stand but in. bold relief for all to see: Jwh'o are not. wilfully1: blind. A: study of the (evidence at many 'inquiries into disasters arising out of motor propulsion reveals the; three chief reasons to be: (a); Excessive speed,. (b) dazzling headlights, (c) intoxication, of varying degree,.^pn thc.-iiart p£| the,driver. The AutPmobUe Club.'a;rep6rt; icertainly : skirts round (a)>, and |c); since; .it'alludes.pointedly to the; number of feet] covered in half a; second by' a car travel-' ling at forty miles per hour, and the average driver's ignorance-of that elementary locomotive axiom, coupledl with that physiological factor euphemistically termed ('brain-lag"—i.e., the. sluggish response of the driver's hands and feet to the warning "lignalß: of impending danger sent out by ■therbraih, a lethargy which has sometimes ifieen-itiduced -by a drink of intoxicating; liquor.1: Medical science has proved conclusively that even one glass of an alcoholic beverage1 will bring about just that hiatus between mental stimulus md ' muscular reaction which causes momentary' failure of the faculties at the critical juncture, followed by the inevitable, crash. Probably, nine motorists out of ten would feel indignant if _they were accused of not having their vehicles under coritrol after enjoying just one "spot' : but the'laws o£ Nature are inexorable; andj. since; it appears^quite hopeless to expect ■"■*' rediiction of1 the speed limit;-the only remedy would appear to He in total prohibition for drivers of cars. ■ ~ . The question of dazzling headlights will also have to be drastically dealt with before, long, since so many drivers- persist-' ently disregard the bylaws on the subject. Everyone who travels bj' car on A wet night is aware of the constant danger inseparable from lamp-glare, and accidents are" continually being reported as attributable to this source. Finally, Sir, it is indeed.time that some measure of relief should-be afforded to the, unhappy pedestrian Ay.ho, , ;; \vith; ..juggernauts admittedly incapable of being retarded ;under forty to fifty feet hurtling round him, is faced by the stern necessity of making an instantaneous decision as to whether he shall be numbered amongst the quick or the dead. In this connection, street subways and bridges may prove to be indispensable traffic adjuncts of the near future. —I am, : etc,> , :L. D. AUSTIN.'